Wulff asks for more religious freedoms after Tarsus mass
German President Christian Wulff attended a mass at the historic St. Paul Church in Tarsus together with his wife on Thursday.
German President Christian Wulff took part in a religious ceremony at a church-turned museum in southern Turkey on Thursday, following which he reiterated his earlier calls for more religious freedoms for Christians in Turkey.
On the heels of similar remarks he made in Turkish Parliament in Ankara on Wednesday, Wulff proceeded to the southern province of Mersin’s Tarsus district to attend a mass at the St. Paul Museum, which has been transformed from its original function as a church. Christians who came to Tarsus from downtown Mersin as well as from other provinces including Mardin, Hatay, Adana and Adıyaman also participated in the mass that Wulff attended together with his wife. “No one should be afraid of different cultures and religions. They should in fact be seen as enriching,” Wulff said. Noting that they did everything they can to provide Muslims in Germany the best conditions for them to practice their religion, Wulff said they are expecting some legal arrangements from Turkey in reciprocity.
“We think that religious freedoms are a fundamental right and hope the final steps will be taken and some legal changes will be made to ensure Christians in Turkey have all of their religious freedoms and exercise their religions properly,” he noted. When asked what he meant by legal arrangements, he answered: “What is most important for us is for the Christian churches to educate their own clergy from among their own communities.
We hope that the Halki seminary on Heybeliada, which was closed 40 years ago, will be reopened.” Wulff pointed out that they recently allowed all Muslim students to be able to take Islam lessons in school from teachers who were trained in Germany. The Halki Seminary was closed to new students in 1971 under a law which put religious and military training under state control and has remained closed to date, despite international calls for its reopening.
Responding to another question, Wulff stated that in discussing the reopening of the St. Paul Church with his counterpart Abdullah Gül, that what they wish for is not limited to one or another church but to ensure the religious freedoms of all Christians. “We long for all Christian churches to be opened to religious ceremonies if their communities wish it. This is applicable here too,” he said, adding that such a move will also drive many tourists to Turkey. “I and my wife would also like to come here again and attend masses like that if there will be any,” the German president added. Recently Turkey made two widely lauded moves, allowing Christians to hold masses at two historic churches in Northern Province of Trabzon and eastern province of Van. On Friday the German president will have talks with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew and then visit the Sultanahmet Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. He and Gül are then expected to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a Turkish-German university in İstanbul.
22 October 2010, Friday
RAMAZAN AKSOY/ÜMIT PITIR MERSIN
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