Turkey has offered citizenship to foreign archbishops to help the next election of the Ecumenical Patriarch, spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox faithful, officials said. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has quietly led the gesture to the Orthodox, who face a shortage of candidates to succeed Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 70, and serve on the Holy Synod, which administers patriarchate affairs. Turkish law requires the patriarch to be a citizen. But the Orthodox community in Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, has fallen to some 3,000 from 120,000 a half-century ago, drastically shrinking the pool of potential future patriarchs. Istanbul, the Byzantine capital Constantinople until the 15th-century Ottoman conquest, remains the centre of Orthodox faith. As Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, a Turkish citizen of Greek heritage who is in good health, is spiritual leader for Christianity's second-largest group of churches. There are 14 Greek Orthodox archbishops, including Bartholomew, who are Turkish citizens. Seventeen metropolitans from countries including Austria, France, the United States and Greece have applied for passports, said Rev. Dositheos Anagnostopulous, the Patriarchate spokesman. Another six may still apply, and the See hopes the first archbishops will receive their papers by Christmas, he said. The EU and United States have urged Turkey to end restrictions on religion for its minority citizens. Diplomats said the offer of citizenship could provide a lifeline for the 2,000-year-old faith in its ancient homeland. 'At this point, it's just a matter of time before the institution dies out,' said a European diplomat on condition of anonymity. 'With this step, you have a much larger pool of clerics, making the Church's survival possible.' The EU wants Turkey to re-open a theological school on an island off Istanbul to show its commitment to democratic pluralism. The patriarchate trained clerics at the Halki seminary since the late Ottoman era until its closure in 1971 as political tensions flared with arch rival Greece over Cyprus. Granting citizenship to bishops would resolve a legal anomaly in the Holy Synod. Members are required to be citizens, but Bartholomew appointed foreigners in 2004 for the first time since the Turkish Republic was formed in 1923. Metropolitan Nikitas, a U.S.-born member of the synod and director of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley, Calif., applied for citizenship earlier this year. 'I chose to pursue this course of action, believing that it is one way I can assist the Ecumenical Patriarchate,' Nikitas, said.
II. GREEKREPORTER - Greece Aims to Cease the Turkish Occupation in Cyprus
The Prime Minister used the Turkish invasion date, to refer and assure the Cypriots, that Cyprus will continue to be a top priority for his Government. Papandreou said, “the goal is to end the Turkish occupation and attempted a fair and sustainable solution that operates within the UN framework.” “We fully support all three proposals made by President Christofia”. Further on, he pointed out that the role of Turkey is crucial and expressed his assurance that the efforts made will prosper. While concluding, he announced his departure to the Middle East, where he will discus Greece’s and Cyprus joint initiatives, in relation to, the humanitarian issue of Gaza. Dimitris Christofias, thanked the Prime Minister for his support and further on informed him about the publicety stunts the Turkish play. “We reply with actions. We want to encourage mobility and forward meeting.” Dimitris Christofias said. We have presented “specific proposals “. Mr. Christofias, noted three chapters of the Cyprus problem, property, territorial adjustment and the problem with those who settled. ”We urge Turkey to deliver the area of Barosia, to the United Nations. We urge them to allow the restoration of Famagusta and at the same time, to open it’s port, in order to, conduct trade from the Turkish Cypriot community,” the President said. Still, he continued, “we stated very clearly that we consider necessary the formation of an International Conference under the UN, along with the participation of the five permanent members of the Security Council, EU, Protective Powers, Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriots.”
III. JPOST - Greece and Israel show signals of warming ties
As a chill continues to blow through Israel’s ties with Ankara, those with Athens are warming considerably, as evidenced by Wednesday’s visit by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. This will be the first visit to Israel by a Greek prime minister since Konstantinos Mitsotakis came in 1992. Once considered among the harshest critics of Israel inside the EU, along with countries such as Ireland, Sweden, Portugal and Belgium, Greece is no longer in that “basket,” one diplomatic official said. Papandreou, whose 36- hour visit will be rich in symbolic gestures, is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday afternoon and go immediately to a meeting with President Shimon Peres. Papandreou will then visit Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III in the Old City, followed by a meeting with Greek Holocaust survivors. On Thursday, his day will start with a wreath-laying ceremony at Herzl’s tomb, followed by a visit to Yad Vashem. He is then scheduled to hold a working lunch with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and back to back meetings with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and opposition head Tzipi Livni. He will then go to Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. According to one diplomatic official, the Greeks – looking at the Israeli-Turkish, and Turkish-US tensions – are realizing that strategic alliances in the region are changing, and that this might be a good time to get closer to Israel as a way of warming ties with Washington. When Israel had a close strategic alliance with Turkey, the official said, Athens gave up any thought of forging such an alliance with Israel. But now the situation with Ankara has changed, and Athens is seeing more opportunities with Israel. Ankara, meanwhile, has continued strengthening its relations with Hamas, with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu meeting Hamas chief Khalad Mashaal in Damascus on Monday. According to the Turkish daily Hürriyet, Davutoglu and Mashaal discussed the Hamas-Fatah division, and “reviewed the efforts to revive peace talks between Palestine and Israel.” The paper quoted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying Hamas was not a terrorist organization, but rather “a resistance group defending [its] territory.
