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www.WorldBulletin.net, Turkey
April 6 2012
Turkey returns historic graveyards to non-Muslim communities
Six historic graveyards were returned to Ä°stanbul's Jewish, Greek and
Armenian communities.
Six historic graveyards were returned to Ä°stanbul's Jewish, Greek and
Armenian communities on Thursday, following a decision by a government
board that regulates the practices of the country's non-Muslim
communities.
The decision of the Directorate General for Foundations (VGM) to
restore the cemeteries to their respective minority communities is the
first ruling on a February application by 19 non-Muslim foundations
for the return of 57 historic properties. In September, the government
authorized the return of properties seized from non-Muslim religious
communities in decades past.
Thursday's VGM ruling saw the return of two cemeteries to the BeyoÄ?lu
Yüksek Kaldırım Ashkenazi Jewish Synagogue Foundation, as well as the
repatriation of cemeteries belonging to the BeyoÄ?lu Greek Orthodox
Churches and Schools Foundation, the Balat Surp HreÅ?tegabet Armenian
Church and School Foundation, the Kadıköy Hemdat Israel Synagogue
Foundation and the Kuzguncuk Beit Yaakov Ashkenazi Synagogue
Foundation.
Laki Vingas, the representative of non-Muslim foundations at the VGM,
told the Radikal daily on Thursday that the decision is a sign that
the minority property law passed in September is being acted upon by
the government. This week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told
the US Congress that she was encouraged by the `concrete steps ¦
Turkey has taken over the past year to return properties to religious
communities.' Turkey's mostly Muslim population of nearly 75 million
includes roughly 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 Jews,
15,000 Assyrians and about 3,500 Greek Orthodox Christians. While
Armenian groups have 52 foundations and Jewish groups 17, Greeks have
75. Some of the properties that were seized from those foundations
include schools and cemeteries.
Cihan
April 6 2012
Turkey returns historic graveyards to non-Muslim communities
Six historic graveyards were returned to Ä°stanbul's Jewish, Greek and
Armenian communities.
Six historic graveyards were returned to Ä°stanbul's Jewish, Greek and
Armenian communities on Thursday, following a decision by a government
board that regulates the practices of the country's non-Muslim
communities.
The decision of the Directorate General for Foundations (VGM) to
restore the cemeteries to their respective minority communities is the
first ruling on a February application by 19 non-Muslim foundations
for the return of 57 historic properties. In September, the government
authorized the return of properties seized from non-Muslim religious
communities in decades past.
Thursday's VGM ruling saw the return of two cemeteries to the BeyoÄ?lu
Yüksek Kaldırım Ashkenazi Jewish Synagogue Foundation, as well as the
repatriation of cemeteries belonging to the BeyoÄ?lu Greek Orthodox
Churches and Schools Foundation, the Balat Surp HreÅ?tegabet Armenian
Church and School Foundation, the Kadıköy Hemdat Israel Synagogue
Foundation and the Kuzguncuk Beit Yaakov Ashkenazi Synagogue
Foundation.
Laki Vingas, the representative of non-Muslim foundations at the VGM,
told the Radikal daily on Thursday that the decision is a sign that
the minority property law passed in September is being acted upon by
the government. This week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told
the US Congress that she was encouraged by the `concrete steps ¦
Turkey has taken over the past year to return properties to religious
communities.' Turkey's mostly Muslim population of nearly 75 million
includes roughly 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 Jews,
15,000 Assyrians and about 3,500 Greek Orthodox Christians. While
Armenian groups have 52 foundations and Jewish groups 17, Greeks have
75. Some of the properties that were seized from those foundations
include schools and cemeteries.
Cihan