Russian Church cuts ties with Turkey

Russia’s Orthodox Church has cancelled a top-level delegation to Turkey, after last month’s downing of a Russian fighter jet, writes Jonathan Luxmoore.

Russia’s Interfax news agency said the delegation, headed by the Church’s foreign relations director, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, was to have negotiated with the Turkish Government’s religious affairs directorate and “clarified questions” surrounding a planned June 2016 Pan-Orthodox Council in talks with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate. It said the tour had been called off because of the incident, and a projected visit to Turkey by Patriarch Kirill now also looked in doubt.

Russia denied violating Turkish airspace and imposed sanctions after the 24 November incident, in which a Russian pilot was killed. Russia accuses Ankara of profiting from oil sales by Islamic State (IS) in Syria. President Vladimir Putin accused the Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “supporting Islamicisation”, while the chairman of Russia’s Central Muslim Council, Talgat Tajuddin, urged Turkey to apologise for “violating international law”. Speaking to Russia’s Duma, Metropolitan Hilarion described IS as “satanists carrying out the Devil’s will”.

The crisis erupted as Italian bishop Mgr Paolo Bizzeti took up residence at Iskenderun as Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia after a five-year vacancy since the June 2010 brutal killing of Bishop Luigi Padovese.