PERSECUTIONS OF THE GREEKS IN TURKEY SINCE THE ...

PERSECUTIONS OF THE GREEKS 5
had been forcibly abducted by a Turk from the house of
her father, the Ministry through the appropriate bureau
superintendent declared to the Patriarchate: " The affair
concerns exclusively the parents involved, who ought to
appeal directly to the Turkish authorities; consequently
the mediation of the Patriarchate is superfluous." The
same course was followed with regard to the abduction
of the sixteen-year-old Helen Photiou Catuma, who lived
in the Tatavla quarter of Constantinople. A similar
thing happened when the Patriarchate complained of the
expatriation of the Greeks of Coutali and Marmora;
Talaat Pasha himself* in his reply declared: " The religious
authorities are not permitted to intervene in questions
foreign to their jurisdiction but must limit themselves
solely to their religious duties." A similar
communication of the Patriarchate touching on the persecutions
was returned in June, 1915, by the Ministry of
Justice with the declaration " The Patriarchate has no
business to transmit communications about such questions."
IF. Greek Communities in Turkish Cities
Along with the privileges of the Patriarchate there
were abolished also the rights of the Christian communities.
The election of the Councilors (a board of
Selectmen) had always been their inalienable right. Beginning
with the year 1915 the government in Constantinople
began to select these councilors as, for example,
in the parishes of Evangelistria, Vlanga, Xerokrene, etc.
At the same time under various pretexts the confiscation
of the property of the Greek communities, the Holy
Monasteries and other national establishments began.
This is confirmed by an official report of the Greek
Ministry in Constantinople dated the 14th of April,
1916 (Ministerial Archives, No. 1188), which runs as
follows:
* The present Turkish Frime Minister.