THE 11TH ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE I.A.O. WAS REALISED IN KIEV, UKRAINE
(24-27 June
2004)
The 11th Annual General
Assembly of the I.A.O for the year 2004 was realised
in Kiev , with the presence of the President of the
Parliament of Ukraine Mr. Volodymir Lytvyn.
The Central subject of
the Assembly was "Security
with Freedom" .
The President of the General Assembly of the I.A.O,
Mr. Sergei Popov , deputy of the Russian
Duma, chaired in the Assembly, while the President
of the Parliament of Ukraine Mr. Volodymir Lytvyn declared
the beginning of the Assembly's works and in his addressing
speech he stressed the following:
"...The principles
of Christian love have inspired our populations and
this hope has become an essential element of our culture
and independence of our Croatian nation. Despite the
complications and difficulties we had, we managed to
overcome the difficulties and in short time, religious
freedom became reality. The Church as a social organisation
became a particularly important element of the social
life, which is very important in the Ukrainian history.
.. Our people have proved that no violence, no forced
imposition can play a role in our perception on the
truths of orthodoxy. The cultural aspect which has been
shaped through the crucial importance of the contribution
of the orthodox faith needs to become part of all of
our people ... On behalf of the Verhovna Rada of Ukraine
you I therefore welcome you. I wish you fruitful works,
peace, all the good and cordial wishes in order for
you to be able to fulfill your responsibilities."
The head of the Parliamentary
delegation of Ukraine , member of the I.A.O International Secretariat Mrs. Katerina Samoilyk
in her welcoming message she stressed
the following:
".I would like to
inform you on the 11 year history of the Interparliamentary
Assembly on Orthodoxy, which has been a long course,
a reality, an elaboration of approaches, a mutual understanding
if you wish and respect of one another. 11 years later,
we could say that our Assembly is a successful venture,
an accomplishment of each deputy of each National Parliament,
participating every year in our Assembly. As for our
own land, the land of Ukraine, I hope that during the
small period of your staying will give you the opportunity
to get acquainted with our ancient history, our Orthodox
history, our spiritual values and I am convinced that
we will come closer to each other and will enrich each
other spiritually, which is most important for Orthodoxy..."
Reverend
Metropolite of Switzerland Mr. Ieremias , represented the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew . The Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew , in his message to the participants
stressed the following:
"...The combination
of security with personal freedom is not considered
an easy task during the complex days of war, riots,
terrorism and their outcome of fear and distress. However,
personal freedom and human rights should always be considered
with respect and should not be violated by the excuse
and reasoning of fear of terrorism. This is dictated
by the holiness of each human being, which is deeply
respected and devoted by the Orthodox Church..."
Respectively, Mr. Valery Alexeev, advisor to the I.A.O ,
addressed message of the Patriarch
of Moscow and all Russia Mr. Alexios ,
which stressed among others:
"...Your Assembly
will deal with the examination of a very important subject
of the modern world, related to the development of democracy
within the spirit of orthodoxy. I am particularly happy
that such an important Conference meeting of such an
important international organisation will once more
be held at a place which is under the auspices of the
patriarchate of Moscow . The democratic principles and
the orthodox values agree with one another. The ideals
of freedom and the harmonious development of personality
have always been in the centre of orthodox reality.
The modern world suffers a line of threats, connected
with the violation of human rights, the danger of totalitarianism.
Orthodoxy and its church have always fought against
these threats, fought against all kinds of despotism.
We consider that the spiritual experience and the orthodox
tradition will help you find the appropriate solutions,
appropriate directions, which will allow for the removal
of dividing lines, to deal with problems such as poverty,
terrorism and moral crisis..."
Vicar
Mr. Mitrophanes represented
Reverend Metropolite
of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Volodymir ,
who stressed the following in his message to the participants:
"...Your present interparliamentary
assembly, dedicated to the program of freedom and security
shows us that the world which God gave us becomes everyday
less secure for the existence of man, peoples and every
living being. The technological and ecological problems,
the armed forces constantly keep humanity alert and
put life itself in danger. The international terrorism,
the intended murders of innocent people for political
expediencies. Orthodoxy considers terrorism as the highest
sin and that there is no justification for terrorist
acts. Combating terrorism, fighting evil, an ultimate
and inhuman evil. The world society proposes methods,
such as the absolute control of life and human activity.
