Turkey's "Blue Homeland" think tank declared the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon a matter of national sovereignty this week,...

Turkey's "Blue Homeland" think tank declared the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon a matter of national sovereignty this week, escalating its rhetoric against Greek Orthodox worship at the historic site. The group, Türk DEGS, accused Greece of running a "Greek identity policy" following a Divine Liturgy held at Sumela on Sunday for the Nine-Day Feast of the Virgin Mary. A Turkish outlet aligned with the same nationalist current dismissed the ceremony as a "Pontic show." This is the third consecutive year Turkish authorities have denied a permit for the August 15 Dormition of Mary liturgy at Sumela, the most significant annual observance at the site. The Sunday service was held instead as part of the lesser Nine-Day Feast period, but that was enough to draw a sharp response from nationalist circles in Turkey. Türk DEGS specifically objected to references made to Pontus and Greek civilization during remarks following the liturgy. Sumela Monastery, carved into a cliff face above the Black Sea coast near Trabzon, was seized by the Turkish state after the 1923 population exchange and has been the subject of repeated disputes over Orthodox worship rights. Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate have pressed for permanent permission to hold the Dormition liturgy there annually, but Ankara has continued to grant only selective, limited access. The Blue Homeland movement, which promotes maximalist Turkish territorial claims across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, framing even religious observance at historic Christian sites as a geopolitical threat. #Sumela #Greece #Turkey