Turkey hands back orphanage in Constantinople to Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople after being ordered by European Court of Human Rights

 The Turkish government took control of the building in 1997 saying it had fallen into disuse after being abandoned for years by a Greek Orthodox foundation that oversaw orphanages.

 The EU court ruled in June that as the land on which the building was built on was registered to the church, it has de facto ownership.

 Patriarch Bartholomew I plans to turn the building into an institute for the environment but has been denied permits for maintenance and repairs by the government.

The AP report also said,

The Patriarchate in Constantinople — the spiritual leader of Turkey's Greek minority — dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered the city in 1453.

Source: AP


Comment: Familiar story. Seizing church property and preventing building and restorations. Maybe they have something to do with the Pact of Umar (or Pact of Omar), agreed during early years of Islamic conquest, in which Christians and Jews conceded, no doubt under duress

We shall not build, in our cities or in their neighborhood, new monasteries, Churches, convents, or monks' cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night, such of them as fall in ruins or are situated in the quarters of the Muslims.

There appears to be a historical trend, starting from early Islam and continuing on to this day.

Also note the Muslim Turk's invasion of Christian land.


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