Karloutsos Biography Part 3: Completing the Backstabbing of AB Iakovos

Fr Alex Karloutsos with Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope John Paul III

This is the third in a series of articles based on my interviews with Fr Alex Karloutsos. You can read the first two articles here:

• The Father Alex Karloutsos Origin Story
• Karloutsos and the Rise of Bartholomew

The last article ended with the election of Patriarch Bartholomew and Fr Karloutsos’s subsequent “exile” from America to Istanbul. Today, I’ll continue this series, focusing on the decade of the 1990s.

Kissinger

It was a dark and stormy night.

“In 1987, we were living in Pelham Manor, Westchester County,” Fr Alex Karloutsos told me. “It’s about 11:30 at night, it’s raining cats and dogs, thunderbolts. It was unbelievable. I’m in bed late at night, and the doorbell rings. My wife says to me, ‘You can’t go down there. It could be somebody crazy.’ I said, ‘I’ve got to go down there – something’s wrong.’ There’s a knock on our door. Somebody might be in trouble. She finally relented, and I went down, and I opened the door. I recognized the guy immediately. He said, ‘I’ve got to call my father, sir. I’m a student at Yale University. Our car broke down on Highway 95.’ ‘Sure,’ I said, ‘The phone’s in the back.’ So he goes to make the phone call, and he comes back, and I said, ‘You know something – have your friends come in. We’ll make hot chocolate while you wait. But I want you to know – your dad is the most hated man in the Greek community.’ ‘What?’ ‘You’re Henry Kissinger’s son.’ ‘Yes, I am.’”

Henry Kissinger was the National Security Advisor to Richard Nixon when Patriarch Athenagoras died in 1972. With the patriarchal election looming, Kissinger told Vice President Spiro Agnew, “I don’t give a damn about the Turkish bishops. I give a damn about the Turkish government.” That Turkish government went on to veto the leading candidates in the election, including Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America and Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon, the mentor of the future Patriarch Bartholomew.

Two years later, Kissinger – by now serving as both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor – gave a tacit blessing for Turkey to invade Cyprus, beginning an occupation of the northern part of the island that continues to this day. Because of this, Kissinger became despised by many Greeks. But Fr Karloutsos took pity on his son David that stormy night in 1987.

The following year, Fr Karloutsos arranged for Archbishop Iakovos to give the closing prayers at both the Democratic and the Republican National Conventions. “On the night when Vice President Bush was to speak, I’m walking Archbishop Iakovos down the stairs to sit with Barbara Bush. I had arranged for Iakovos to sit on the right and Billy Graham to her left. Right behind Barbara Bush was Henry Kissinger with his son. So I walked down. David sees me, jumps out of his seat, and says, ‘Dad, this is Father Alex, the Greek Orthodox priest I was telling you about.’ Kissinger goes, ‘Father, I want to thank you for taking care of my son. I was so worried. And he told me what you did for him and how kind your wife and you were to him and his friends.’”

It happened that Kissinger was close friends with Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records. Fr Karloutsos also became friends with Ertegun. One day in the 1990s, Ertegun was scheduled to host a dinner at the Chirigan Palace in Istanbul with Turkish prime minister Tansu Çiller, honoring Kissinger, who had been Çiller’s professor. Ertegun called up Karloutsos and asked if Patriarch Bartholomew would like to attend. “It would be his honor,” Fr Karloutsos recalled Ertegun saying, “for his wife Mica and him to host His All-Holiness along with the most powerful and influential people in Turkey.”

“So we’re there at Mica’s table, and I see Ahmet, and I say to Patriarch Bartholomew, ‘I have to get up now. I have to do something.’ He said, ‘What are you going to do?’ So I get up and I move towards Tansu Çiller and Ahmet Ertegun and Henry Kissinger. Ahmet sees me and goes, ‘Father Alex!’ and I said, ‘Ahmet, I just want to thank you. The patriarch wanted me to thank you for inviting him.’ Then I turned to Dr Kissinger. And I said, ‘Mister Secretary, how is David?’ He says, ‘Father Alex, it’s you! What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘Well, the Ecumenical Patriarch was invited by Ahmet, and I just wanted to say hello, and he wanted me to say hello to you.’ He said, ‘The Ecumenical Patriarch is here? Don’t you think I should go over and say hello?’ I said, ‘I believe that is the right thing to do, Mister Secretary.’ Now, remember that Henry Kissinger is like a god to the Turks. This is the guy who’s protected Turkey. He’s educated all those Turkish intellectuals, Turkish ambassadors, all these powerful businessmen. He’s been their greatest advocate. So all of a sudden, Tansu Çiller now sees this god get up, he walks across the room, this Turkish king, and where’s he walking to? So everybody’s looking – where is he walking to with a Greek Orthodox priest in front of him? I take him to the Ecumenical Patriarch. The patriarch got up and they conversed for ten minutes in German. Oh my gosh. So everything at the banquet is paralyzed because they’re seeing this. Now, when Tansu Çiller spoke, she did not recognize the Ecumenical Patriarch’s presence – but when Henry Kissinger spoke, he did, with great respect.”

TO CONTINUE READING, PLEASE VISIT ORTHODOXHISTORY.ORG