Papa Eftim and the foundation of the Turkish Orthodox Church

Abstract

The peculiar type of identity of the Turcophone Anatolian Orthodoxta<ar~) communities arose a controversy between the Greek and the Turkish nationalisms in the early 20th century on whether they were Turcicised Greeks or whether they were Christian Turks. The controversy was related with the attempt of founding a Turkish Orthodox Church during / the Greek-Turkish war of 1919-1922. The aim of the attempt was to provide a separate church 'for the Karamanlz.by identifying them with the Turkish nationalist movement. By supporting the "Turkish Orthodox Church" project Ankara sought to weaken and counter the Greek and foreign propaganda on the "Turkish atrocities" towards the Anatolian non-Muslims. This was also a way of countering the Greek territorial claims on· Anatolia since the Turkish national church was demonstrating that there were no ''unredeemed Greeks" in Anatolia but Christian Turks. The creation of an independent Anatolian Turkish Church was not a mere ecclesiastic or religious affair. The separation from the body of the Orthodox Church meant in fact for the Karamanlz Christians their separation from the Greek national body since the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek-Orthodox religion were seen as the primary link of union between the ''free" and the ''unredeemed" Greeks. The main indicator of the Greekness of the TUrkishspeaking Orthodox . Christians of Anatolia was. their attachment to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. On the other hand the relation between the theories regarding the Turkishness of Anatolian Christians and the emerging Turkish nationalism was contradictory, since Islam in the early· 1920's, was defined as an integral part of the Turkish national identity. For that reason, the attempt to found a Turkish national church and the theories on the Turkishness of the Anatolian Christians was contradictory to the general trend of the National Struggle. Hence, despite the growing belief that the Karamanlz CJJr:istians were of Turkish origin they were eventually included to the population exchange.