It appears that a very important problem concerning
the parameters of freedom of the world in the modern
world is emerging. Do they have the right of existence?
And who will determine these freedoms? And how can a
person sacrifice? What can be sacrificed in the name
of his personal security and security of all other people?
.... The religious meaning of man's freedom is different
from the perception of society. The knowledge of truth
gives us freedom. From the orthodox viewpoint, free
man means the believer, the unfaithful man is led to
the way of sin and immorality..."
The
President of the I.A.O General Assembly Mr. Sergei Popov
, read a message of the President of the State Duma of the Russian Federation
, Mr. Boris Grizlov , which stressed
among others:
"...The problems to
be discussed during the 11 th General Assembly are among
the most complex and opportune, under the current circumstances
of combating terrorism at an international level. It
is particularly important for the rights and freedoms
of people to be preserved. We hope that the Interparliamentary
Assembly will support balanced approaches, are based
on the long-standing history of Christianity. Boris
Gryzlov, I wish fruitful works to the participants of
the 11 th General Assembly of the I.A.O..."
Respectively, the I.A.O alternate Secretary General Mr. Nikolaos
Nikolopoulos, representative of the
Hellenic Parliament ,
read welcoming message of the President
of the Greek Parliament Mrs. Anna Psarouda-Benaki ,
which stressed among others:
".The Hellenic Parliament
has supported the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy,
from its start, with exceptional interest, an important
initiative that deputies undertook with the participation
of very few parliaments and today this organization
has evolved to an international organization including
a greater number of parliaments. The Hellenic Parliament
will continue to support this effort by all possible
means, since throughout these 11 years of your Interparliamentary
Assembly a great number of useful views have been presented
and made known through your activities. Wishes for great
success in the 11 th Interparliamentary Assembly..."
The Secretary General of the I.A.O Mr. Stylianos-Angelos
Papathemelis in his inaugural speech
stressed:
"..I would like to
present some thoughts, on the subject we selected this
year as the main subject of our discussions. The subject
is: "Security with Freedom". It could be "Security
and Freedom" or it could be stated as a question,
"Security or Freedom?" In any case the right
and proper answer to the orthodox anthropology is as
it has been stated: "Security with Freedom".
We wish to be free and live a free life, our free life,
to be secure, to be free of danger inside our countries,
or from external threats and dangers, which are against
our national borders. I want to believe that there is
no such thing as "Relation of invalid amount"
between the terms of Freedom and Security. On the contrary:
Relation of dialectic interdependence. The orthodox
life, the orthodox proposal for life considers freedom
as man's privilege. Apostle Pavlos informs us that freedom
is a proposal of life for a loving society, a new possession,
a new person, an interpretation which makes everything
new. There is a loving harmonious relation between the
three factors, God, the fellowman and ourselves..I would
like to tell you that these past days in an intergovernmental
frame we also had the following revolting phenomenon,
in the European Union Assembly, wherein the last version
of the first European Constitution is formulated. The
head of the Constitutional Assembly, former president
of France Ziskar D' Esten had used this phrase from
the Epitaph of Pericles of Thoukidides as a motto, but
as proposed by various countries this phrase was deleted.
It was deleted for the reason that it does not refer
"to all" but refers "to many", and
thus the principle of discriminations, which our civilization
inherited from Klisthenous democracy in ancient Athens
, has been consolidated. This has been also confirmed
by the Canonical Law of the Orthodox Church, which defines
"the opinion of the majority governs". This
opinion constitutes the decision, the law...
Undoubtedly the democratic
policy, which is the structural consolidation of freedom,
as well as the process for security and its terms, needs
to be protected. This protection often, in the interior
of countries, uses the criminal phenomenon and criminal
law as a tool and, from time to time, one can see the
will of the authorities around the world to make the
institutional frame stronger, which will not necessarily
lead to the consolidation of security..
