“We share the same concern over the protection of Christians all over the world and our common goal is to raise international awareness. However, the precondition for raising awareness is to inform the public, because, unfortunately, too many regimes, which prosecute Christians, try to cover up their crimes,” said the Secretary-General of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IAO), Maximos Charakopoulos during a teleconference with the Chairman of the Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC) in the US, George Gigicos.
The teleconference was also attended by the co-founder of OPAC, the Greek-American Andreas Veniopoulos, and the advisor of IAO Dr Kostas Mygdalis.
The purpose of this initiative was to coordinate the actions of the two organizations in order to protect persecuted Christians all over the world, as well as to protect Christian monuments from any kind of interference.
Maximos Charakopoulos noted: “ΙΑΟ and OPAC have similar goals, as they focus their actions and initiatives on the Orthodox population affected by persecution, prejudice and discrimination based on religion. Particularly strong is the care shown by the IAO for the Christian populations in the Middle East, either Orthodox or non-Orthodox. Our ultimate goal is to create conditions of peace and security, by eliminating any threat based on religious or national identity so that the Christian populations can return to their homes.”
Especially on the issue of Hagia Sophia, the head of the IAO underlined: “A genocide of memory is taking place, which has to do with the destruction of Christian monuments or their alteration, the change of their status and of their use, as, unfortunately, happened recently with the decision of the Turkish government to change the use of both Hagia Sophia and Chora Church,” while he also referred to the relevant initiatives to raise the issue by IAO.
On his part, George Gigicos expressed satisfaction for the understanding and willingness of cooperation of the two organizations.
Regarding Hagia Sophia, he pointed out that “we are determined to defend the sanctity of the place. We work with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which does an excellent job. We would like to connect with Christians around the world and create a network of joint action.”
The President of OPAC informed that there is a group in the US Congress that is responsible for religious freedom, emphasizing that “part of our mission is to cooperate with the members of this group, which is chaired by the Greek-American Gus Bilirakis, and which are committed to helping us in every way possible.”
