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TURKEY'S MINORITY DECREE DIVIDES US ARMENIANS
Today
Sept 2 2011
Azerbaijan
The two largest American-Armenian groups have expressed opposing
views over Turkey's recent announcement that hundreds of properties
seized by the state from minorities over the past seven decades will
be returned to their rightful owners.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement is just a
"smokescreen," said the Armenian National Committee of America, or
ANCA, the largest and most influential U.S. Armenian group. The more
moderate Armenian Assembly of America, or AAA, the second-largest U.S.
organization, said however that the decision was "a step in the
right direction."
The Turkish move was made due to "fear of mounting losses at the
European Court of Human Rights and the recent [committee] adoption
of U.S. Congressional legislation calling attention to its repression
of Christian communities," ANCA said in its statement.
"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, will return less than
1 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. 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," Hachikian said.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in the
Ottoman Empire during World War I in what they call "genocide." Turkey
counters that the number was much smaller and that many Turks and
Muslims were also killed in turmoil during the war.
'A welcome development'
"The Turkish government's announcement of its decision to abide by the
rulings of the European Court of Human Rights to return the long-ago
confiscated properties of minorities comes as a step in the right
direction," the AAA said in a written statement late Wednesday. "While
it remains to be seen how the government will implement this new
measure, the policy holds the promise of restoring the rule of law
for minorities long discriminated against in Turkey," it added.
"The announcement comes in the wake of a series of developments in
Turkey resulting in increasing civilian oversight of several branches
of the Turkish government previously controlled by the military. Some
of these reforms stem from Turkey's aspirations for membership in
the European Union," the AAA said. "As far as the Armenian minority
in Turkey is concerned - after a century of violent persecution,
official discrimination, and public racism - the decree to return
some of the confiscated properties is a welcomed development, but
cannot begin to redress the magnitude of the damage inflicted."
Speaking during a landmark fast-breaking, or iftar, dinner Sunday
with representatives of all of Turkey's 161 registered minority
foundations, Erdogan said the decision to return hundreds of properties
to non-Muslim communities was about righting past wrongs.
Today
Sept 2 2011
Azerbaijan
The two largest American-Armenian groups have expressed opposing
views over Turkey's recent announcement that hundreds of properties
seized by the state from minorities over the past seven decades will
be returned to their rightful owners.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement is just a
"smokescreen," said the Armenian National Committee of America, or
ANCA, the largest and most influential U.S. Armenian group. The more
moderate Armenian Assembly of America, or AAA, the second-largest U.S.
organization, said however that the decision was "a step in the
right direction."
The Turkish move was made due to "fear of mounting losses at the
European Court of Human Rights and the recent [committee] adoption
of U.S. Congressional legislation calling attention to its repression
of Christian communities," ANCA said in its statement.
"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, will return less than
1 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. 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," Hachikian said.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in the
Ottoman Empire during World War I in what they call "genocide." Turkey
counters that the number was much smaller and that many Turks and
Muslims were also killed in turmoil during the war.
'A welcome development'
"The Turkish government's announcement of its decision to abide by the
rulings of the European Court of Human Rights to return the long-ago
confiscated properties of minorities comes as a step in the right
direction," the AAA said in a written statement late Wednesday. "While
it remains to be seen how the government will implement this new
measure, the policy holds the promise of restoring the rule of law
for minorities long discriminated against in Turkey," it added.
"The announcement comes in the wake of a series of developments in
Turkey resulting in increasing civilian oversight of several branches
of the Turkish government previously controlled by the military. Some
of these reforms stem from Turkey's aspirations for membership in
the European Union," the AAA said. "As far as the Armenian minority
in Turkey is concerned - after a century of violent persecution,
official discrimination, and public racism - the decree to return
some of the confiscated properties is a welcomed development, but
cannot begin to redress the magnitude of the damage inflicted."
Speaking during a landmark fast-breaking, or iftar, dinner Sunday
with representatives of all of Turkey's 161 registered minority
foundations, Erdogan said the decision to return hundreds of properties
to non-Muslim communities was about righting past wrongs.