Episcopal Conference of Turkey
Episcopal Conference of Turkey is the committee meeting of the Catholic and Uniate bishops in Turkey. It is a member of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE), and a guest member of the Southeast European Bishops' Conferences. For the Turkish state, the Turkish Catholic Bishops' Conference is "de jure" non-existent, so there is no mutual representative.
Catholics in Turkey
The Catholics make up 33,500 of the 130,000 Christians in Turkey. The vast majority are members of the Oriental Orthodox Church, with smaller number beings members of the Eastern Orthodox Church and even fewer Evangelical Christians. The Roman Catholics or Latin-Rite Catholics are represented by Apostolic Vicars in Istanbul and Iskenderun and an Archbishop in Izmir. The Armenian Catholics have an Archbishop in Istanbul, the Syriac Catholics have an Patriarchal Exarch in Istanbul, the Chaldean Catholics have an Archbishop in Diyarbakir, and the Greek Catholics have an Apostolic Exarch in Istanbul.
- Roman Catholic: 20,000
- Chaldean Catholic: 8,000
- Armenian Catholic: 3,500
- Syriac Catholic: 2,000
- Greek Catholic: less than 50
Members of the Episcopal Conference
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Turkey has seven members:
- Chairman of the Bishops' Conference: Archbishop Yusuf Sag, Patriarchal Vicar of the Syriac Catholic Church in Turkey
- Vice Chair: Bishop Kevork Khazoumian, Coadjutor Bishop of Archeparchy of the Istanbul Armenian Catholic Church in Turkey
Members are:
- Archbishop Johannes Tcholakian, Archbishop of the Armenian Catholics in Turkey
- Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Izmir
- Archbishop Louis Pelâtre, AA, Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul and Ankara
- Reverend Mar Francois Yakan, the Apostolic Administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Turkey
Commissioner for Human Rights
At the request of the Turkish bishops' conference was Dr. Otmar Oehring (Mission "missionary" in Aachen) to advocate for the Catholic churches in Turkey, appeal. In this role he sits on the European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) and the European institutions for their interests and rights.
Chairmen
- Georges Antoine Dubois, O.F.M. Cap., Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul (1979-1989)
- Giuseppe Germano Bernardini, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Izmir (1989-1992)
- Johannes Tcholakian, Archbishop of Istanbul (1992-1994)
- Louis Pelâtre, AA, Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul (1994-2002)
- Ruggero Franceschini, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Izmir (2002-2007)
- Luigi Padovese, O.F.M. Cap., Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia (2007-2010)
- Ruggero Franceschini, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Izmir (since 2010)
See also
- Roman Catholicism in Turkey
References
External links
- http://ccee.ch/index.php?&na=1,2,0,0,d,98889
- http://www.konrad.org.tr/Migration%20dt/207-212.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120805045939/http://www.sg.org.tr/gemeinde/
- http://www.missio-aachen.de/
- http://www.dbk.de/
- http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/conference/101.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20131105201508/http://www.kirche-in-not.de/downloads/christen-in-der-tuerkei.pdf