The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit today praised a recent Turkish government decree allowing for a better protection of the rights of non-Muslim religious minorities in Turkey.
According to a May 21, 2010 report by Ecumenical News International, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree in mid-May ordering local officials "to do more to protect the rights of Christian and other non-Muslim religious minorities, such as by returning their confiscated properties and taking action against anti-Christian groups."
"We hope that local Turkish officials will expedite the application of this decree and thus bring about an improvement in the situation of communities which, as the Prime Minister has said, are an inseparable part of the Republic of Turkey and must feel fully valued as citizens of the country," Tveit said.
"Of curse, more needs to be done, but this is a sign that goes in the right direction," he added.
Prime Minister Erdogan's decree brings to mind an interview of Patriarch Bartholomew on the American TV program "60 Minutes" late in 2009, in which the Ecumenical Patriarch -- whose patriarchate is located in Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey -- said that Christians were being treated as second-class citizens in Turkey, and he felt that he was being "crucified."
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