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OFFICIAL SLAMS COURT RULING OVER ARMENIAN PROPERTY
Hurriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/official-slams-court-ruling-over-armenian-property.aspx?pageID=238&nID=11551&NewsCatID=339
Jan 16 2012
Turkey
Located in Eminönu district, Sansaryan Han was refashioned into
the Police Headquarters in 1944 and gained notoriety as a bastion of
ill-treatment by the police. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GUREL The head
of Turkey's Foundations Directorate General has sharply criticized
a recent ruling by an Istanbul court to impose an interim injunction
over Sansaryan Han, a historical Armenian shopping center, following
an appeal by the Turkish-Armenian Patriarchate.
"To tell the truth, it seems quite significant to me that the
Patriarchate has demanded for an interim injunction to be imposed
over the sale of Sansaryan Han. [The Patriarchate] must be aware
of the fact that we are not going to put it up for sale. I imagine
[they] have engaged in a symbolic struggle, a legal battle," Adnan
Ertem, the head of the Foundations General Directorate, said Friday,
adding they were going to object to the ruling next week.
Located in Istanbul's Eminönu district, Sansaryan Han was refashioned
into the Istanbul Police Headquarters in 1944 and eventually gained
notoriety as a bastion of ill-treatment by the police, as many people,
including a number of prominent poets and writers, had been tortured
there. "The Sansaryan Mıgırdic Aga Foundation was established by
an Armenian subject of the Ottoman [Empire]. It is a foundation that
ZZZZhas nothing to do with [minority] community foundations. As such,
it is out of question for this foundation to take advantage of laws
applicable to community foundations and for Sansaryan Han to be handed
over to the Armenian Patriarchate," Ertem said.
The court ruling pertains only to the sale of the property in question
and does not prevent Sansaryan Han to be put up for rent or opened
to investment through the build-operate-transfer model, he said.
Ertem also said they had endeavored massively to rectify the injustices
that befell upon minority community foundations after 1936, the
date of an official decree that required foundations to submit a
proclamation detailing their assets, which eventually led to the
properties' confiscation.
Sansaryan Han ought to be given a foundation status within the
framework of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 to gain legal recognition
as a minority foundation, he said.
Sansaryan Han was registered on the Foundations Directorate General
in 1936, the same year when minority community foundations gained
legal status, he added.
"The Patriarchate, in that case, could have appealed on that day
to claim that the Sansaryan Mıgırdic Aga Foundation was theirs,"
he said, adding that an incident that took place 74 years ago would
have no legal repercussions today.
Hurriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/official-slams-court-ruling-over-armenian-property.aspx?pageID=238&nID=11551&NewsCatID=339
Jan 16 2012
Turkey
Located in Eminönu district, Sansaryan Han was refashioned into
the Police Headquarters in 1944 and gained notoriety as a bastion of
ill-treatment by the police. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GUREL The head
of Turkey's Foundations Directorate General has sharply criticized
a recent ruling by an Istanbul court to impose an interim injunction
over Sansaryan Han, a historical Armenian shopping center, following
an appeal by the Turkish-Armenian Patriarchate.
"To tell the truth, it seems quite significant to me that the
Patriarchate has demanded for an interim injunction to be imposed
over the sale of Sansaryan Han. [The Patriarchate] must be aware
of the fact that we are not going to put it up for sale. I imagine
[they] have engaged in a symbolic struggle, a legal battle," Adnan
Ertem, the head of the Foundations General Directorate, said Friday,
adding they were going to object to the ruling next week.
Located in Istanbul's Eminönu district, Sansaryan Han was refashioned
into the Istanbul Police Headquarters in 1944 and eventually gained
notoriety as a bastion of ill-treatment by the police, as many people,
including a number of prominent poets and writers, had been tortured
there. "The Sansaryan Mıgırdic Aga Foundation was established by
an Armenian subject of the Ottoman [Empire]. It is a foundation that
ZZZZhas nothing to do with [minority] community foundations. As such,
it is out of question for this foundation to take advantage of laws
applicable to community foundations and for Sansaryan Han to be handed
over to the Armenian Patriarchate," Ertem said.
The court ruling pertains only to the sale of the property in question
and does not prevent Sansaryan Han to be put up for rent or opened
to investment through the build-operate-transfer model, he said.
Ertem also said they had endeavored massively to rectify the injustices
that befell upon minority community foundations after 1936, the
date of an official decree that required foundations to submit a
proclamation detailing their assets, which eventually led to the
properties' confiscation.
Sansaryan Han ought to be given a foundation status within the
framework of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 to gain legal recognition
as a minority foundation, he said.
Sansaryan Han was registered on the Foundations Directorate General
in 1936, the same year when minority community foundations gained
legal status, he added.
"The Patriarchate, in that case, could have appealed on that day
to claim that the Sansaryan Mıgırdic Aga Foundation was theirs,"
he said, adding that an incident that took place 74 years ago would
have no legal repercussions today.