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Turkey Pledges to Return Some Confiscated Christian Properties
asbarez
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Return of Churches campaign
WASHINGTON - Fearing mounting losses at the European Court of Human
Rights and recent adoption of Congressional legislation calling
attention to its repression of Christian communities, the Turkish
Government issued a decree this weekend which would return Christian
and Jewish religious properties confiscated after 1936, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America.
`Erdogan's decree, clearly prompted by increased Congressional
scrutiny of Turkey's repression of its Christian minority and
successive losses at the European Court of Human Rights, would return
less than one percent of the churches and church properties
confiscated during the Armenian Genocide and the decades that followed
it,' said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian. `Ninety six years after the
genocide perpetrated against the Armenians, Greeks, and Syriacs, this
decree is a smokescreen to evade the much broader consequences of
those brutal acts. The ANCA will expand its outreach to Congress and
the Administration to ensure that the Turkish Government comes to
terms with its brutal past, respects the religious freedom of
surviving Christian communities and returns the fruits of its crime.'
The Associated Press reported that `the properties include former
hospital, orphanage or school buildings and cemeteries. Their return
is a key European Union demand and a series of court cases has also
been filed against primarily Muslim Turkey at the European Court of
Human Rights. Last year, the court ordered Turkey to return an
orphanage to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.' According to Armenian
Church experts, of the over 2,000 churches serving the Armenian
community prior to 1915, less than 40 are functioning as churches
today.
Erdogan's decree comes just weeks after a 43-1 House Foreign Affairs
Committee vote on an amendment to the State Department Authorization
bill, spearheaded by Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA) and Rep.
David Cicilline (D-RI), calling for the return of Christian Churches
confiscated by the Turkish government and an end to Turkey's
discrimination against its Christian communities. The amendment is
similar to a resolution (H.Res.306), introduced in June by
Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Howard Berman (D-CA), which has
more than 35 cosponsors. To learn more about the House Foreign
Affairs Committee amendment and H.Res.306, visit
http://www.anca.org/return .
In March, Congressional Hellenic Caucus co-chairs Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-NY) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) introduced legislation
(H.Res.180), reiterating a longstanding call by House members for
Turkey to respect the rights and religious freedoms of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate.
Turkey's treatment of its Christian minority has also emerged as an
issue of contention in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
consideration of U.S. Ambassador to Turkey nominee Francis
Ricciardone. In response to questions submitted by Senator Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.), Amb. Ricciardone erroneously asserted that a
majority of Christian churches functioning in 1915 continue to operate
as churches today. A revised response recently submitted to the key
Senate panel continued to misrepresent the number of functioning
churches.
Archbishops Oshagan Choloyan and Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelates of
the Armenian Apostolic Church of America Eastern and Western United
States, respectively, and Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church - Eastern United States each
issued powerfully worded spiritual messages in response to the
Ambassador's statement. In an August 15 statement, Archbishop Choloyan
stressed that the Ambassador's assertion was `so blatantly false that
it cannot remain unchallenged.' Setting the record straight, he noted
that: `The facts are quite clear. From the massacres of Armenians in
1895-96 and the Armenian Genocide in 1915, to the decades following
the establishment of the Turkish republic, Christian houses of worship
were systematically destroyed or confiscated. My own church's
hierarchal see, the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, was a victim of
this process, and today is exiled in Lebanon. The archives of the
Catholicosate contain hundreds of original deeds and other
documentation of churches and church owned property that was
confiscated.'
Archbishop Mardirossian concurred, stating, `The presence of an
Ambassador in Ankara who is unaware of or uninterested in the truth
and the consequences of the Ottoman and Republican Turkish
government's genocide of Armenians, Assyrians, Syriacs, Greeks and
other Christians materially undermines U.S. interests, compromises
American values, and weakens international efforts to defend religious
freedom for peoples of all faiths. Sadly, but unmistakably, with this
hateful and hurtful statement, Ambassador Ricciardone has demonstrated
that he is not the right candidate to effectively and responsibly
represent the United States in Turkey.'
On August 19, Archbishop Barsamian noted that Amb. Ricciardone's
response had `deeply offended Armenian-Americans', explaining that
`the loss of these many hundreds of churches, their neglect and
outright destruction, and the conversion of many of our sanctuaries
into mosques, is a matter of intense pain to Armenians: an ongoing
reminder of the loss of life and the destruction that we suffered as a
result of the 1915 Genocide... In all charity, perhaps the Ambassador is
simply unaware of certain facts. But mastery of the history of a
country, its dark as well as bright chapters, is essential to serving
the United States effectively and diplomatically in this important and
complex region.'
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian slammed Amb. Ricciardone's
revised response last week, stating, `It took Ambassador Ricciardone,
with the help of his many State Department colleagues, over a week to
submit in writing a patently false misrepresentation about the
destruction of Christian churches in Turkey, and another 10 days and a
full wave of Senate and citizen pressure for him to finally take half
a step back from the most offensive and obviously incorrect aspects of
his response. `He just keeps digging himself into a deeper hole as an
apologist for Ankara. His use of false figures and euphemisms to try
to twist his way out of his misrepresentation - while somehow still
trying to stick to Turkey's genocide denial narrative - clearly
confirms that Ambassador Ricciardone is not the right representative
of U.S. values and interests in Turkey.'
