In a unanimous decision, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Turkey must return the former Greek Orphanage on Büyükada Island, the largest of the Princes’ Islands, back to Fener Greek Patriarchate. This concludes the long legal case between the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Turkish authorities. The case had begun in 1997 when Turkey tried to use various legal means to take the building away from the Patriarchate in order to upgrade the area without compensation. The sentence is very important because for the first time the European Court requires the Turkish state to return the property without compromise (restitutio in integrum); for example, paying compensation in order to keep the building. Another important feature of the ruling is the explicit recognition of the legal status of the Patriarchate. The Turkish state has never recognised the Ecumenical Patriarchate despite improved relations between Ankara and the Fener (the Istanbul neighbourhood where the Patriarchate is located), especially since Prime Minister Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. The prime minister accompanied by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I visited the former orphanage for the first time on 15 August 2009, and since then has said on several occasions that he would not oppose the sentence of the European Court in Strasbourg. Since the Ecumenical Patriarchate is not legally recognised by the Turkish state, it cannot own property in Turkey. It is only allowed to meet the religious needs of the Orthodox community of Istanbul. Even its headquarters in the Fener belong to the Saint George Foundation (Vakif). The same is true for other religious minorities in Turkey. Given its importance, Turkish media have given the sentence an extensive coverage. Turkish European Union Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış told reporters that the government was not surprised by the ruling but could not say whether recognition would be given or not. Some time ago, Prime Minister Erdogan asked Bartholomew what the Patriarchate would do with the orphanage if it were handed back. The ecumenical patriarch answered that the intention was to turn one section into an international centre for the environment, and the other into a centre for inter-faith dialogue. To read more about the Ecumenical Patriarchate, please click here.
Turkey is threatening not to send its ambassador back to Israel unless it receives an apology for the deadly raid on Gaza-bound aid ships and other steps are taken to make amends, a government official said Thursday. Turkey wants Israel to apologize for the raid, return the seized ships, agree to an international investigation into the raid and offer compensation for the victims, the government official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization. Turkey, which had a solid alliance with Israel until the three-week Gaza war, which ended in early 2009, has already canceled three joint military drills and has said it would reduce military and trade ties and shelve discussions of energy projects, including natural gas and fresh water shipments. The official said Turkey would not send an envoy to Israel until the country takes steps toward meeting the demands. No time frame was given but the official said Turkey wanted its expectations to be met within a "reasonable" period of time. The Turkish ship was part of a six-vessel international aid flotilla sailing to Gaza to break an Israeli blockade imposed to keep weapons and other military components out of the hands of Gaza militants who have attacked Israel with bombs, rockets and mortars for years.
III. JPOST - Israel to liberalize Gaza policy
Israel will liberalize the system under which humanitarian goods are transferred into the Gaza Strip, according to a security cabinet decision Thursday morning. A statement released by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's media adviser said that included in the adjustments to Israel's Gaza policy would be an expansion of "the inflow of materials for civilian projects that are under international supervision." Israel will continue with existing security protocols, in order to "prevent the inflow of weapons and war materials," the statement added. The media statement added that Israel "expects the international community to work toward the immediate release of [captured IDF soldier] Gilad Shalit. The security cabinet decision came amid a growing sense in Jerusalem that a move by the government to significantly ease up on what is allowed into Gaza through land crossings would bring about more cooperation by governments in dissuading their citizens from taking part in future attempts to break the blockade.
Iran's foreign ministry has rejected Western nations' criticism of its human rights record, calling it unrealistic and politically motivated. Western nations rebuked Iran in a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week for what they called a lack of progress in protecting human rights. They cited crackdowns on protesters following Iran's disputed presidential election last year. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by Iran's official news agency Thursday as saying the statement attempted to divert public opinion from an Israeli raid on May 31 on a flotilla trying to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. He called the statement "Unreal and with political intentions."
Prime minister George Papandreou met on Thursday in Brussels with his FYROM counterpart Nikola Gruevski on Thursday in Brussels, where the Greek premier is attending an EU summit and the latter is holding contacts with the European People's Party (EPP). The meeting took place at Greece's initiative, since "we believe that direct contacts with the Skopje side offer only benefit, both to improvement of bilateral relations and to the effort for resolving the name issue," alternate foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas, who is accompanying Papandreou, told reporters afterwards. Droutsas said that Papandreou aspires that "whenever the two leaders are in the same place, to take advantage of the opportunity for a meeting". Regarding the content of the discussion, Droutsas said that Papandreou reiterated Greece's desire for a solution to the name problem, stressing that "Greece supports the effort for a name with a geographical qualification en effect for all purposes, and remains devoted to the UN-mediated procedure".
The European Union mission in Kosovo says anti-terrorist police have arrested a terror suspect wanted for extradition to the United States. The EULEX mission said in a statement today that a Kosovo Albanian male was detained in the Kosovska Mitrovica region. It added that the arrest came following a request for extradition made by the United States. The statement said the suspect, who was not identified, is charged by U.S. authorities with having supported a planned terrorist attack in North Carolina.
Next week Moscow and Washington will hold another round of talks to work out new measures to regulate the process of adoption of Russian children by Americans. All adoption processes were frozen earlier this year after a seven-year old boy was put on a plane and sent to Moscow alone, by his adoptive US mother. Since 1996, 15 Russian children have died at the hands of their adoptive US parents. Heavy beating, scalding, starvation – one can find it all in those files. Last August a Russian boy died allegedly after being beaten up by his foster parents in the US. Certainly those cases are heavily overshadowing thousands of happy endings, in which Russian orphans ended up in good hands in the US. The agreement is supposed to outline the responsibilities of the agencies fostering adoption. Something that both sides have agreed upon is that there should be no more independent adoptions, only those through competent agencies. Another issue that is still being discussed, and is very much initiated by Russians, is Russians’ ability to adopt American children. At the moment the number of those is close to zero.