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ANKARA: US House Committee Passes Anti-Turkey Bill

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  • ANKARA: US House Committee Passes Anti-Turkey Bill

    Daily Sabah, Turkey
    June 29 2014


    US HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES ANTI-TURKEY BILL

    Ragıp Soylu


    WASHINGTON, D.C. ` A controversial anti-Turkey bill passed through the
    U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Foreign Affairs on
    Thursday after a week following pressure from the Turkish government,
    weakening Turkish-American relations in a time of regional crisis in
    the Middle East.

    The Turkey Christian Churches Accountability Act directs the Secretary
    of State to report annually to Congress until 2021 on the status and
    return of confiscated or otherwise unreturned Christian churches,
    places of worship and other properties in or from the Republic of
    Turkey and in Northern Cyprus. The bill describes Northern Cyprus as a
    land occupied by the Turkish military.

    Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National
    Committee of America, praised the move and congratulated senior
    members of the committee, including Chairman Ed Royce, a Republican
    congressman from California, which has a considerable Armenian
    population, who also sponsored the bill. The Armenian American lobby
    has conducted a large campaign to gather support for the bill within
    the committee.

    Turkish officials said that despite their lobbying efforts and their
    own interactions with the representatives, they had failed to block
    the progress of the bill. "Congressmen tend to seek more support from
    their constituencies in upcoming congressional elections this fall. We
    can say that the Armenian [American] lobby was successful merely
    because of elections politics," a Turkish official added.

    In a statement released by Turkish Foreign Ministry it was said that
    "while the clear and concrete steps that Turkey has taken for the
    improvement of the rights and freedoms of all of its citizens,
    including for the non-Muslim minorities are evident; attempts by
    anti-Turkish circles in the US Congress, driven by domestic political
    considerations, to push such unconstructive and baseless initiatives
    are unacceptable. That these circles have focused on the heritage of a
    single religion, and have neglected negative developments occurring at
    the expense of other religions and their heritage is inconsistent with
    universal values and contrasts starkly with the multi-culturality of
    the United States."

    It is not clear whether the bill will be discussed in the general
    assembly. Turkish officials vowed to work against the bill, and
    Turkish American lobbies in Washington and New York are disappointed
    by the result.

    Ali Çınar, a well-known name within the Turkish-American community and
    former head of the Federation of Turkish American Associations, said
    that Turkish people must meet federal and local representatives to
    prevent a further deterioration of relations between the two
    countries. "We will meet federal officials this summer and work to
    convince them not to support these bills," he said in an email being
    circulated within the community.

    http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2014/06/27/us-house-committee-passes-antiturkey-bill

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