"We had a fruitful meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew," said Gulas. "His All Holiness briefed us on the current state of affairs, and it is abundantly clear that we all must redouble our efforts to protect the future of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. We must support the religious freedom that it rightly deserves; that all faiths deserve."
According to Gulas, the discussion focused on the violation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's property rights by the Turkish government, prospects for reopening the Theological School at Halki, and failure of the Turkish government to recognize the international status of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
"I am committing our resources to elevate these critical issues to key audiences in Washington and throughout the grass roots of the AHEPA family domain," said Gulas. "Respect for human rights and the protection of all minorities are ideals defined in the criteria for European Union membership. They are also ideals inherent in the founding of AHEPA. We encourage Turkey to meet these criteria because it is in Turkey's best interest to achieve them, and a European-oriented Turkey is in the United States' best interest as well."
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(photo caption)
Supreme President Ike Gulas made his first official visitation following his re-election to the Ecumenical Patriarchate to meet with His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to discuss pressing issues affecting the Patriarchate.
AHEPA is the largest Greek-American association in the world with chapters in the United States, Canada, Greece, Cyprus, and sister chapters in Australia and New Zealand. It was established in 1922 by visionary Greek Americans to protect Hellenes from prejudice originating from the KKK, and in its history, AHEPA joined with the NAACP and B'nai B'rith International to fight discrimination.
The mission of the AHEPA family is to promote the ancient Greek ideals of education, philanthropy, civic responsibility and family and individual excellence through community service and volunteerism.
For more information about the AHEPA family, or how to join, please contact AHEPA Headquarters, (202) 232-6300, or visit www.ahepa.org.
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