ANKARA: The Turkish government said it would return hundreds of properties that had been confiscated from religious minorities by the state or other parties since 1936 and would pay compensation for properties seized and later sold.
| Present value or sales price the last time it was acquired before the government seized it -- which for some of the religious buildings was probably during Byzantine times... |
Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made the announcement to representatives of more than 150 Christian and Jewish trusts at a dinner he hosted in Istanbul on Sunday to break the day's Ramadan fast.
| Hush! The Sultan speaks! Draw nigh, all ye petitioners of His Beneficence, and pay heed! |
The government decree to return the properties, bypassing nationalist opposition in Parliament, was issued late on Saturday.
The European Union, which Turkey has applied to join, has pressed the country to ease or eliminate laws and policies that discriminate against non-Muslim religious groups, including restrictions on land ownership. Many of the properties, including schools and hospitals, were seized after 1936 when trusts were called to list their assets and, in 1974, a separate ruling banned the groups from buying any new real estate.
| Gosh, just like Egypt doesn't allow the Copts to repair their Byzantine-era churches or use new places to worship. Will the Turkish Jews and Christians be able to buy new properties with all their new compensation money? |
Turkish and European courts have heard disputes over the properties for decades. The European Court for Human Rights has ordered Turkey to pay compensation in several cases related to religious minority rights.
In contrast with its staunchly secular predecessors, the Islam-inspired government of Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, has been more sympathetic to Turkey's non-Muslims.
The decree issued on Saturday removed legal impediments that had continued to block the return of the properties even after amendments were enacted in recent years to allow it.
Less than 1 per cent of Turkey's 74 million people belong to religious minorities. There are about 120,000 Christians I and about 25,000 Jews. |