I would like to stress,
mainly, that September 11 constituted a dramatic event
not only for the United States , where this took place,
but for the entire world. And with no doubt no logically
thinking citizen around the world would support terrorism,
organised crime, mafia, various fundamentalisms, leading
to this situation. At the moment, the five power sectors
of the world, political, cultural, economic, technological
and military, are in the hands of the one and only superpower.
It is important to know which type of omnipotence the
ones who manage this superpower use. An incorrect attempt,
an error in handling this force can obliterate humanity,
or parts of humanity in various points around the world,
and cause mourning, bloodbath, tragedies, world tragedies...
In the frame of all this
terror-hysteria, caused by September 11, there is a
series of new theories, comprising the new superpower
dogma. In these fabricated arguments one can include
strengthening of the structure of the criminal law and
legal procedure around the world.
I wanted to point out the
following: terrorism, as appeared in the events of September
11, and March 11 in Madrid , is hyper-terrorism, which
does not have the characteristics of internal terrorism,
as experienced in the European countries and in our
own country as well. Terrorists, in the frame of common
terrorism, are individuals whose mission is to kill,
to wipe out other fellowmen, basically innocent, but
mainly do not want to be killed themselves. Their basic
objective is to survive death, to escape. In the phenomenon
of hyper-terrorism, in the United States and lately
in Spain , terrorists are acting with the so called
power of the desperate. The power of the desperate is
an enormous power, pointed out by the ancient Greek
historian, Xenophon, who said: "No one can resist
the desperate". Reason is that they do not value
their life. They dedicate their lives, not to kill (they
kill of course and apparently they kill a large number),
but to be killed. This is what is important and makes
the difference. I would say that if someone attempted
to solve these known phenomena of interior terrorism,
there is significance in the structural frame, which
is important for the result. If someone wants to confront
pro-terrorism, these measures are completely hilarious.
A few days ago Mr. Solana,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the European Union, wrote
on issues for security in the European Union and informed
us that 90% of heroin in Europe today, goes through
the Balkan countries and comes from Afghanistan . I
do not have anything else to say but to remind you that
during the bombarding of Afghanistan , I was astonished
that none of the laboratories of heroin production was
bombarded! They remained untouched. However, I think
that "producers" are not those who grow poppy,
the villagers who sell with poppy by the kilo to the
merchants. They are the wholesalers and they are the
Governments which are the intermediaries for heroin
to reach the European countries and of course wipe out
the youth of these countries. A lot of things around
the world happen through strange coincidences. Vlasios
Paskal in his "Thoughts" informs us that if
Cleopatra's nose was smaller, the fate of the world
would be completely different. I conclude with the wise
quote of Benjamin Franklin "those who choose to
replace freedom with security, do not deserve neither
freedom nor security"..."
Finally, the President of the General Assembly of the I.A.O,
Mr. Sergei Popov , said the following:
"... I wish to point
out certain aspects of our central subject, since this
subject is unlimited and the cross-correlation of philosophical
side, as we heard in the reports, requires a multisided
analysis. In the relevant statement I.A.O. reports on
the subject of the General Assembly of this year it
is stated that the restriction of terrorism may lead
to restrictions of freedoms that were so far considered
as given.
Very often we as parliamentarians
are compelled to establish unpopular laws in order to
respond to the challenges of terrorism. We do not have
the right for delay.
How can we fight the terrorism
by limiting the natural rights of human beings? This
is not a philosophical problem but a moral problem which
emerges vis-a-vis each parliamentarian.
We have witnessed the efforts
of terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq but also in Russia
, Spain and Serbia and also in a lot of other countries
in the world. Today the security is tried upon.
The threat of terrorism
is the most dreadful threat of our times, having assumed
an international character. There is no country in the
world secured from terrorism and terrorism can only
be dealt with through common efforts of the world community.
It was already pointed out by the colleagues that the
terrorist organizations possess important economic resources,
which are getting enriched by various splinter and criminal
organizations in the world, and in some cases-by a direct
or indirect sustenance of a few countries.
A direct threat against
the basic values towards the creation of the big Europe
is also organized crime and the proliferation of mass
destruction weapons, regional conflicts, crises, the
crises of public administration system. Undoubtedly,
all these public threats influence the restrictions
of freedoms and rights of human beings, as pointed out
by some of our reporters, simultaneously, the creation
of certain safety measures against these threats also
limits human rights, and therefore we as legislators
are obliged to find a balance between freedom and security.
