Vatican supports Turkey's efforts to join the EU

BY MARK GREAVES
THE VATICAN'S S ecretary of State has signalled that the Holy See will support Turkey's bid to join the European Union if the necessary rules for entry are met.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that "Turkey has come a long way" towards democracy and respect for human rights.
The cardinal said that the EU could include an Islamic country as a member as long as "the fundamental rules of cohabitation" were firmly in place. But he added that the country's secularism, which is "exalted not as mere secularity but as a system of belief", might clash with Europe's Christian heritage.
Critics of Turkey's EU application point to complaints that Christians face discrimination and unequal treatment under Turkish law.
The government still does not recognise Christianity and Judaism, which means that churches and synagogues do not have a legal status.
Last week Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the world's leading Orthodox prelate, called on the Turkish government to recognise the autonomy of the Orthodox Church.
The patriarch asked the government to overturn a law that stopped non-Turkish people from being elected as Patriarch of Constantinople.
He suggested that Turkey could follow the example of Syria and Egypt, which grant automatic citizenship to the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch.
Cardinal Bertone has voiced his support for Turkey joining the EU before, and has even suggested that it would help to combat Islamic fundamentalism.
In January the cardinal emphasised Turkey's importance as a "bridge between East and West".
"It is in Europe's interest to help the country to become a true democracy," he said, "to consolidate a system of values more and more. Leaving Turkey outside of Europe risks, furthermore, favouring Islamist fundamentalism within the country."
Before his election as Pope in 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed strong opposition to Turkey joining the EU, saying that it would be "a great error". Cardinal Ratzinger told Le Figaro magazine in 2004 that Europe was "a cultural continent, not a geographical one", formed by Christianity.
If the continent of Europe and the Islamic continent to the East were united "it would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of culture for the sake of economic benefits".
The then cardinal suggested that Turkey could form its own "cultural continent" with neighbouring Arab countries and that the two continents could act together against fundamentalism.
But on his trip to Turkey last November in the wake of the Regensburg controversy he appeared to relax his stance.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that during a private meeting the Pontiff had expressed his support for Turkey's EU bid.
The Vatican immediately released a statement which stressed that it was not a political body and had no power to influence Turkey's application.
The statement said that the Holy See viewed Turkey's dialogue with the EU "positively", but stopped well short of supporting the country as an EU member.
"The Holy See regards positively and encourages the path of dialogue and rapprochement to Europe in virtue of common values and principles," the statement said.
During his trip Pope Benedict did not criticise Turkey directly but made half a dozen separate references to the importance of religious freedom.