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
asbarez
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Return of Churches campaign
WASHINGTON - Fearing mounting losses at the European Court of Human
Rights and recent adoption of Congressional legislation calling
attention to its repression of Christian communities, the Turkish
Government issued a decree this weekend which would return Christian
and Jewish religious properties confiscated after 1936, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America.
`Erdogan's decree, clearly prompted by increased Congressional
scrutiny of Turkey's repression of its Christian minority and
successive losses at the European Court of Human Rights, would return
less than one percent of the churches and church properties
confiscated during the Armenian Genocide and the decades that followed
it,' said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian. `Ninety six years after the
genocide perpetrated against the Armenians, Greeks, and Syriacs, this
decree is a smokescreen to evade the much broader consequences of
those brutal acts. The ANCA will expand its outreach to Congress and
the Administration to ensure that the Turkish Government comes to
terms with its brutal past, respects the religious freedom of
surviving Christian communities and returns the fruits of its crime.'
The Associated Press reported that `the properties include former
hospital, orphanage or school buildings and cemeteries. Their return
is a key European Union demand and a series of court cases has also
been filed against primarily Muslim Turkey at the European Court of
Human Rights. Last year, the court ordered Turkey to return an
orphanage to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.' According to Armenian
Church experts, of the over 2,000 churches serving the Armenian
community prior to 1915, less than 40 are functioning as churches
today.
Erdogan's decree comes just weeks after a 43-1 House Foreign Affairs
Committee vote on an amendment to the State Department Authorization
bill, spearheaded by Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA) and Rep.
David Cicilline (D-RI), calling for the return of Christian Churches
confiscated by the Turkish government and an end to Turkey's
discrimination against its Christian communities. The amendment is
similar to a resolution (H.Res.306), introduced in June by
Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Howard Berman (D-CA), which has
more than 35 cosponsors. To learn more about the House Foreign
Affairs Committee amendment and H.Res.306, visit
http://www.anca.org/return .
In March, Congressional Hellenic Caucus co-chairs Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-NY) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) introduced legislation
(H.Res.180), reiterating a longstanding call by House members for
Turkey to respect the rights and religious freedoms of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate.
Turkey's treatment of its Christian minority has also emerged as an
issue of contention in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
consideration of U.S. Ambassador to Turkey nominee Francis
Ricciardone. In response to questions submitted by Senator Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.), Amb. Ricciardone erroneously asserted that a
majority of Christian churches functioning in 1915 continue to operate
as churches today. A revised response recently submitted to the key
Senate panel continued to misrepresent the number of functioning
churches.
Archbishops Oshagan Choloyan and Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelates of
the Armenian Apostolic Church of America Eastern and Western United
States, respectively, and Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church - Eastern United States each
issued powerfully worded spiritual messages in response to the
Ambassador's statement. In an August 15 statement, Archbishop Choloyan
stressed that the Ambassador's assertion was `so blatantly false that
it cannot remain unchallenged.' Setting the record straight, he noted
that: `The facts are quite clear. From the massacres of Armenians in
1895-96 and the Armenian Genocide in 1915, to the decades following
the establishment of the Turkish republic, Christian houses of worship
were systematically destroyed or confiscated. My own church's
hierarchal see, the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, was a victim of
this process, and today is exiled in Lebanon. The archives of the
Catholicosate contain hundreds of original deeds and other
documentation of churches and church owned property that was
confiscated.'
Archbishop Mardirossian concurred, stating, `The presence of an
Ambassador in Ankara who is unaware of or uninterested in the truth
and the consequences of the Ottoman and Republican Turkish
government's genocide of Armenians, Assyrians, Syriacs, Greeks and
other Christians materially undermines U.S. interests, compromises
American values, and weakens international efforts to defend religious
freedom for peoples of all faiths. Sadly, but unmistakably, with this
hateful and hurtful statement, Ambassador Ricciardone has demonstrated
that he is not the right candidate to effectively and responsibly
represent the United States in Turkey.'
On August 19, Archbishop Barsamian noted that Amb. Ricciardone's
response had `deeply offended Armenian-Americans', explaining that
`the loss of these many hundreds of churches, their neglect and
outright destruction, and the conversion of many of our sanctuaries
into mosques, is a matter of intense pain to Armenians: an ongoing
reminder of the loss of life and the destruction that we suffered as a
result of the 1915 Genocide... In all charity, perhaps the Ambassador is
simply unaware of certain facts. But mastery of the history of a
country, its dark as well as bright chapters, is essential to serving
the United States effectively and diplomatically in this important and
complex region.'
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian slammed Amb. Ricciardone's
revised response last week, stating, `It took Ambassador Ricciardone,
with the help of his many State Department colleagues, over a week to
submit in writing a patently false misrepresentation about the
destruction of Christian churches in Turkey, and another 10 days and a
full wave of Senate and citizen pressure for him to finally take half
a step back from the most offensive and obviously incorrect aspects of
his response. `He just keeps digging himself into a deeper hole as an
apologist for Ankara. His use of false figures and euphemisms to try
to twist his way out of his misrepresentation - while somehow still
trying to stick to Turkey's genocide denial narrative - clearly
confirms that Ambassador Ricciardone is not the right representative
of U.S. values and interests in Turkey.'
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress