Will The Religious Affairs Directorate Cover Synagogues’ Electricity Bills?

BY ERTUGRUL OZKOK (HURRIYET)
Whatever their faith, the electricity bills of places of worship in Turkey were covered by the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company (TEDAS), at least until 2002. The former coalition government lifted this financial burden from TEDAS, and the Directorate of Religious Affairs started to cover these expenses.
However, the situation of the synagogues and churches was forgotten. TEDAS also used to pay their electricity bills, but stopped this and expected them to pay instead. The Jewish community wrote to TEDAS, but to no avail. Therefore the community appealed to the government. ‘The problem isn’t money,’ a Jewish community member told me. ‘We are upstanding members of this society and carry Turkish passports. If the state is covering the electricity bills of mosques, shouldn’t it do the same for synagogues, which are places of worship for Turkish citizens who are Jews? This would demonstrate equal rights for all citizens.’
At last the government found a solution to this, and the Directorate of Religious Affairs will cover these expenses. By the way, I’d also like to touch upon a recent controversy which also involved the Jewish community. Last weekend Reuters quoted Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew as saying, ‘Freedom of religion is restricted in Turkey.’ This statement wasn’t welcomed among the Jewish community, which firmly rebuked it and decided to announce that it disagrees with the patriarch. In a statement released yesterday, Istanbul’s chief rabbi said that Jews living in Turkey don’t face any problems concerning religious freedom or practicing their faith. Reuters has apologized, saying that the statement had been misquoted. All these events show how the Turkish state has good relations with its non-Muslim citizens.