HM 1417

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to encourage the Government of Turkey to grant
4	the Ecumenical Patriarch appropriate international
5	recognition, ecclesiastical succession, and the right to
6	train clergy of all nationalities and to respect the
7	property rights and human rights of the Ecumenical
8	Patriarchate.
9
10	WHEREAS, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, located in Istanbul,
11	Turkey, is the Sacred See that presides in a spirit of
12	brotherhood over a communion of self-governing churches of the
13	Orthodox Christian world, and
14	WHEREAS, the See is led by Ecumenical Patriarch
15	Bartholomew, who is the 269th in direct succession to the
16	Apostle Andrew and holds titular primacy as primus inter pares,
17	meaning "first among equals," in the community of Orthodox
18	churches worldwide, and
19	WHEREAS, in 1994, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, along
20	with leaders of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, cosponsored
21	the Conference on Peace and Tolerance, which brought together
22	Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders for an
23	interfaith dialogue to help end the Balkan conflict and the
24	ethnic conflict in the Caucasus region, and
25	WHEREAS, in 1997, the Congress of the United States awarded
26	Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with the Congressional Gold
27	Medal, and
28	WHEREAS, following the terrorist attacks on our nation on
29	September 11, 2001, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew gathered a
30	group of international religious leaders to produce the first
31	joint statement with Muslim leaders that condemned those attacks
32	as "antireligious," and
33	WHEREAS, in October 2005, the Ecumenical Patriarch, along
34	with Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders, cosponsored the
35	Conference on Peace and Tolerance II to further promote peace
36	and stability in southeastern Europe, the Caucasus region, and
37	Central Asia via religious leaders' interfaith dialogue,
38	understanding, and action, and
39	WHEREAS, the Orthodox Christian Church, in existence for
40	nearly 2,000 years, numbers approximately 300 million members
41	worldwide with more than 2 million members in the United States,
42	and
43	WHEREAS, since 1453, the continuing presence of the
44	Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey has been a living testament to
45	the religious coexistence of Christians and Muslims, and
46	WHEREAS, this religious coexistence is in jeopardy because
47	the Ecumenical Patriarchate is considered a minority religion by
48	the Turkish government, and
49	WHEREAS, the Government of Turkey has limited the
50	candidates available to hold the office of Ecumenical Patriarch
51	to only Turkish nationals; and, out of the millions of Orthodox
52	Christians who were living in Turkey at the turn of the 20th
53	century, there remain as a result of the policies of the Turkish
54	government during this period fewer than 3,000 of the Ecumenical
55	Patriarch's flock left in that country today, and
56	WHEREAS, the Government of Turkey closed the Theological
57	School on the island of Halki in 1971 and has refused to allow
58	it to reopen, thus impeding training for Orthodox Christian
59	clergy, and
60	WHEREAS, the Turkish government has confiscated nearly 94
61	percent of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's properties and has
62	placed a 42-percent tax, retroactive to 1999, on the Baloukli
63	Hospital and Home for the Aged, a charity hospital run by the
64	Ecumenical Patriarchate, and
65	WHEREAS, the European Union, a group of nations with a
66	common goal of promoting peace and the well-being of its
67	peoples, began accession negotiations with Turkey on October 3,
68	2005, and
69	WHEREAS, the European Union defined membership criteria for
70	accession at the Copenhagen European Council in 1993, obligating
71	candidate countries to achieve certain levels of reform,
72	including stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy,
73	adherence to the rule of law, and respect for and protection of
74	minorities and human rights, and
75	WHEREAS, the Turkish government's current treatment of the
76	Ecumenical Patriarchate is inconsistent with the membership
77	conditions and goals of the European Union, and
78	WHEREAS, Orthodox Christians in this state and throughout
79	the United States stand to lose their spiritual leader because
80	of the continued actions of the Turkish government, and
81	WHEREAS, the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the
82	Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, a group of laymen who each have
83	been honored with a patriarchal title, or "offikion," by the
84	Ecumenical Patriarch for their outstanding service to the
85	Orthodox Church, will send an American delegation to Turkey to
86	meet with Turkish government officials, as well as the United
87	States Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, regarding the
88	Turkish government's treatment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
89	NOW, THEREFORE,
90
91	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
92
93	That the Congress of the United States is urged to
94	encourage the Government of Turkey to:
95	(1)  Uphold and safeguard religious and human rights
96	without compromise.
97	(2)  Cease its discrimination of the Ecumenical
98	Patriarchate.
99	(3)  Grant the Ecumenical Patriarch appropriate
100	international recognition, ecclesiastic succession, and the
101	right to train clergy of all nationalities.
102	(4)  Respect the property rights and human rights of the
103	Ecumenical Patriarchate.
104	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
105	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
106	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
107	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
108	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.