Turkey Returns Properties to Non-Muslim Religious
The Turkish Constitution proclaims Turkey as a
secular country, but its unique brand of secularism
involves almost absolute control over religion, including
Islam. The government builds and funds mosques and
employs Muslim prayer leaders. It has granted full legal
status only to the foundations formed by a few minority
religious groups, including the Jewish community and the
Greek Orthodox.
Minorities like the Latin-rite Catholic and
Protestant communities, “which do not have foundations,
aren’t affected by the new decision. This means that the
Catholic Church is in the same negative position it was
in.”
Latin-rite Catholic parishes, dioceses and
religious orders “own property, but it’s not clear if that
ownership will be recognized. Tomorrow the government
could say, ‘You don't exist legally, so you don’t own it,’”
he said.
Other Catholic properties are owned by a foreign
government, he said. Catholic parishes operate on
property owned by the Italian and French embassies in
Ankara and the French consulate in Istanbul. The Latin-rite cathedral in Izmir is a protectorate of France, he said.
“For many years, non-Muslims were too afraid to
ask for their properties back, but there also is the fact that
there no longer are Christian communities in many of
those places,” Oehring said.
“The Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans had
many buildings all over Turkey and they just don’t care
because they don’t have the numbers” of faithful to use
them or personnel to staff them, he said. “But they still
should seek compensation.”
Tags: Middle East Christians Vatican Christian-Muslim relations Turkey