International conference on religious freedom to be held in Berlin

BERLIN

Turkish Professor İlber Ortaylı is among the key speakers of the 2nd Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom. DHA photo

The 2nd Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom is set to be held in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 4-5, and will feature Turkish Professor İlber Ortaylı, Fatma Benli and Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa as some of its key speakers.

The conference is sponsored by the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in cooperation with the Patriarchal Liaison Office to the European Union and the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Germany.

The conference will focus on religious freedom issues affecting minorities in Turkey, stressing the concepts of equality, state neutrality and pluralism as they relate to religious freedom and the status of religious freedom under Turkey’s current and proposed new constitutions.

Clinton to attend

Ortaylı, Benli and Metropolitan Elpidophoros will join former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will address the Conference via video, along with 35 other world-renowned speakers and panelists from the interfaith, diplomatic, journalistic, legal and academic communities.

“We are very pleased that so many of the world’s leading thinkers in the areas of religious freedom and human rights will be participating in this important conference. It demonstrates the serious nature of our endeavor and the depth of our dialogue,” Dr. Anthony Limberakis, National Commander of the Order of St. Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate said.

“This Conference is not afraid to look at the realities of the day and find constructive, positive responses to the challenges at hand.”

Professor İlber Ortaylı is a leading Ottoman historian and professor of history at Galatasarary University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. Fatma Benli is a Lawyer, human rights activist and Turkey’s representative to the International Jurists Union. In a recent publication by Georgetown University, Benli was listed as one of the world’s 500 most influential Muslims.

His Eminence Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa is the Abbot of the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the Island of Halki. He is the former Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.