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07.02.2013

ISSUE OF RETURNING CHURCH PROPERTIES IN TURKEY

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Vahram Hovyan
Senior Expert at the Center for Armenian Studies, “Noravank” Foundation

Confiscation of the properties belonging to the Christian communities in Turkey was one of the components of persecution and suppression policy carried out on the state level in regard to the national and religious minorities. Since 1936 the state has initiated confiscation of the religious minorities’ properties by law. The efforts taken for reclaiming the confiscated property have not taken an effect till recently thus being doomed.

Hence, over the last period positive tendencies can be observed in the issue of the protection of the rights of the religious minorities in Turkey, including the returning of the church properties. This issue is in direct connection with the international pressure. It is known that one of the preconditions for Turkey’s entry in the EU was improvement of the situation connected with the religious minorities, which includes recovery of the confiscated ecclesiastic property. The U.S. also, on the political ground, i.e. exerting pressure on Turkey on certain issues, from time to time raises the problem of the protection of the rights of the Christians, including returning of the confiscated church properties. In this aspect the Resolution 306 passed on June 15, 2011 by the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress is remarkable; it urged Turkey “to return to their rightful owners all Christian churches and other places of worship, monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, holy sites, and other religious properties, including movable properties, such as artwork, manuscripts, vestments, vessels, and other artifacts”1.

Yielding to international pressure in August 2011 Turkish authorities passed the law on returning confiscated church properties which found a broad response in press. It has been a long time since that law was passed but there has been no considerable progress in the issue of returning confiscated properties of the religious minorities in Turkey. This period is enough to analyze the problems connected with returning of the confiscated properties as well as further actions.

Obstacles connected with returning of the confiscated properties

Despite passing the law, there are some obstacles on practice, which essentially complicate returning of the confiscated church properties. These obstacles can be divided into two groups – legal and political.

In the legal aspect there are following main obstacles to returning of the church properties:

1. Time constraints. The law warrants returning of the church property confiscated only after 1936; meanwhile confiscations of the church property did not take place only after 1936. Moreover, confiscation of the property mostly took place in the prior period – in the years of pogroms and Genocide. Over that period Armenians (Apostolic, Catholic and Protestant), Pontic Greeks, Assyrians, etc. lost most of their church properties. After 1936 the state confiscated only the property they obtained after that date. It means that even in case if the law is fully enforced the religious minorities will have a possibility to return only a small part of the properties they lost.

2. The issue of legal status of the churches. Today only the Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox Churches and Jews have legal status in Turkey. And de-facto existing Christian communities, such as Roman Catholic Church, Armenian Catholic Church, Protestant churches, including Armenian Evangelical Church, Christian Arabs, Assyrians, are not officially recognized by the state. Though the latter accepts the fact of their existence, it refuses to give them legal status. Even Roman Catholic Church, despite the efforts of Vatican (the diplomatic relations between Vatican and Turkey were established more than half a century ago)2, could not acquire legal status in Turkey.

The absence of legal registration considerably restricts capabilities of the unrecognized communities in this case particularly in the aspect of returning their confiscated properties.

In the respect of the Armenian community it means that among the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical churches only the first one can put forward such a claim to the state.

3. Time limitation. The law fixes one-year time limit for the religious minorities to put forward a claim for returning the properties they owned3.Taking into consideration the fact that drafting of the claim is rather complicated and long process, which is connected with the acquisition and clarifying of different documents, it is clear that the time limitation is not enough for the appropriate drafting of the claims and returning of the church properties.

4. The fact that the properties were sold. The Turkish government sold a part of the confiscated properties to the individuals. In respect of the sold properties the law warrants compensation to the religious minorities4. However, it is yet difficult to say how adequate the compensation will be and whether it will allow causing the loss.

Among the political obstacles two stand out:

1. Bureaucratic acrimony. Often the religious minorities face serious bureaucratic problems5 while reclaiming their property, and this essentially constraints the application of the law,

2. Political speculations. The Turkish party conditions fulfillment of its liabilities before the Christian minorities by the solution of the problems of the Muslim minorities in appropriate countries and this additionally complicates this rather difficult process. For example, the Minister for EU Affairs of Turkey E. Bagis connected reopening of the Greek theological school at the Heybeli Island near Istanbul with the efforts of the Greek government directed to the improvement of the conditions of the Muslim minorities in Greece6.

The aforementioned legal and political obstacles reveal the formal essence of the law passed by the Turkish authorities. The latter rather carries out the policy of creating an image of democratic country for international community than reclaiming usurped rights of the religious minorities.

