EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS FINED TURKEY 105,000 EUROS

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2009 01:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Court of Human Rights Tuesday ruled
Turkey had violated the property rights of a Greek Orthodox foundation
by seizing its land and ordered the government to pay damages,
Reuters reports.

Judges said Turkey had breached the European Convention on Human Rights
by barring the foundation from registering its title to a church and
surrounding lands on the Aegean island of Bozcaada, a statement from
the court said.

It is the latest ruling by the Strasbourg-based court against Turkey
for violating the property rights of its ethnic Greek minority. The
European Union, which Turkey seeks to join, has called on the
government to return seized properties to minorities and expand their
religious and cultural freedoms. The European Court of Human Rights
fined Turkey 105,000 euros ($131,880) for damages and expenses after
it ruled authorities had illegally prevented the rightful owner of the
Kimisis Teodoku Greek Orthodox Church from registering its property,
the statement said.

In September, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in a separate
case that Turkey had violated the property rights of the patriarchate
by seizing a 100-year-old orphanage on an island off of Istanbul
and ordered its return. It has also ruled that Turkey illegally took
control of other properties in Istanbul owned by Greek foundations.

About 25 mostly elderly ethnic Greeks live on Bozcaada, part
of a community of 2,500 Greeks in Turkey, which is 99 percent
Muslim. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, is also home to about 15,000
Jews and 60,000 Armenians.