FOUNDATIONS BILL TO BE FINALLY DEBATED

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Aug. 14, 2006

A bill on foundations, which was submitted to the Parliament Speaker’s
Office in June 2005 but has yet to be passed, is expected to be brought
up for debate by Parliament at an extraordinary session mid-September.

The bill, which is much-anticipated by European Union officials and
included both in the Accession Partnership Document and the Union’s
2005 country progress report, despite not being in the EU acquis
communitaire, will be debated by the full Parliament after being
finalized by Parliament’s Justice Commission.

A subcommission set up under the Justice Commission prepared a
report on the bill before Parliament went on recess in July. The
subcommission made some amendments to the bill, taking the objections
of some members into consideration. According to the amendments made,
the founders and administrators of foundations have to be Turkish
citizens but foreigners will be able to be on the administrative
boards of foundations set up in Turkey. Foundations which haven’t
had administrators or administrative bodies for 10 years will be
administered and represented by the Foundations Directorate after a
court ruling.

Foundations will be able to receive donations from abroad through
banks in cash or in kind. Historical artifacts, including those on the
borders of villages, which are owned by the Treasury, municipalities
and special administrators, could be registered to foundations under
the bill. Immovable assets registered under fake names such as Jesus,
Mother Mary, etc. will be registered to foundations in the 18 months
after the bill has been passed.

Non-Muslim minority foundations were mentioned in the Accession
Partnership Document among the short-term priorities. The document
said that a bill on foundations, which is part of European standards,
needed to be passed and that the sale, as well as the confiscation,
of immovable assets owned by non-Muslim religious community foundations
by the authorities should be stopped.

The EU’s 2005 country progress report said that non-Muslim communities
still encounter significant de facto problems.

Underlining that these communities lack legal status and have
limited property rights, the report said that the administration of
foundations face interference and that they aren’t allowed to train
their own clergy. "As for property rights, of the 2,285 applications
for registration of property in line with the January 2003 regulation,
341 have been accepted," said the report

Arabaslik: Distinction between Greece and Turkey

A letter sent by EU Commission Representative to Turkey Hansjoerg
Kretschmer to EU Secretary General Oguz Demiralp stating that the
bill is incompatible with the EU acquis drew fire in Parliament.

Parliament’s EU Harmonization Commission members charged that Turkey
is expected to draw up a very different legislation even though the
rights of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace aren’t guaranteed
by the Greek government. Commission member and main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul Deputy Onur Oymen said
that the Greek government confiscated Turkish foundations in 1967
and that these foundations are administered by trustees appointed by
the government. Visiting the Turkish Parliament, Turks from Western
Thrace said that the Greek government doesn’t allow them to even
own graveyards and requested Parliament not to grant any rights to
non-Muslim foundations in Turkey before their rights are guaranteed.

In his letter, Kretschmer said that three articles of the bill are
incompatible with the EU acquis regarding the rulings of the European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the right to set up an association,
freedom of _expression and the inviolability of places of settlement.

There’s also speculation that cases filed with the ECHR may lead
to problems. There are currently cases with the ECHR regarding the
property rights of foundations owned by non-Muslim minorities filed by
Fener Rum Erkek High School Foundation, Yedikule Surp Pirgic Armenian
Hospital Foundation and the Greek Patriarch Buyukada Orphanage. The
foundations are seeking compensation under Additional Protocol No. 1 of
the European Convention on Human Rights, which is related to property
rights. They also claim that they are discriminated against. While the
two of these cases are expected to be finalized in the coming months,
there’s speculation that hundreds of new cases may be filed in the
near future.

Greece hasn’t implemented an ECHR ruling on a similar issue. As
Article 11 of 1913 Athens Agreement stipulates that the muftis
(religious officials) of Turks in Western Thrace can be elected by
the community, Greece passed a law in 1920 and accepted that right.

But in a law passed in 1990 in Greece, this right was removed. Under
the law, the religious officials of the Turkish minority are appointed
by the Greek government. A mufti elected by the Turkish minority was
imprisoned and he then applied to the ECHR which ruled in his favor
on Oct. 17, 2002. Despite the court ruling, the mufti still hasn’t
been able to resume his post.