Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew is set to give a speech to Parliament’s Constitutional Commission on February 20 to expound on the problems of Turkey’s minorities, marking the first such occasion in the history of the Turkish Republic, Hurriyet Daily News reports.
Patriarch Bartholomew will bring up a number of issues in the commission, including the reopening of the Halki Seminary, the removal of unfavorable statements about Greeks, Armenians and Syriac Christians from Turkish class books and the employment of minorities in public offices.
Patriarch Bartholomew was invited to Ankara within the framework of ongoing efforts to draft a new constitution for Turkey, although the move has led to criticism from some quarters within minority communities.