The security measures dictate
also a special way of behavior and limit the free choice
of people. When a society experiences fear and insecurity,
its majority may welcome the establishment of control;
it may assume with pleasure the restrictions of freedom
for guarantying alleged stability and security. In order
for security and freedom to obtain the form of a specific
legal system, it will have to pass through national
awareness, and be recognized as a practical necessity,
as a directive of national life.
The Christian principle
of respect for freedom of human beings is combined organically
with the Synodness of Orthodoxy. It does not have external
legal frames. It is characterized by internal intellectual
principles. The freedom is one of the values inherited
by God.
The spirit of Orthodoxy
is not an exotic element; it is an essential element
of our society, a basis of our existence. The Orthodox
approach of the world and the way of life are not whims
of history, being preserved for 20 centuries, but a
preservation of the history itself, of the past, the
present and the future.
Russia is a model of inter-religious
collaboration. It is one of the most efficient forms
of fighting terrorism. On March, 2-4, 2004 we held in
Moscow the 2 nd Inter-religious Peace Forum, during
which the Commonwealth of Independent States was proclaimed
a unique place for dialogue of inter-religious character.
In the adopted document of the Forum it is stated that:
"The participants of the Forum are convinced that
religion can and will play a unifying and conciliating
role in the Commonwealth, promoting the achievement
of consensus and stability between the countries and
peoples. We believe that due to our united efforts we
may overcome the enmity between nations, threat of terrorism
and extremism as well as the loss of our independence
and freedom ».
The creation of this inter-religious
council of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the
practical manifestation of the Forum, will coordinate
activities of the traditional religious organisations
of the countries-members of the C.I.S. with the aim
of strengthening international peace consensus and stability
within society, as well as, promoting dialogue between
intellectual leaders and strengthening of intellectual
basis.
Russia has chosen the common
values of Europe . This choice is irreversible . For
this reason we seek the construction of a united and
thriving Europe which will be alleviated from the dividing
lines of the past. The cooperation of Russia with Europe
can provide both partners with motives for a further
development. It will be a fruitful and constructive
collaboration of all the united spiritual efforts of
the national and cultural components of Europe .
Among the strategic goals
for the unification of Russia and the European Union,
the President of the Russian Federation Mr. V. Putin
in his speech to the Federal Assembly of the Russian
Federation underlined the necessity for the creation
of common areas of economy and trade, internal and external
security, science and culture. He also emphasized that:
"it is necessary that the European Union enlargement
should unite us not only geographically but economically
and spiritually as well"...
Concluding, I would like
to point out that our international actions can be effective
only if they are supported by Parliaments and States
at most, and therefore measures for security and combating
terrorism should be consistent with the principles of
democracy and basic freedoms and human rights."
-----
Experts on the central
subject presented their views during the works of the
plenary Session:
Mr. Georgios Mantzaridis,
Professor Emeritus of Theology of the Aristotelian University
of Thessaloniki, Greece and Mr. Nikolaos Bitzilekis,
Law Professor at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki,
Greece.
Delegations from 18 parliaments
- members of the I.A.O participated in the Assembly:
Greece , Russia , Cyprus , Albania , Australia , Bulgaria
, Belarus , Georgia , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania ,
Moldova , Palestine , Poland , Romania , Serbia and
Montenegro , Ukraine , USA . In addition, the Vice President
of the organisation "SYNDESMOS" of the Orthodox
youths.
The General Assembly elected the
new organs of the I.A.O.
The works of the General
Assembly were concluded with the adoption of the following
documents:
- RESOLUTION OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
ON ORTHODOXY (I.A.O.) ON THE CYPRIOT ISSUE.
- RESOLUTION OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ON
ORTHODOXY ON THE EVENTS IN KOSOVO AND METOXI
- RESOLUTION OF THE 11 TH ANNUAL GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ON ORTHODOXY
(IAO) ON THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI ISSUE.
- CONCLUSIONS OF THE 11 TH ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY
ASSEMBLY OF ORTHODOXY. |
