A/55/280/Add.1 fundamental right of freedom of religion. He declared that the situation was a result of the actions of ideologically motivated bureaucrats and in particular of certain cells that promote Kemalism and rail against the threat of a theocratic state. He concluded that people are much attached to religion — as shown in the rise in pilgrimages, the increasing numbers of children enrolled in imam schools and the number of mosques (some 1500) that are being built each year. He also stressed that this attachment to religion did not exclude adherence to the principles of Ataturk. He felt that, in practice, it was impossible to exploit religion for political purposes in Turkey. IV. The situation of non-Muslim communities 68. To the extent that the status of Muslims depends on the Department of Religious Affairs, and hence on the State, and since their situation has already been examined (see sect. III), the Special Rapporteur has decided to devote his attention to the status of nonMuslim minority communities. The treatment accorded by the authorities, and that resulting from the attitude of society towards minorities, in the broad sense of the term, shed considerable light on the current status of implementation of international instruments relating to freedom of religion and belief. The following information reflects consultations with religious and lay representatives of these communities, as well as written reports received from them. A. Minority communities recognized by the Turkish authorities as minorities under the Treaty of Lausanne 1. The Greek Orthodox minority 69. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Bartolemeos I, declared that the Greek Orthodox community (consisting of persons with Turkish nationality) enjoyed full freedom of religion and worship, but he related the following problems that his community faces in the area of religion. (a) Title of the Patriarchate 70. From a historical viewpoint, the Patriarch was the bishop of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and the second most important Christian leader after the Pope in Rome, according to the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381. The Patriarchate was only one of the four patriarchates of the Early Church (which were located in Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem), but it was by far the most important. For these historical reasons, the proper title of the Patriarchate, as recognized by all Christian institutions, is the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It should be noted that, since 1453, the Patriarchate has been under Turkish rule, and that the constituencies of the Patriarchate include the Orthodox Greeks of Turkey, the archdiocese of America, the Athos Peninsula, the Greek Orthodox churches of Western Europe and the Orthodox Church of Australia. These are the historical facts relating to the canons of this church. The Turkish authorities do not accept this title, either the term Ecumenical or the reference to Constantinople, which was renamed Istanbul in 1930. The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs declared that this title is not consistent with the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne, and that the Patriarchate is a Turkish institution. Patriarch Bartolemeos insisted that the title of “Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople” was in no sense a sign of political aspirations, but a simple description of the religious duties incumbent upon the Patriarchate, which is indeed located in Istanbul (and is commonly referred to as the Patriarchate of the Fanar, because of the site of its premises) but was historically known as the Patriarchate of Constantinople. (b) The legal status of the Patriarchate 71. The Patriarchate does not have the status of a legal entity. (c) Religious training institutions 72. With the closure by the authorities of private religious training institutions in 1971, the Patriarchate lost the use of its seminary on the Island of Halki. The Patriarchate has thereby been deprived of the means for training new clergy (from among whom the next Greek Orthodox patriarch in Turkey will have to be selected). The Patriarchate has therefore being compelled to train its religious personnel abroad, a solution that is far from ideal, because most of these people do not return to Turkey. According to the Patriarch, reopening the Halki seminary is essential for the future of the Patriarchate itself and for the Greek Orthodox community. 15