Tweet
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Sept 27 2012
Armenian foundation seeks to regain property rights to school
27 September 2012 / ELA DEMIR , Ä°STANBUL
An Armenian foundation is seeking to regain property rights to a plot
of land that hosts the Bomonti Mihitaryan Elementary School, located
in the Å?iÅ?li district of Ä°stanbul, which was seized by a municipality
in Ankara province in 1982.
An Armenian foundation, the Surp Gazar Armenian Catholic Mihitaryan
Monastery and School Foundation, which previously owned the plot of
land in Å?iÅ?li, lost the parcel in 1982 after encountering legal
obstacles imposed on the sale of land to minority foundations. The
foundation has been struggling to reacquire the land ever since.
Speaking to Today's Zaman, the foundation's president, Rita Nurnur,
said they tried to resolve the problem through bureaucratic means
before filing a lawsuit, adding that they sued the AyaÅ? Municipality
upon the advice of Adnan Ertem, the head of the Directorate General
for Foundations (VGM), an autonomous body that deals with properties
of Muslim and non-Muslim foundations. `We are sure this 33-year
injustice will soon be resolved,' Nurnur noted.
A directive was introduced in Turkey in 1936 that prohibited
foundations run by minorities from buying any property in Turkey,
after which the Turkish government ordered all minority foundations to
declare all of their assets and properties.
The Armenian foundation bought a plot of land from a Turkish woman,
Emine Tevfika AyaÅ?lı, in 1958 to establish a school. The foundation
had to sell its land in Moda, located in Ä°stanbul's Kadıköy district,
to buy the land in Å?iÅ?li. According to the 1936 directive, a
foundation run by minorities can buy a property on the condition that
in return it sells a property it owned before the release of the
directive.
The foundation had never encountered any difficulties until the death
in 1979 of AyaÅ?lı, from whom they bought the land on which an Armenian
school is currently operating. AyaÅ?lı bequeathed three-fourths of her
properties to the AyaÅ? Municipality in Ankara province, and the
property rights were officially conveyed to the municipality in 1982.
The foundation's battle to acquire ownership of the land has been
ongoing since 1982.
The municipality initially forced the Armenian foundation to vacate
the land and close down the school even though the foundation has a
deed to the land. The municipality later allowed the foundation to pay
rent for the school. The foundation filed a lawsuit with prosecutors
to regain the property rights to the school, and legal proceedings for
ownership of the land began last year. The fifth hearing of the case
was held at the Ä°stanbul Courthouse in Å?iÅ?li's ÇaÄ?layan neighborhood
on Monday.
Sept 27 2012
Armenian foundation seeks to regain property rights to school
27 September 2012 / ELA DEMIR , Ä°STANBUL
An Armenian foundation is seeking to regain property rights to a plot
of land that hosts the Bomonti Mihitaryan Elementary School, located
in the Å?iÅ?li district of Ä°stanbul, which was seized by a municipality
in Ankara province in 1982.
An Armenian foundation, the Surp Gazar Armenian Catholic Mihitaryan
Monastery and School Foundation, which previously owned the plot of
land in Å?iÅ?li, lost the parcel in 1982 after encountering legal
obstacles imposed on the sale of land to minority foundations. The
foundation has been struggling to reacquire the land ever since.
Speaking to Today's Zaman, the foundation's president, Rita Nurnur,
said they tried to resolve the problem through bureaucratic means
before filing a lawsuit, adding that they sued the AyaÅ? Municipality
upon the advice of Adnan Ertem, the head of the Directorate General
for Foundations (VGM), an autonomous body that deals with properties
of Muslim and non-Muslim foundations. `We are sure this 33-year
injustice will soon be resolved,' Nurnur noted.
A directive was introduced in Turkey in 1936 that prohibited
foundations run by minorities from buying any property in Turkey,
after which the Turkish government ordered all minority foundations to
declare all of their assets and properties.
The Armenian foundation bought a plot of land from a Turkish woman,
Emine Tevfika AyaÅ?lı, in 1958 to establish a school. The foundation
had to sell its land in Moda, located in Ä°stanbul's Kadıköy district,
to buy the land in Å?iÅ?li. According to the 1936 directive, a
foundation run by minorities can buy a property on the condition that
in return it sells a property it owned before the release of the
directive.
The foundation had never encountered any difficulties until the death
in 1979 of AyaÅ?lı, from whom they bought the land on which an Armenian
school is currently operating. AyaÅ?lı bequeathed three-fourths of her
properties to the AyaÅ? Municipality in Ankara province, and the
property rights were officially conveyed to the municipality in 1982.
The foundation's battle to acquire ownership of the land has been
ongoing since 1982.
The municipality initially forced the Armenian foundation to vacate
the land and close down the school even though the foundation has a
deed to the land. The municipality later allowed the foundation to pay
rent for the school. The foundation filed a lawsuit with prosecutors
to regain the property rights to the school, and legal proceedings for
ownership of the land began last year. The fifth hearing of the case
was held at the Ä°stanbul Courthouse in Å?iÅ?li's ÇaÄ?layan neighborhood
on Monday.