This is the reason why the religious minorities in Turkey managed to acquire insignificant progress in reclaiming the church properties. The Turkish government returned only some property to the Armenian and Greek Patriarchates in Istanbul7. However this is not a solution of the problem because “There are thousand of confiscated churches and estates belonging to the community all over the territory of Turkey which must be returned to their rightful owners”8.

Prospects of cooperation between the churches

Despite some difficulties connected with the enforcement of the law, it, nevertheless, opens good prospects for the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical Churches in the aspect of returning their confiscated properties. The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has already started exerting efforts to return their confiscated properties.

In order to obtain some success in this issue there must be cooperation between the churches which can proceed on two levels – “intra-national” and “international”.

• Intra-national cooperation supposes inter-confessional cooperation between Armenian Apostolic. Catholic and Evangelical Churches and this necessity seems to be acknowledged by them. Due to the fact that this problem also has legal and political implication it seems reasonable to involve in this process traditional Armenian parties working in the Diaspora. In this context the statement of the Catholicosis of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I9 is remarkable: “The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia in cooperation with the Armenian Catholic and Protestant churches and our parties will draft a working programme in the near future”10.

• International cooperation implies cooperation with other Christian churches in Turkey – Greek Orthodox Church, Christian Arabs, Assyrians, Roman Catholic Church, Protestant Churches.

Intra-national and international cooperation between the churches directed to the returning of the church properties can manifest itself in the following issues:

• Struggle for prolonging a time limitation– Christian churches can jointly struggle for the extension of twelve-month deadline provided by the law.

• Drafting and submitting of the claims – Even if it is impossible to draft and submit claims jointly, the Christian communities can at least exert joint efforts by helping each other to draft claims of each community.

• Legal and information assistance – Without having a complete idea about the complicated legal system of Turkey, separate communities cannot adequately protect their rights. Besides, the issue of the church property is connected with large amount of information which probably may not be possessed by separate communities too, even in connection with the issues referring particularly to them. Correspondingly legal and information mutual help (legal consultations, information sharing, etc.) also plays an important role for protecting their rights more efficiently.

• Calculations – The issue of returning of the church properties is also connected with numerous and various (sometimes even difficult) calculations. In this issue some churches can also provide mutual aid.

We believe that for exerting joint efforts directed to the reclaiming church property as well as making those efforts more efficient, it is necessary to establish joint church working group dealing with the aforementioned issues.

1 H. Res. Resolution 306 Urging the Republic of Turkey to Safeguard its Christian Heritage and to Return Confiscated Church Properties, June 15, 2011. http://www.atour.com/government/pdf/20110615-USCongress-BILLS-112hres306ih.pdf

2 The diplomatic relations between Turkey and Vatican were established in 1960 Վիլհելմ Բաում, Թուրքիան և նրա քրիստոնյա փոքրամասնությունները, Yerevan, Publishing House of the Yerevan State University, 2010., p. 163)

3 В Турции реализации закона о возвращении немусульманским религиозным общинам конфискованного имущества мешают бюрократические препоны, http://drevo-info.ru/news/11648.html

4 Ibid։ Болгарской церковной общине в Стамбуле будут возвращены ранее конфискованные объекты недвижимого имущества, http://drevo-info.ru/news/11553.html; Турция вернет христианам и иудеям конфискованную собственность, http://drevo-info.ru/news/11330.html

5 See: В Турции реализации закона о возвращении немусульманским религиозным общинам конфискованного имущества мешают бюрократические препоны, http://drevo-info.ru/news/11648.html

6 Открытие Халкинской богословской школы зависит от встречных шагов со стороны Греции, заявил турецкий министр, http://drevo-info.ru/news/12661.html

7 See, e.g., ibid։ Турецкие власти начинают возвращать конфискованную недвижимость Константинопольского Патриархата, http://drevo-info.ru/news/12646.html; Турецкие власти вернули Константинопольской Патриархии здание школы в Галате, http://drevo-info.ru/news/12343.html

8 Հարութ Սասունյան, Ինչպե՞ս պետք է Սփյուռքն արձագանքի Թուրքիայի մերձեցման նախաձեռնություններին, http://www.noravank.am/arm/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=6508&sphrase_id=17981

9 2012թ. փետրվարի 23-26-ը Անթիլիասում «Հայկական ցեղասպանությունը՝ ճանաչումից հատուցում» խորագրով միջազգային գիտաժողովի փակման խոսքում։ Concluding address at the international conference on “The Armenian Genocide – from Recognition to Reparation” held on February 23-26, 2012.

10 Հասկ, 2012, փետրուար, թիւ 2, էջ 116։

“Globus” analytical journal, #1, 2013

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