ANCA launches campaign on Turkey return of churches

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has launched a campaign urging U.S. House vote on the Turkey Christian Churches Accountability Act.

Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY) led the effort which received broad bipartisan support despite a last minute campaign led by pro-Turkey lobbyists to gut the measure. An amended version of H.R. 4347 was adopted by voice vote by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in June.

Introduced in March H.R. 4347 requires that the U.S. Department of State formally report to Congress on an annual basis about the status of Turkey's return of stolen Christian churches and properties in Turkey and occupied Cyprus. H.R. 4347 builds on a measure (H.Res.306), spearheaded by Chairman Royce and then House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), which was overwhelmingly adopted by the House of Representatives on Dec 13, 2011. That resolution set the groundwork for H.R.4347 by calling upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations to return confiscated Christian church properties and to fully respect the rights of Christians to practice their faiths.

The Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia also said he will petition to Turkey’s constitutional court to demand the return of Sis Catholicosate to the Armenian Church.

As Aram I stressed at the 5th Armenia-Diaspora conference in Yerevan, he’ll apply to the European Court for Human Rights, should Turkey’s court turn down the petition. As the Catholicos stressed, Turkey must always be reminded that Armenia will never stop fighting for its rights in the face of all odds.

The Catholicos further called to struggle for retribution of misappropriated Armenian property and restoration of rights in following the suit of the Armenian youth who raised their voices in 1965 demanding return of their lands.

"In 2015, on the centenary of Genocide, their children and Diaspora youth must join their voices to urge for justice," he said.