Text size:

McCain tackles foreign diplomacy before benefits

BY ERIK GERMAN | erik.german@newsday.com

10:56 AM EDT, June 11, 2008

Gearing up for an election where he is expected to be outspent by Democratic contender Sen. Barack Obama, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain came to New York City Tuesday for a pair of fundraisers.

McCain held the events just blocks apart in midtown Manhattan, beginning at the 21 Club on 52nd Street with a joint Republican National Committee fundraiser for which 80 tickets sold at $28,500 apiece.

There McCain praised America's progress in the Iraq war, saying that casualties are down, that for the first time in months Iraqi troops are taking charge with U.S. assistance, not the other way around. "We are succeeding and winning," he said.

The senator finished the evening with a small function at the St. Regis Hotel on East 55th for about 40 donors who had raised more that $100,000 each for his campaign so far. He entered the event alongside Rudy Giuliani and began his remarks by saying that he was proud to have campaigned against the former New York City mayor and to have emerged as friends.

Giuliani referred to McCain as "one of my heroes," adding that at such a difficult time for this country, "We need John McCain more than he needs us."

But before getting down to fundraising business Tuesday, McCain found himself navigating the choppy waters of Greco-Turkish relations during a short photo-op with the head of American Greek Orthodox Church at the organization's headquarters on 79th Street.

While McCain was posing with Archbishop Demetrios, a reporter with a Greek-language media outlet fired a question at the senator, asking why he did not sign a letter a year and a half ago in which 73 other senators -- including Obama -- urged President George W. Bush to publicly support religious freedom for a Greek Orthodox minority living in Istanbul, Turkey.

McCain declined to answer directly, saying the matter was under discussion. "Obviously we are in favor of religious freedom all over the world, especially those places where it seems to be about to disappear," he said, before declining further questions.

Speaking afterward, the Archbishop said he and McCain had discussed the plight of Turkey's Greek Orthodox minority during the meeting, as well a long-running conflict between Turks and Greeks over the island nation of Cyprus, adding McCain had expressed "guarded optimism" about the resolution the Cyprus conflict. Cyprus has been partitioned into a Turkish Cypriot North and a Greek Cypriot South since 1974 when Turkey invaded the north in response to a military coup on the island which was backed by the Athens government.

Archbishop Demetrios is the spiritual leader of America's 1.5 million Greek Orthodox Christians and by custom is known only by his first name. There are large concentrations of Greek Orthodox believers in several states that could prove battlegrounds in the November presidential election, said Jim Golding, the editor of the Orthodox Observer, a monthly church publication sent out to members nationwide.

Illinois boasts more than 38,000 Greek Orthodox believers, with 28,000 in Florida, more than 22,000 in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and 17,000 in Michigan, according to the religion data archive maintained by Pennsylvania State University.

Church spokesman Stavros Papagermanos insisted the Archbishop's meeting with McCain was not about the election, as the church does not endorse presidential candidates. Instead, he said, it came about because the senator had crossed paths with the Archbishop last year and wished to meet with him while in town.

The McCain campaign did not respond to messages seeking comment on the meeting.