House Foreign Affairs Committee Beats Back Ankara's Attacks;
Adopts Turkey Christian Churches Accountability Act.
WASHINGTON, DC - The House Foreign Affairs Committee
passed a powerful religious freedom measure this morning holding Turkey
accountable for the return of thousands of stolen Christian holy sites and
urging the immediate opening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Theological Seminary,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
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.
“Americans of Armenian, Greek and Assyrian heritage – the
descendants of those subjected to genocide by Ottoman Turkey from 1915-1923 and
whose churches continue to be held captive by the Turkish Government – join
with friends of all faiths in welcoming Committee passage of the Royce-Engel
Turkey Christian Churches Accountability Act,” said ANCA Chairman Ken
Hachikian. “The adoption of this measure sends a strong signal to Ankara that
it must stop its anti-Christian conduct and start coming to terms with its
moral, material, and legal obligations to Armenians, Syriacs, Cypriots,
Pontians, and other victims of Turkey’s still unpunished genocidal crimes.”
Introduced this March of this year by Chairman Royce
along with the panel's Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), H.R. 4347 would
require 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 December 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.
In the days leading up the vote, the ANCA worked closely
with Armenian American religious leaders and Hellenic American groups including
the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), American Hellenic Educational
and Progressive Association (AHEPA), American Hellenic Institute (AHI) and
American Hellenic Council (AHC) in securing Committee passage of the measure.
Complete details and the full text of the legislation as
amended will be available shortly.
________________________________________
Published by the Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 775-1918, Fax: (202) 775-5648, E-mail:
anca@anca.org, Web: www.anca.org
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