LAW PASSED TO ALLOW CHURCHES RECLAIM LAND
The Irish Times
November 15, 2006 Wednesday
TURKEY: Charitable foundations can apply for restitution of property,
writes Nicholas Birch in Istanbul
The reasons courts gave for confiscating eight properties belonging to
an Istanbul Armenian church between 1987 and 1993 were always the same.
According to the deeds, the buildings belonged to St John and the
Archangel Gabriel. But who were these people? Judges sent inspectors
out to find them, but they came back empty-handed.
Now a new EU-backed law on charitable foundations is due to set the
record straight. Passed last Thursday by parliament and awaiting
presidential approval, the legislation gives foundations 18 months
to apply for the restitution of state-confiscated property. It also
foresees the appointment of a non-Muslim member to the state department
that oversees foundations.
"These are positive steps towards wiping out the effects of 1974,"
says Diran Bakar, a Turkish-Armenian lawyer, referring to a Turkish
Appeal Court decision to cancel real estate acquisitions made by
non-Muslim foundations since 1936. Coinciding with war on Cyprus,
the ruling led to the confiscation of at least 4,000 properties
belonging to Turkish Greeks, Jews and Armenians.
"Its aim was to dry up the minority communities’ economic resources,"
explains political scientist Elcin Macar, who believes that the
"founding philosophy of the Turkish Republic never had any space
for non-Muslims".
Brussels has long-warned discrimination will have to stop if Turkey’s
EU bid is to succeed.
In its annual report on Turkey released last Wednesday, it criticised
Ankara for ongoing limitations to religious freedom, and recommended
the adoption of minority legislation in line with European Court of
Human Rights case law.
Yet, despite it providing the impulse behind the new law, few expect
Brussels to be satisfied with the end result. The law not only fails
to provide compensation for foundations whose confiscated property
has been sold on by the state, analysts point out, it also maintains
the distinction between Muslim and non-Muslim foundations.
"This is my country, I see my future here," says Lakis Vingas,
businessman and member of Turkey’s 3,000-strong Greek community. "Yet
when I turn on the TV, it’s immediately clear that I’m seen as a
foreigner." He is referring to the furious rows that surrounded
parliament’s discussion of the foundation bill.
Some deputies insisted the legislation would enable the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch – a parish priest for Ankara, first among equals for the
world’s Orthodox church – to build an Orthodox Vatican in central
Istanbul. Others worried it would involve handing Istanbul’s famed Agia
Sophia – once a church, then a mosque, now a museum – over to Greece.
In the case of opposition deputy Bayram Meral, prejudice took a less
whimsical form. "What’s this law about? It’s about giving Agop his
property back," he railed, using a common Armenian name.
"Congratulations to the government! You ignore the villagers, the
workers and the farmers to worry yourself with Agop’s business."
Baskin Oran, an expert on Turkish minorities, thinks such sentiments
are worryingly representative of an increasingly nationalistic
parliament. "Not only will this law not satisfy Europe, it’s highly
likely to damage relations further, as just another example of the
half-hearted reform process Turkey was criticised for in the report."