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Last bid to keep faith on IDs fails
Kathimerini (23.12.2002)/ HRWF Int. (23.12.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net - A last bid by Church of Greece supporters to restore the mention of religious belief on state identity cards has failed, following a European Court of Human Rights decision published on Saturday.
The Strasbourg court rejected an appeal by a group of Greek clerics and theologians against a ruling by Greece's highest administrative court on a question that strained to the extreme relations between the government and the Orthodox Church of Greece in the Spring of 2000 just after the ruling socialists won a third consecutive term in office.
According to the ECHR decision, "the recording of individuals' religious beliefs on an official document... threatens to open the way to discriminations in their relations with the administration, or even in professional matters." ID cards, the court said, are not meant to advance religious rights.
The government's removal of the religion slot (among other entries) from state IDs prompted two mass rallies and a plebiscite campaign from the Church, which yesterday stressed that it had no official connection with the ECHR appeal.
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Pope issues plea to Greece to grant Catholic minority equal rights
AP (02.09.2002) / HRWF (04.09.2002) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Pope John Paul II urged Greece on Monday to improve the rights of Roman Catholics in the country and grant their Church the same legal status afforded the Greek Orthodox Church.
The pope also called for an Olympic truce during the 2004 Olympics in Athens in comments to Greece's new ambassador to the Holy See, Christos Botzios, who presented his credentials to the pope Monday.
On the issue of religious freedom, John Paul suggested the Athens government follow other European Union countries in fully respecting the rights of Catholics.
"They continue to suffer a difficult situation concerning the recognition of their rights in the bosom of the nation and various echelons of society," said the pope, who made a historic visit to the predominantly Orthodox country last year.
Greece's estimated 50,000 Roman Catholics are a minority in the mostly Greek Orthodox country of 11 million, and complain of discrimination.
Although the government recently banned listing religion on national identity cards, the information is required when Greeks register with municipalities or for mandatory army service.
"This can lead to prejudicial treatment," said a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Greece, Nikos Gasparakis.
The Roman Catholic Church is similarly not recognized as a legal entity in Greece and doesn't have the right to buy and sell property or be represented in the court system. The Orthodox Church of Greece, on the other hand, is recognized as a legal entity.
The European Court of Human Rights in December 1997 found Greece at fault for not according legal status to the Roman Catholic Church in Greece.
The pope referred to the legal issue in his comments to the new ambassador.
"I seize this occasion to draw attention to your government of the necessity to give thanks to a constructive dialogue among those concerned a legal status to the Catholic Church."
He added that it was "advisable" that the government follow other European countries in according dioceses and local communities "the necessary means for their mission."
The pope has made relations with the Orthodox a priority of his 24-year papacy, and his visit to Athens in May 2001 was a landmark on several levels.
He was the first pope to visit the country in nearly 1,300 years and he took the occasion to issue a sweeping apology for the "sins of action and omission" by Roman Catholics against Orthodox Christians.
Christianity split into the Orthodox and Roman Catholic branches nearly 1,000 years ago over the issue of papal authority. Many Greek Orthodox clerics consider themselves caretakers of the original faith and view the pope as a heretical leader.
The Vatican is often portrayed in Greece as hostile to Orthodox Christians and is blamed for the demise of the Greek Byzantine Empire in the 15th century.
The pope recalled his 2001 visit in his comments, saying that while the visit recalled the "painful memories of the past" it helped both Churches "advance on the path of Christian fraternity and newfound unity."
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Suspension of a 26-day hunger strike
against religious discrimination
CSW (28.04.2002) / HRWF (29.04.2002) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.net - The well-known Greek cardio-thoracic surgeon, Dr George Cosmopoulos, who has been on a hunger strike for 26 days, decided on 27 April to suspend it after his re-election at the head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the Anticancer Hospital of Agios Savvvas in Athens on 26 April.
For numerous months, the Minister of Health had been refusing to sign the employment papers concerning the appointment of Dr. Georges Cosmopoulos as the head of the department of thoracic surgery at the Anticancer Hospital of Athens (under the authority of an Orthodox agency) although the scientific council of the National Health System elected him with 6 votes against 1 (the manager of the hospital). "This is the last episode of a long series of discrimination acts because I am a member of the Apostolic Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination", he had told Human Rights Without Frontiers in an interview at the end of last year.
In 1992, Dr. Georges Cosmopoulos had been fired from the Athens Hospital (private medical institution) on the grounds of his public Evangelical activities because the Greek Intelligence Service had blacklisted him as "a heretic, a foreign agent and an enemy of the Greek Nation". He remained workless during three years. On 5 August 1993, the daily paper Eleftherotypia published the top secret list drafted by the EYP, the Greek Intelligence Service: more than 30 Protestant organizations and churches were filed as enemies of Greece. Last year, Dr. Georges Cosmopoulos was summoned by the Military Court of Athens because he had allegedly not performed military service ... 30 years ago. Fortunately, he could prove that he had fulfilled his military obligations in conformity with the Greek law although he was in South Africa at that time.
Dr George Cosmopoulos (51) is a cardio-thoracic surgeon. He is married and has four children. He made studies (1969-1975) at the Athens Medical School and post-graduate studies at the same school (1976-1977), at the University of Cape Town and at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (1977-1983). He practiced surgery in South Africa (1983-1988) and in Greece (1988-2001). During his stay in South Africa, Dr Cosmopoulos served in famous places such as Baragwanth University Hospital of Johannesburg and the Groote Schuur Hospital of Cape Town, where the first heart transplant operation was carried out by Prof. Christian and Marius Barnard. Back in Greece, his situation changed dramatically. In 1995, he was elected for a medium rank post of cardio-thoracic surgeon at the Athens Children's Hospital of "Agia Sogia". Subsequently, his applications for the post of head of a thoracic surgery department were turned down by five hospitals, despite his professional experience. He was also inflicted disciplinary penalties by the Medical Doctors Association because of his protests.
Dr George Cosmopoulos Tel. 00 30 10 9649970
Email: info@drgcosmopoulos.com - Website: www.drgcosmopoulos.com
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