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TURKEY TO RETURN SEIZED PROPERTY TO RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
Steffen Wurzel
Deutsche Welle
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15352267,00.html
Aug 30 2011
Germany
Photo: The Turkish state began seizing properties in 1936
The Turkish government has agreed to return hundreds of confiscated
properties to the country's non-Muslim minorities. The European Union
has joined Christian and Jewish communities in praising Turkey's
historic step.
The Turkish government has pledged to return hundreds of properties
confiscated from religious minorities over the last 75 years, a
decision lauded by the European Union and Turkey's Christian and
Jewish communities.
Former owners of any property or land sold on to a third party are
also to be refunded the market value by the state treasury.
The decree was announced ahead of a fast-breaking dinner for the
holy Muslim month of Ramadan in Istanbul on Sunday. In attendance was
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as representatives
of the Orthodox Christian and Jewish communities.
The decision to return the properties, which include churches,
community centers, hospitals, schools, houses and cemeteries, was
welcomed by members of Turkey's Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox
and Jewish communities.
"This is a restoration, a reparation of an injustice," said Bartholomew
I, the spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians and the
ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, during the holy dinner.
"This is a extremely great and positive step and certainly an event
which the whole world will appreciate," added Pantelis Vingas Lakis,
president of Turkey's largest Greek lobby group.
Appeasing the EU
The European Union has also welcomed the move, seen as a step forward
in Turkey's candidacy bid for EU membership.
Photo: Erdogan could face criticism from Turkish nationalists
A spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule described
the return of the property as a positive step, "leading the way for
the implementation of religious freedom." Alexander Graf Lambsdorff,
a European Parliament deputy of Germany's Free Democratic Party,
called it a "historic step."
The Turkish state began seizing properties from religious minorities
in 1936, when all non-Muslim foundations in Turkey were forced to
register their properties.
In the following decades the Turkish government took many of
the buildings and land and sold some of it off. The finances of
Christian and Jewish communities were deeply affected and the number
of non-Muslim Turks dwindled as many opted to leave the country.
Making amends
On Sunday, Erdogan pledged his remorse for the widespread confiscation
and vowed that the new regulation would address Turkey's past mistakes.
"We thus solve a problem that has damaged our reputation in the
international arena for decades," he said."The times when a citizen
of ours would be oppressed due to his religious, ethnic origin or
different way of life are over. This is not about doing a favor;
this is about rectifying an injustice."
The dispute over the return of Turkey's expropriated property has
occupied the European Court of Human Rights for years, and the court
has repeatedly ruled against the government in Ankara.
Erdogan may have earned the recognition and respect of the Christian
and Jewish communities with the decision, but it's likely he will
receive a very different reaction from Turkish nationalists. The
response from the country's traditionally strong nationalist opposition
party is also still unknown.
Steffen Wurzel
Deutsche Welle
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15352267,00.html
Aug 30 2011
Germany
Photo: The Turkish state began seizing properties in 1936
The Turkish government has agreed to return hundreds of confiscated
properties to the country's non-Muslim minorities. The European Union
has joined Christian and Jewish communities in praising Turkey's
historic step.
The Turkish government has pledged to return hundreds of properties
confiscated from religious minorities over the last 75 years, a
decision lauded by the European Union and Turkey's Christian and
Jewish communities.
Former owners of any property or land sold on to a third party are
also to be refunded the market value by the state treasury.
The decree was announced ahead of a fast-breaking dinner for the
holy Muslim month of Ramadan in Istanbul on Sunday. In attendance was
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as representatives
of the Orthodox Christian and Jewish communities.
The decision to return the properties, which include churches,
community centers, hospitals, schools, houses and cemeteries, was
welcomed by members of Turkey's Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox
and Jewish communities.
"This is a restoration, a reparation of an injustice," said Bartholomew
I, the spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians and the
ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, during the holy dinner.
"This is a extremely great and positive step and certainly an event
which the whole world will appreciate," added Pantelis Vingas Lakis,
president of Turkey's largest Greek lobby group.
Appeasing the EU
The European Union has also welcomed the move, seen as a step forward
in Turkey's candidacy bid for EU membership.
Photo: Erdogan could face criticism from Turkish nationalists
A spokeswoman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule described
the return of the property as a positive step, "leading the way for
the implementation of religious freedom." Alexander Graf Lambsdorff,
a European Parliament deputy of Germany's Free Democratic Party,
called it a "historic step."
The Turkish state began seizing properties from religious minorities
in 1936, when all non-Muslim foundations in Turkey were forced to
register their properties.
In the following decades the Turkish government took many of
the buildings and land and sold some of it off. The finances of
Christian and Jewish communities were deeply affected and the number
of non-Muslim Turks dwindled as many opted to leave the country.
Making amends
On Sunday, Erdogan pledged his remorse for the widespread confiscation
and vowed that the new regulation would address Turkey's past mistakes.
"We thus solve a problem that has damaged our reputation in the
international arena for decades," he said."The times when a citizen
of ours would be oppressed due to his religious, ethnic origin or
different way of life are over. This is not about doing a favor;
this is about rectifying an injustice."
The dispute over the return of Turkey's expropriated property has
occupied the European Court of Human Rights for years, and the court
has repeatedly ruled against the government in Ankara.
Erdogan may have earned the recognition and respect of the Christian
and Jewish communities with the decision, but it's likely he will
receive a very different reaction from Turkish nationalists. The
response from the country's traditionally strong nationalist opposition
party is also still unknown.