Amitai Etzioni David Katz Harsh Pant - Middle East Forum

new system of church-state relations,which it referred to as “positivelaicity.” But the Vatican does not upholdTurkey’s secularism—which theGeorge W. Bush and Obama administrationshave praised as a model forthe Islamic world—as the answer. “InTurkey,” the Instrumentum laborisnotes—undoubtedly on account ofthe influence of Bishop Padovese—“the idea of ‘laicity’ is currently posingmore problems for full religiousfreedom in the country.” The workingdocument did not elaborate but simplystated that the aim of this “positive,”as opposed to “Turkish laicity,”would be to help eliminate the theocraticcharacter of government andallow for greater equality among citizensof different religions, therebyfostering the promotion of a sounddemocracy, positively secular in nature,which also fully acknowledgesthe role of religion in public life while completelyrespecting the distinction between the religiousand civic orders. 9These were the principles that guidedPadovese’s Turkish mission. He worked in theclear knowledge that “faithfully witnessing toChrist”—as the synod’s preparatory documentacknowledges—“can lead to persecution.” 10 Andso it did.CONSPIRACY OF SILENCEWithin hours of Padovese’s death, the provincialgovernor preempted the results of policeinvestigations with the announcement that themurder was not politically motivated but rathercommitted by a lone lunatic. 11 Moreover, in anattempt to eliminate any Islamic motive, NTV Turkeyannounced that the murderer was not actuallya Muslim but a convert to Catholicism. 12The brutal murder on June 3, 2010, of the head of Turkey’sCatholic church, Bishop Luigi Padovese, seen here in2006 leading the funeral procession of another slainpriest, Andrea Santoro, was met by denials andobfuscation—not only by the Turkish authorities butalso by Western governments and even the Vatican.Then the police leaked word—allegedly from theassassin—that he had been “forced to sufferabuse” in a homosexual relationship with thebishop and that the killing had been an act of “legitimatedefense.” 13It is true that Turkey’s minister for culture andtourism, Ertuðrul Günay, issued a short message ofcondolences on behalf of the government 14 andthat the foreign ministry expressed regret to theinternational media. But neither President AbdullahGül nor Prime Minister Erdoðan expressed theirown condolences or publicly addressed the murderof the head of their country’s Catholic Church,and even the foreign ministry’s statement took careto highlight the murderer’s alleged “psychologicalproblems.” 15Erdoðan’s silence in response to this nationaltragedy was particularly striking. Together withSpanish prime minister Jose Luis RodriguesZapatero, the Turkish prime minister and leader of9 “The Catholic Church in the Middle East,” pp. 10-12.10 Ibid., p. 44.11 ANSA News Agency, Vatican City, June 3, 2010.12 Agence France-Presse, June 4, 2010.13 Asia News, June 7, 2010.14 Press release, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism,June 3, 2010.15 CNN, June 3, 2010.Eibner: Turkish Christians / 43