The following statements have been made about the Ecumenical Patriarchate in documents from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

"In this regard we have noted recently that there is a growing tendency in some circles to bring to agenda the so called "ecumenical character" of the Patriarchate....".

"Ostensibly the Patriarchate has acted in it's relations with the Turkish authorities as if it accepted the status determined in Lausanne-but it has never deviated from the goal of officially gaining an "ecumenic" character:.....".

"Furthermore, in the hieararchy among the Christian Churches the Archbishop of Istanbul would rise to the same rank as the Pope.Taking that path would lead to the creation of an independant religious authority entitled to international representation, a kind of "religious state" within the Turkish state".

The above statements come from two documents "The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's Status" and "Turkey's Religious Tolerance" available from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Regarding the "Ecumenical" question it is an established fact that the Patriarchate of Constantinople has been using the "Ecumenical" label since the sixth century and therefore, no disrespect toward the Turkish Republic can be reasonably ascertained. The Patriarch of Constantinople is "Ecumenical Patriarch" and "First among equals" among the fourteen autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate's and Churches worldwide.

The name of the Ecumenical Patriarch is commemorated first,according to his rank by the heads of the Orthodox Churches during worship. At Pan-Orthodox synods and councils the Ecumenical Patriarch receives a place of honor, and serves Orthodoxy in general as a sort of President.Regarding the comparison to the Papacy, no autocephalous Orthodox Church or Patriarchate anywhere at anytime has ever had the status of the Papacy as a state. Such a desire would be contrary to Orthodoxy. The Ecumenical Patriarchate's religious dutie s include maintaining communion with all Orthodox Churches,administering to those Orthodox around the globe under it's jurisdiction, and overseeing Orthodox relations with western Churches and other religions.

It is interesting that the Turkish authorities worry about the Patriarchate's activities. The Patriarchate has never had as much secular power as it had during the centuries of the Ottoman empire.The Ottoman Sultans invested the Patriarchate with secular responsabilites that had been unheard of even in the Byzantine empire. The Patriarchate renounced it's secular responsabilities in 1923. Such irresponsible accusations about the Patriarchate planning to create a state has contributed to the hatred against the Patriarchate by Turkish Islamic fundamentalists.

A press release of the Ecumenical Patriarchate dated January 20,1997 mentioned the arrest of Metropolitan Iakovos, a member of the Patriarchate's holy synod.

"An Istanbul lower court has sentenced his eminence Metropolitan Iakovos of Laodikeia, a Hieararch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, to a five month suspended prison term and a fine of approximately two dollars for officiating at the Easter day service at the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of Saint Stephen, Istanbul. The judicial conviction is unprecedented, as the secular Turkish Republic has no official religion, and civil courts, according to Turkish law, have no jurisdiction over internal or ecclesiastical matters." Turkish lower court sentences Orthodox Metropolitan to Five Months prison term. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Press Release. January 20, 1997.

In August of 1991 the Patriarchate was under siege by a group of Islamists for several days.

"A mob of about 150 people calling themselves "Turks of Western Thrace", a group tied to elements of the Nationalist Islamic Organizations in Turkey, surrounded the Patriarchate from Aug 25-29 to protest the appointment by Greek authorities of a Moslem mufti (religious leader) in Xanthi.The protesters sought to impose their own candidate. The group set a deadline for a list of demands and threatened to storm the closed gate of the Patriarchate unless the Patriarch would issue a statement condemning the Greek government's policy in Western Thrace." Compiled from Athens News Agency reports. Siege ends Unsatisfactorily. Orthodox Observer. October 1991.

In the fall of 1993 a Greek Orthodox cemetary was desecrated. In October of that year an an arson attack took place against the Patriarchate. In March of 1994 Islamic fundamentalism began it's ascension with victories in Mayoral elections throughout Turkey. The mayor of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) among them, pledged to enter the Patriarchate through the gates where Patriarch Gregorius was hanged from from in 1821 following the outbreak of Greek independance and which has been closed to this day. Islamic extremists have taken responsability for va rious attacks on the Patriarchate.

"During the last few years, there have been instances of graffiti, stones tossed over the walls, and press attacks on the Patriarchate and the Patriarch. In May three bombs were found inside the Patriarchate walls." TURKEY. Country Reports on Human Rights practices for 1994. Department of State. February 1995.

"On September 30, a hand grenade was thrown over the wall of the Ecumenical Patriarchate compound in Istanbul causing minor damage."TURKEY. Country Reports on Human Rights practices for 1996. Department of State. February 1997.

"In December a bomb was thrown onto the roof of the Ecumenical Patriarchate cathedral where it exploded. A patriarchal deacon was severely injured and remains hospitalized. Structural damage was minimal, although many windows were broken."TURKEY. Country Reports on Human Rights practices for 1997. January 1998.

Responsability for these attacks has been claimed by groups such as "Islamic great east raiders front" and "Hizbullah" (unrelated to the Lebanese group with the same name. These attacks have come with the political rise of Refah (Islamic Welfare Party), an Islamic party that overall behaved moderately in it's year in party. The Islamic awakening in Turkey has it's moderate and extremist factions. Despite the banning of Refah by Turkey's armed forces, it is extremely unlikely that the fundamentalist movement will disappear.

It is clear that the extremists have a base inside Refah and are not isolated to the terrorists mentioned above. On the whole, Turkey's fundamentalists are emerging as a totalitarian political movement. The movement's seething hatred of the Patriarchate and the remaining Greek and Armenian Christians does not bode well for minorities in the future.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the last remnant of a civilization and culture (Byzantium). It survived the Ottoman empire to face a new repression under Turkey's secular nationalists. Turkey's secular establishment has never done anything to preserve or support the well being of this unique institution which played a significent role in both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. The Turkish state preserves Aghia Sophia and other Byzantine monuments as museums and sees the advantage of preserving these monuments which are lifeless. The Patriarchate, in contrast is a living institution, active and significent for millions of Orthodox worldwide and attracts Orthodox clerics from America, Greece, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania as well as the Vatican and World Council of Churches.

The Turkish government has tragically not seen the advantage of preserving such an important religious and historical institution. The Islamic movement seeks to overturn Kemal Ataturk's revolution. It has one thing in common with the Turkish state in it's goal to completely eradicate Christianity and Hellenism from it's soil.

As with other totalitarian movements, Turkey's fundamentalists seek to eradicate culture and civilization. There is an active movement to convert Aghia Sophia back into a Mosque,which means the great mosaics in the Church will be eradicated. Kemal Ataturk banned the word "Constantinople" when he renamed it Istanbul. The Islamists are ready to finish the job by erasing all vestigaes of the city's Greek past. A New York Times article "Discontent seethes in Once thriving Turkey" published on March 2, 1995 referred to a proposal to destroy the walls of the old city: ".....and advocating but disavowing a proposal after it created a storm-that Istanbul's ancient walls be torn down as a symbol of Byzantine Christendom".

The process of ethnic cleansing of the Greeks of Turkey is on the verge of being completed. The Patriarchate is the last life of Hellenism and Orthodoxy in the city. It's removal or dismantling will signify the success of Turkey in it's quiet and successful destruction of an entire culture. Following the bombing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in December 1997, a Greek caretaker at a Church was murdered. Shortly after, a Greek Church on Imbros was destroyed.

On April 3, 1998 Reuters reported: "Unknown attackers have desecrated 72 Greek Orthodox graves in Istanbul, state run Anatolian news agency said on Friday. It said the attackers broke gravestones and opened 15 tombs, breaking crosses and covering the area with bones taken from one of the graves at a cemetary in the city's Kurtulus district".