Yurash habitually accuses ROC of Turkish scandal around Pat. Bartholomew

Director of the Department for Religions and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine Andrei Yurash. Photo: Yurash's Facebook page

On May 19, 2020, the Director of the Department for Religions and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine Andrei Yurash once again blamed the Russian Orthodox Church, this time for the accusations published by the Turkish media against Patriarch of Bartholomew of Constantinople. On his Facebook page, he commented on the allegations against the Phanar’s head that he was involved in the organization of the attempted coup in Turkey.

Yurash noted that this is not the first time that such accusations have been voiced against Patriarch Bartholomew.

According to the official, the Greek Foreign Minister “strongly reacted to this international scandal”, and “the media of many countries” began to discuss what is happening. However, in the context of the fact that the Ukrainian media “too actively” joined the discussion, the head of the Department for Religions “again and again raises the question: who benefits from this?”.

For Yurash, it is obvious that neither Greece nor Turkey is interested in the Turkish scandal. It is "clear that all this action looks like a well-planned and paid action of the third forces".

According to the official, the “historical deeds and decisions” of Patriarch Bartholomew — the Crete Council and the Tomos for the OCU — provoked an “inadequate reaction from the Russian Church”.

Yurash believes that the ROC “not only quarreled with the First See of the Orthodox Oekumene”, but also created a “whole system of actions” to discredit the personality of the Phanar’s head.

“So, it’s clear and explained who is interested in another round of tension around the head of the Mother Church for Ukraine. And those who ordered the campaign will not spare the organizational, material, media and any other resources for this purpose,” the official concluded.

In May 2020, the Turkish magazine “Gerçek Hayat”, owned by the publishing group of the pro-government newspaper “Yeni Safak”, published the article “Gülenism: Who is the Terrorist Fethullah Gülen? 100 Years of the History of the Terrorist Organization”, in which Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is accused of his connection with the opposition Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Italian analyst Antonio Ferrari believes the coup is beneficial to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for whom it "was Erdogan's attempt – in which he succeeded – to strike with arrests and torture all those who dare to challenge his dictatorial rule".

The analyst drew public attention to the fact that the edition which published the accusations against Patriarch Bartholomew “can be clearly tied to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is constantly seeking revenge”. The Greek online edition “Capital” also cited Ferrari.

Earlier, Yurash said he had lost because of Putin’s order.

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