Nationalist and Islamist groups have launched a campaign to obstruct the annual ritual of the Assumption of Mary, organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in İstanbul, which will take place on August 15 at Sümela Monastery in the northeastern Turkish province of Trabzon. Leading the campaign are close associates of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while nationalist and Islamist associations are also lending their support.

This year marks the 10th occurrence of the ceremony since 2010. It was notably aligned with a series of reforms concerning minority rights, integral to the Erdogan administration’s pursuit of European Union membership at the time.

Due to the restoration of Sümela Monastery between 2015 and 2019, there was a hiatus of four years in the observance of the ritual, resuming once again in 2020.

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Retired admiral Cihat Yaycı, who leads the Turkish Maritime and Global Strategies Center, has launched a campaign to revoke the permit issued by the Trabzon Governor’s Office for the ceremony. On August 3 a tweet from the center’s official account contained derogatory language directed at Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, along with claims that holding the ceremony violates the Treaty of Lausanne, an international agreement signed in 1923 that defined borders and established peace between Turkey and the Allied Powers, including Greece, after World War I. 

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