Religious leaders meet with President Bush

LRAPER Church Bulletin 27/06/2004
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Ýstanbul
Licensee: The Revd. Fr. Drtad Uzunyan
Editors: The Revd.Dr.Krikor Damatyan, Deacon Vagharshag Seropyan
Press Spokesperson: Attorney Luiz Bakar
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
E-mail: lraper@l...


Armenian Patriarch Meets U.S. President

On 27 June 2004, Sunday afternoon, President George W. Bush of the United
States of America had a meeting with the religious leaders of Turkey.

His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey,
accompanied by the Revd. Fr. Drtad Uzunyan, attended the meeting held at the
Hilton Hotel in Istanbul at the U.S. Embassy's invitation.

Also present were His Excellency Ali Bardakoglu, Director of the Office of
Islamic Religious Affairs in Ankara; His Holiness Bartholomew I, Greek
Orthodox (Ecumenical) Patriarch of Istanbul; His Excellency Rav Itshak
Haleva, Chief Rabbi of Turkey; His Grace Philixinos, Metropolitan of the
Syriac Orthodox Church in Istanbul; His Excellency Mustafa Cagrici, Grand
Mufti of Istanbul; Mr. Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State; Mr. Eric
Edelman, U.S. Ambassador to Ankara; Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the President's
National Security Advisor, and others.

The meeting was cordial and began with President Bush welcoming each guest
personally. The President, in his opening remarks, spoke of his appreciation
of Turkey's being a mosaic of faiths and cultures, and how she presents a
good model for a country which is a secular democracy, though predominantly
Muslim.

In his exchange with the Armenian Patriarch, the President indicated his
awareness that His Beatitude had studied in the United States. In response,
Patriarch Mesrob said that he considers the United States his second home
after Istanbul, and therefore the visit of the President of the U.S. gave
him great pleasure.

The Patriarch also referred to America's hospitality over the years since
the second half of the 19th century to hundreds of thousands of Armenians,
who had settled on the friendly shores of the New World. The President
fondly said that he thinks highly of the American Armenian community and
made a special reference to Mr. George Deukmejian, the 35th Governor of
California.

Speaking of the minority situation in Turkey, Patriarch Mesrob said that any
of the non-Muslim minorities in Turkey, or for that matter, for any ethnic
or national minority to exist anywhere, three types of institutions are
essential: First, places of worship to preserve religious heritage and to
nourish the spiritual life of the community, secondly, schools to teach
language and culture, and thirdly, foundations to fund religious and
educational activities and the personnel who enliven them. The minorities
in Turkey are attempting to maintain those institutions for the future and
well-being of their communities.

Patriarch Mesrob expressed his satisfaction that there was an on-going
inter-faith dialogue between the different religious establishments in
Turkey, and also a neighbourly dialogue of life among peoples of various
confessional communities.

Another subject Patriarch Mesrob touched on was the intermediary roles of
the minorities. He said that the communities have sometimes been in the
past, are ready today and will be so in the future to act as catalysts in
any peace undertaking in the region between Turkey and neighbouring
countries.

And finally the Patriarch said that being ministers of religion engaged in
spiritual edification, religious leaders try not to interfere or engage in
politics. However, certain occurences call for, if not political
involvement, at least a moral response to particular situations. Fully
supporting the initiative of the World Council of Churches called "the
Decade to Overcome Violence," Patriarch Mesrob voiced the sadness and
disquiet of many believers of various faiths in Turkey who are daily
bombarded with terrible scenes of violence via the media. Such images come
daily from Palestine, the Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq and other places in
the world. The Patriarch said he was deeply concerned with this because he
is worried that such occurrences may cause lasting differences between
various faiths and cultures.

President Bush thanked the Patriarch for his remarks, but on the issue of
violent images from Iraq, he emphatically iterated that he himself "felt
sick" by certain images from the prison in Baghdad. "That is not America or
Americans. That is not us. Believe me our feelings are mutual on this
matter. We will deal with those responsible under the rule of law. Those
kinds of actions are not permissible, because we are in Iraq for peace. We
mean peace."

Other subjects touched on during the meeting of the President of the United
States with the religious leaders in Turkey were the following: the
hoped-for accommodation of the Turkish government to institutions of higher
learning that would train clergy for non-Muslim religions; the role of
religion in peace efforts in the region; that religions are essentially
peaceful and that they should be taught properly and not subjected to
politicization; the accession of Turkey to EU membership fully supported by
the religious communities in Turkey and their appreciation of the U.S.
President's encouragement of that process.

Patriarch Mesrob presented the President with an album of the Armenian
churches in Turkey. The President gave the Patriarch a Steuben crystal bowl
with his insignia engraved on it.

The meeting ended with an opportunity given to the Turkish and international
press to photograph the company.

Patriarch Mesrob, before taking leave of the President, handed him a letter,
which said:

"Dear Mr. President,

It is with great pleasure that we welcome your visit to our country on the
occasion of the NATO summit here in Istanbul.

The Armenians of Turkey, constituting by far the largest Christian community
in this country, have long cherished, with affection and amity, the United
States of America, which, besides having a historic friendship and alliance
with Turkey, also has welcomed to its shores many of our kinsmen since the
second half of the 19th century.

It is because of these warm sentiments, that I feel able to express the
uneasiness we feel at the escalating level of violence which has been
spreading across the globe and which is especially pressing in the Middle
East region, where we also live.

I personally believe that you, Mr. Bush, as the president of a great country
that leads the world, have the authority to affect the course of events, and
this is why I would like to voice my anxiety to you.

War, terror, torture, embargo, marginalisation, defamation or
condescension.... Whatever form violence takes, it always leads to
consequences which are not in accord with human dignity. Instead it leaves
indellible scars in memories and generates lasting enmities between peoples.
Throughout history, there has never been an act of violence or retaliation
which has not harmed the innocent. Sadly, the consequence is usually that
violence begets more violence.

This is why, even when seeking to serve legitimate, higher ideals such as
establishing peace, upholding democracy or preventing terror, the resort to
violence, merely culminates in more pain and suffering to the innocent,
especially children.

Throughout history, when governments have resorted to force when challenged
by violence or even civil unrest, it often effectively became collective
punishments of whole nations or peoples. What has happened recently in
Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Sudan are clear examples. This cannot
be a portrayal of sublime sentiments and indeed, to many it is viewed as
revenge, a sentiment which cannot coexist with civilisation.

I believe that the United States of America and her President, have the
ability to preserve the values they struggle for without resorting to
violence in all its terrible diversity. It is sufficient to maintain their
trust in God, in their sense of vocation and ultimate potential for good.
Whenever we embrace violence we are already diminished and the high moral
and religious ideals to which we aspire are betrayed.

Mr. President, I can imagine to a certain extent the pressures that you must
be undergoing at present and therefore please be assured of my prayerful
support. May God be in all visions for world peace and may He protect us all
from losing our faith.

With my sincere good wishes,

MESROB II
Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul & All Turkey"