Ukrainian advocates respond to claims of Federation of Constantinopolitans

Logo of the NGO "Public Advocacy". Photo: protiktor.com

The NGO "Public Advocacy" considers justified its previously expressed critical comments regarding the announced petition to the UN on the issue of Hagia Sophia and calls on the "Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans", which protects the rights of believers of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, to approach them as an opportunity for fruitful protection of Orthodoxy at international platforms.

“We believe that in our commentary on the activity to protect Orthodox Christians in Turkey during the 45th session of the UN HRC, it was reasonably noted that the outward signs of the failure to employ all possible and legal methods of protection by the defenders of Orthodoxy testify to the weak legal work or probable fear to take real actions to protect the Hagia Sophia Cathedral both on the part of the religious leaders of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and on the part of the structures protecting them,” says the response of the NGO“ Public Advocacy”, published on the organization’s website on October 5, 2020.

Human rights activists noted that they'd expected the Phanar structures to speak on the Hagia Sophia issue during the consideration of the State of Turkey in the UN on September 29, but, “unfortunately, the issue of Hagia Sophia was not raised at all.”

In addition, the statements of the "Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans, which basically duplicate the theses of Archbishop Elpidophoros that Hagia Sophia is subject to protection as a cultural heritage within the competence of the UNESCO organization", are incomplete and insufficiently substantiated, which "does not comprehensively reflect the problems of Orthodox Christians in Turkey and significantly narrows the scope of legal protection."

“In our opinion, public statements, petitions and other documents aimed at protecting the Christian communities of Turkey and disseminated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate or related NGOs are mostly declarative, but not specifically legal in character as a lawsuit or statement of complaint within the framework of whatever procedure that obliges to consider such appeals under judicial or other procedure. <...> Therefore, we circulated a comment about the insufficient, in our opinion, activity of the structures addressing the protection of Orthodox Christians' rights in Turkey. Such criticism is quite productive given the freedom of speech and the transparency of all actions of civil society representatives in the international UN procedures,” the Ukrainian human rights activists emphasized.

The NGO "Public Advocacy" urged its counterparts "to take all of the above as remarks in the spirit of fraternal love, since we, as Orthodox Christians, feel pain and concern about what is happening in Turkey not only in relation to the greatest shrine of Orthodoxy – Hagia Sophia, but also in light of the overall situation of Orthodox Christians in this country. Hence, hushing up the depth of the problems facing the Orthodox or raising insufficiently loud voice in their defense causes our deep concern.

“Taking this opportunity, we invite the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans to further submit joint statements within the UN HRC, which will both increase the flow of information to the UN and help to benefit from mutual experience and support. <...> We hope that love for God and His Church will allow us to overcome any misunderstandings and will provide new opportunities for the fruitful protection of Orthodoxy at international platforms,” the human rights organization concluded.

As reported by the UOJ, representatives of the "Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans" were unhappy with the statement of the NGO "Public Advocacy" regarding the announced petition of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the UN on the issue of Hagia Sophia.

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