Greek-Cypriot Religiocultural Heritage as an Indicator of Fundamental Rights and a Means to Cultural Diplomacy

Abstract

The process of Europeanisation and the Westphalian reversal that it entails does not only mean the erosion of borders, the shift of national powers upwards and the review of the notion of sovereignty as it emerged from the fermentations that gave birth to a secular(ist) state-system. The contemporary international environment, being in essence postsecular, means the indirect political enabling of religion, by rendering recognised religious organisations as civil society addenda and therefore, essentially as actors. The Treaty of Lisbon (2007, into force 2009) for instance, allows room for more participation and intervention by churches, among other religious and philosophical actors, in the European Union (EU) Institutions. Thereby, the Orthodox Church of Cyprus (hereafter OCC) has been able to set in motion an operation towards securing the fundamental and religious rights of the Greek-Orthodox community – particularly where heterodox religioscapes intersect – not least, through the utilisation of the office of Representation of the Church of Cyprus to the EU (RCCEU). In doing so, the application and implementation of the European acquis and the Charter of Fundamental Rights without exceptions was deemed essential in order to safeguard the aforementioned rights, which constitutes religiocultural diplomacy in practice, exercised by a par excellence religious actor.