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TURKEY'S STEP NOT OF GREAT VALUE
Karen Ghazaryan
Radiolur
30.08.2011 17:19
The Turkish Prime Minister has recently signed a decree to return
hundreds of properties that were confiscated from religious minorities,
Christian and Jewish religious properties by the state or other
parties over the years since 1936, and would pay compensation for
properties that were seized and later sold. Is this real progress or
a demonstration of Turkey's traditional policy?
>From the point of view of the Armenian community of Istanbul the
return of the part of the confiscated property should be assessed as
a positive step, expert of Turkish studies Anush Hovhannisyan told a
press conference today. However, according to her, the step is such
a small one and needs to be spoken about.
"It's a very trifle step, since the loss of Armenians was immense,
taking into consideration that the process of confiscation of
Armenians' property was continuous, especially during the genocide
and the years that followed," she said.
Therefore, the expert is assured that this step of Turkey fits into
its traditional policy and contains certain danger. According to
political scientist Levon Shirinyan, practice shows that no law has
ever been fully implemented in Turkey. Both are confident that Turkey
has made the step out of its own calculations.
According to Anush Hovhannisyan, this is first of all a PR action.
Besides, Turkey thus wants to solve a practical issue: the European
Court of Human Rights is flooded with numerous cases against Turkey,
and the latter is losing in most cases.
Ankara pursues the purpose to diverge the attention from the Armenian
Cause, to separate Turkish Armenians from the rest of Diaspora and
prevent the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as the Congress is
expected to start discussions soon.
There is another issue Turkey is trying to solve. "Every fall the
Council of Europe discusses the issue of religious minorities in
Turkey, and every time it criticizes Turkey. This is an attempt to
mitigate the criticism," Levon Shirinyan said.
Karen Ghazaryan
Radiolur
30.08.2011 17:19
The Turkish Prime Minister has recently signed a decree to return
hundreds of properties that were confiscated from religious minorities,
Christian and Jewish religious properties by the state or other
parties over the years since 1936, and would pay compensation for
properties that were seized and later sold. Is this real progress or
a demonstration of Turkey's traditional policy?
>From the point of view of the Armenian community of Istanbul the
return of the part of the confiscated property should be assessed as
a positive step, expert of Turkish studies Anush Hovhannisyan told a
press conference today. However, according to her, the step is such
a small one and needs to be spoken about.
"It's a very trifle step, since the loss of Armenians was immense,
taking into consideration that the process of confiscation of
Armenians' property was continuous, especially during the genocide
and the years that followed," she said.
Therefore, the expert is assured that this step of Turkey fits into
its traditional policy and contains certain danger. According to
political scientist Levon Shirinyan, practice shows that no law has
ever been fully implemented in Turkey. Both are confident that Turkey
has made the step out of its own calculations.
According to Anush Hovhannisyan, this is first of all a PR action.
Besides, Turkey thus wants to solve a practical issue: the European
Court of Human Rights is flooded with numerous cases against Turkey,
and the latter is losing in most cases.
Ankara pursues the purpose to diverge the attention from the Armenian
Cause, to separate Turkish Armenians from the rest of Diaspora and
prevent the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as the Congress is
expected to start discussions soon.
There is another issue Turkey is trying to solve. "Every fall the
Council of Europe discusses the issue of religious minorities in
Turkey, and every time it criticizes Turkey. This is an attempt to
mitigate the criticism," Levon Shirinyan said.