| Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate Bağımsız Türk Ortodoks Patrikhanesi | |
| Type: | Eastern Orthodox |
| Main Classification: | Independent Eastern Orthodox |
| Leader Title: | Primate |
| Leader Name: | Papa Eftim IV |
| Area: | Turkey |
| Language: | Turkish |
| Liturgy: | Byzantine Rite |
| Headquarters: | Meryem Ana Church, Istanbul |
| Territory: | Turkey, United States |
| Founder: | Papa Eftim I |
| Founded Date: | 1922 in Kayseri |
| Independence: | 1924 |
| Recognition: | Unrecognized by other Eastern Orthodox churches |
| Separated From: | Greek Orthodox Church (1922) |
The Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate (Turkish: {{italics correction|Bağımsız Türk Ortodoks Patrikhanesi), also referred to as the Turkish Orthodox Church (Turkish: {{italics correction|Türk Ortodoks Kilisesi), is an unrecognized autocephalous Eastern Orthodox organisation based in Turkey, descending from Turkish-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians, the Karamanlides, with approximately 47,000 members.[1] [2] It was founded in Kayseri by Pavlos Karahisarithis, who became the patriarch and took the name of Papa Eftim I, in 1922.
See main article: General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox.
The start of the Patriarchate can be traced to the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). In 1922 a pro-Turkish Eastern Orthodox group, the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox (Turkish: {{italics correction|Umum Anadolu Türk Ortodoksları Cemaatleri), was set up with the support from the Orthodox bishop of Havza, as well as a number of other congregations[3] representing a genuine movement among the Turkish-speaking, Eastern Orthodox Christian population of Anatolia[4] who wished to remain both Eastern Orthodox and Turkish.[5] There were calls to establish a new Patriarchate with Turkish as the preferred language of Christian worship.[6]
On 15 September 1922 the Autocephalous Orthodox Patriarchate of Anatolia was founded in Kayseri by Pavlos Karahisarithis, a supporter of the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox.[4]
The same year, his supporters, with his tacit support, assaulted Patriarch Meletius IV of Constantinople on 1 June 1923.[7]
With a new Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory VII elected on 6 December 1923 after the abdication of Meletius IV, there was another occupation by Papa Eftim I and his followers, when he besieged the Patriarchate for the second time. This time around, they were evicted by the Turkish police.[8]
In 1924, Karahisarithis started to conduct the Christian liturgy in Turkish, and quickly won support from the new Turkish Republic formed after the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922).[9] The church remains a staunch supporter of the Republic system of Turkey, and the church's spokeswoman vowed to defend it against any threats.[10]
On 6 June 1924, in a conference in the Church of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana in Turkish) in Galata, it was decided to transfer the headquarters of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate from Kayseri to Istanbul. In the same session it was also decided that the Church of Virgin Mary would become the headquarter of the new Patriarchate of the Turkish Orthodox Church.[4]
Karahisarithis and his family members were exempted from the population exchange as per a decision of the Turkish government.[11]
There have been a number of attempts from the 1930s into the 21st century to tie the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate with the ethnically Turkic, Greek Orthodox Gagauz minority in Bessarabia.[12]
A similar project was put into motion in October 2018, when the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the Republic of Moldova and toured the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.[13]
On 22 January 2008,, granddaughter of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate's founder Papa Eftim I, daughter of Papa Eftim III, and sister of the current primate Papa Eftim IV, was arrested for alleged links with a Turkish nationalist underground organization named Ergenekon. At the time of her arrest, she was the spokeswoman for the Patriarchate. It was also alleged that the Patriarchate served as headquarters for the Ergenekon network. Sevgi Erenerol was well known for her militancy in Turkish nationalist activities, as well as for her antagonism to the Ecumenical Greek Patriarchate and the Armenian Apostolic Church. During the time of Alparslan Türkeş, she had run as a parliamentary candidate for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), political arm of the Turkish far-right and ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves paramilitary organization.[14] On August 5, 2013, Sevgi Erenerol was found guilty of involvement in the so-called "Ergenekon conspiracy" and sentenced to life imprisonment.[15] [16] After the retrial she was found not guilty and released on 12 March 2014.[17]
Today, three churches are owned by Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate and all of them are located in Istanbul.
In 1924, Eftim I acquired the Hristos Church illegally from the owner, the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Hristos Church was returned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1947, after a legal case, only to be confiscated and bulldozed later on for road enlargement. Compensation for the bulldozed church was paid however to the Erenerol family foundation instead of the Eastern Orthodox community.[13]
See main article: Turkish Orthodox Church in the United States.
The Turkish Orthodox Church in the United States was an Old Catholic group of 20 predominantly African American churches in the United States loosely linked to the Patriarchate. It formed in 1966 under Christopher M. Cragg, an African American physician. He was consecrated by Papa Eftim II in 1966 with the name of Civet Kristof. It continued to exist throughout the 1970s, but fell away in the early 1980s when Cragg opened a clinic in Chicago.[21]