ABTTF President: ‘The hate-based speech with respect to Islam by Archbishop Ieronymos II is an indicator of the environment in which we, as the Muslim Turkish community in Western Thrace, are in our country’.
The scandalous statement of the Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos II, leader of the Orthodox Church in our country Greece in the documentary broadcast on Open TV dropped like a bombshell. Archbishop Ieronymos II was met with strong opposition following his statement filled with hatred where he said that ‘Islam is not a religion but a political party’.
Following the outcry after the release of the documentary, the Archbishop of Athens issued a written statement last night, Hürriyet reported. The statement claimed that Archbishop Ieronymos II said that ‘the religion of Islam was perverted by some monster fundamentalists who spread fear and death all over the world’. Moreover, the statement noted that “the Archbishop and all of the metropolitan bishops of the Church of Greece are respectful of all known religions”.
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) made the following statement: “We have been shocked by the statement made by the Archbishop, the leader of the Church of Greece. I'm having trouble telling you what to say, how to put it. What can I say? If religious representatives, who are supposed to be representatives of peace and tolerance, make hate-based statements, they will inflame religious and inter-social divisions. In our country, the Orthodox Church has been named as the prevailing religion in the Constitution and the church has a very strong and influential role in the politics and the state structure. In line with this information, the statement filled with hatred with respect to Islam by Archbishop Ieronymos II is an indicator of the environment in which we, as the Muslim Turkish community in Western Thrace, are in our country”.