A UN court quashed the war crimes acquittal Wednesday of ex-Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and ordered that he be retried for murder and torture with two others, citing witness intimidation. "The appeals chamber ... orders that Ramush Haradinaj, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj be retried" on several counts on the initial indictment, said presiding judge Patrick Robinson of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This would be the court's first-ever retrial, said ICTY spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic. Robinson ordered the three, all former senior figures in the separatist ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), to be detained in The Hague. Haradinaj, 42, and Balaj, 38, had been freed after their acquittal in April 2008 on numerous counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed against Serbs and political opponents -- including murder, torture and rape. Haradinaj, the most senior Kosovo leader to stand trial at the ICTY, was arrested in Kosovo on Tuesday on a warrant issued by the court "because they (the judges) wanted him to be here for the judgment," said Jelacic. Balaj, serving an unrelated sentence in a Kosovo jail, was not present. Co-accused Brahimaj, 40, who was convicted of torture and sentenced to six years in jail in 2008 but released pending the appeal outcome, sat next to Haradinaj in the accused box. Neither man displayed a reaction to the judges' majority decision. Haradinaj was a KLA commander at the time of the alleged atrocities, as was Balaj, who allegedly headed a paramilitary unit known as the Black Eagles. Brahimaj, 40, was a deputy commander of the KLA and ran the notorious Jablanica prison camp. The prosecution had sought 25-year prison terms for all three men on charges that included beating, torturing and murdering detainees suspected of collaborating with Serbs. But the judges found there was insufficient evidence following a trial marked by the reluctance of witnesses to testify, allegedly under threat. Robinson upheld an appeal by the prosecution, saying the trial chamber should have given prosecutors more time to secure the testimony of witnesses who had been intimidated. "The trial chamber failed to take sufficient steps to counter witness intimidation that permeated the trial," said the judge, ordering that Haradinaj and Balaj be retried on six war crimes charges, which include counts of murder, cruel treatment and torture, and Brahimaj on four. "Given the potential importance of these witnesses to the prosecution's case, the error undermined the fairness of the proceedings and resulted in a miscarriage of justice." The three men now stand accused anew of participation in a joint criminal enterprise to "consolidate total KLA control over the Dukagjin area through the unlawful removal and mistreatment of ... civilians," according to the judgement. They are also charged with individual criminal responsibility for some of the same crimes.
V. RIANOVOSTI - Russian president has over 50,000 Twitter followers
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has over 50,000 followers on the internet micro-blogging site Twitter. Medvedev opened his Twitter account and sent his first tweets during a visit to the Twitter headquarters in California's Silicon Valley on June 23. The Russian president is registered under KremlinRussia for Russian-language tweets and KremlinRussia_e for English speakers. Within 12 hours of opening his Twitter account, Medvedev had more than 15,000 followers. The Russian-language version now has more than 45,000 followers, and another 32,000 are following the president's English tweets. KremlinRussia is the first Russian microblog to receive a "verified" status from Twitter Inc., which confirms that the account is owned by the Russian president. Medvedev, who portrays himself as a young and technologically savvy leader, also has a blog on LiveJournal and an account on YouTube.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Wednesday called on Muslims to fight the "blind and savage terrorism" fueled by U.S. and Britain, whom he blamed for deadly bombings of an Iranian mosque. "In our region ... the blind and savage terrorism is borne out of the evil policies of the United States, Britain and their state and non-state mercenaries," Khamenei said in a statement marking the seventh day of mourning for victims of the bombings of a Shiite mosque in southeastern Iran. "All Muslims are required to combat and confront this evil and sinister offspring which is the epitome of corruption on earth and of waging war against God," the all-powerful Khamenei said in the statement read out on state television. Two suicide bombers on Thursday blew themselves up at a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing 28 people and wounding hundreds.
VII. NEWSMAX - Hispanic Group Opposes Arizona Immigration Suit
The Arizona Latino Republican Association (ALRA) has decided to become the first Hispanic organization in the country to The ALRA will make the announcement Thursday, Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, told Foxnews.com. He will appear at the event along with ALRA Chairman Jesse Hernandez and members of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. That will make ALRA the first Hispanic group to "put a foot forward legally" in support of the new law by filing a motion to intervene against the Justice Department's lawsuit challenging it, Klayman said. So the ALRA becomes "in effect, a defendant" in the DOJ lawsuit, which names the state of Arizona and Republican Gov. Jan Brewer as defendants, he says. As for the motion, "We're still working on it," Klayman said. He expects it to be filed before a court hearing scheduled for Thursday on the DOJ lawsuit. "This is a way to tell the country that, 'Hey, we're Americans too and we believe in the rule of law," Klayman said. "It's a way to say, 'We got here legally, and we contributed a great deal. We want the rest of the country to recognize that we're with you [in the national immigration debate].’" The Justice Department claims the federal government has "preeminent authority" on immigration enforcement and that the Arizona law violates that authority. In court documents filed Tuesday, lawyers for Brewer wrote, "Arizona merely seeks to assist with the enforcement of existing federal immigration laws in a constitutional manner. It is (the Obama administration) that is attempting to impose immigration policies and priorities that contravene and conflict with federal law and unambiguous congressional intent."