" While the European Union (EU) membership talks with Turkey was delayed on Monday due to divided opinions within the nations, Christians in Turkey urged the European leaders to hasten the negotiation, saying that Turkey’s entry to EU will "cultivate reconciliation between civilizations".
"In Turkey, more than 99 percent of the population follows Islam. The Armenian people are the largest non-Muslim community and are traditionally Christians in their Turkish homeland of almost 3,000 years."
"We Christians of the East, who for centuries have lived in a Muslim word, can testify to this endeavor, and fortified by long experience, we can affirm that this event could be significantly enriching for Christians in the West who have started to live with Muslims and to experiment a multi-ethnic lifestyle only recently,"
"We pray for the success of the process of civilization and peace in the European Union and so that Turkey and the Armenian Christians, who make up the country’s largest non-Muslim community, may find their right place in it," the patriarch concluded with prayer in the letter.
It was the crisis over Turkey’s EU-bid last week that prompted the Patriarch’s call. The European Parliament meeting in Brussels last Wednesday had seen a heated debate over Turkey’s EU membership. EU ambassadors harshly criticized Turkey's record on human rights and religious freedoms, claiming it has failed to meet the corresponding standard on the EU Constitution."
Christian News - The Christian Post | Christians Seek Reconciliation through Turkey-EU Membership Talks
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