Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

[Mukuch]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Jos it seemes you are kind of avoiding answering to me... it is not fair.... It seems my love to you is not answered Or you are angry that I dont let0 you to spread turkish bullxxxx araund?
Isnt it time for you to "move on" back to kazakh stepes ( I know many turks who alredy do that) There are 200.000 turk migrants work in Kazakhstan. Belive me I have connection in turkish consulate of Almaty

[Alexandros]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Turkish channel to censor HBO's 'The Pacific'

Friday, April 9, 2010

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A 10-episode HBO miniseries about World War II will air in Turkey minus a scene featuring dialogue about “Turks torching İzmir” after recapturing the Aegean city from the Greek Army during the war of independence.

“The Pacific,” which focuses on the U.S.-Japanese conflict during World War II, will be aired starting April 18 in Turkey without the deleted scene, the hybrid business/financial and entertainment channel CNBC-e has announced.

According to a statement on the CNBC-e Web site, the controversial scene occurs in the third episode of the series and features a Greek woman talking to an American soldier, telling him the Turks “invaded and torched İzmir” in 1922.

İzmir was not a Greek city at the time, but an Ottoman one occupied by Greek soldiers, CNBC-e said, criticizing the series it intends to broadcast. The channel said it has notified HBO of its decision to delete the scene.

A great fire took place in İzmir in September 1922, but the two nations’ official histories contradict each other on whether the Greeks or the Turks were the ones who started the blaze, a matter that has turned into a dispute in the Turkish press.

Some columnists have expressed their agreement with CNBC-e and official Turkish history, saying the fire in İzmir was the work of the retreating Greek army and the Greek community in the city. Others, however, say the fire started after the recapture of the city by the Ottomans.

“The fire started Sept. 13, four days after the city’s liberation,” wrote Engin Ardıç, a columnist for daily Sabah. “It grew and spread Sept. 14 and reached the 1st Kordon [coastal road] on Sept. 15 and 16.”

Link

[Crimson Glow]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

I'm not making it up, there's various records (fr Byzantine, Roman etc) of migration of Turkic people starting from around the 6th century and especially around 11th century of the Selcuks into anatolia.

There are no records of Turks PERIOD until the Gokturks in the 6th century, which are found in Chinese records. Migration didn't really BEGIN till the 11th century by the Seljuk Turks.

The important point is that it didn't start as an invasion but as a migration.

Actually, the important point is that you don't know that for a fact by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, if anything, evidence suggests the contrary. I'll elaborate further down.

The fact that they were mostly nomadic people meant significant numbers could have moved relatively quickly.

If it is fact that they were mostly nomadic people, how could they have "Turkic ancestral lands" as you suggest below?

It's not inconceivable to believe that Mongol invaders into Turkic ancestral lands may have created the initial impetus to shift westwards. Migration (and conquering territories from a historical perspective) is a fact of life. Turkic people migrated and conquered for their own survival and not for the purposes of inconveniencing Armenians.

Your perspective of who your ancestors were, and where they came from doesn't add up. Again, if your last sentence is true, and they were the type of people capable of invading and violently conquering other peoples, I highly doubt that they themselves would have run away from invaders in fear of being conquered. This is not unlike how Turks argue that on the one hand, there's no way 1.5 million Armenians died in the genocide because there weren't even that many Armenians TOTAL present in the Ottoman Empire, yet on the other, they like to claim that somehow, that much less than 1.5 million population had enough able bodied men to kill 3 million Turks. Likewise, you can't claim the Turks were nomadic people, but had ancestral Turkic lands, or that they were in fear of being conquered by Mongols, so they decided to migrate.....and conquer the lands they moved to. It's basic math, people. You can't have it both ways.

Even Armenians at some point would have migrated and conquered anatolia from someone else. For example, I wonder what happened to the Hittites? Could they have been over run by Armenian population? They say Armenian origins date back to around the 6th century BC, but remember the world is 4 billion years old. Someone else was always there first.

Wow. You're really not well versed on the history of Turks and Armenians at all. Who is "they" in "they say"? Because "they" have misinformed you. The Armenian Orontid dynasty may have come in the 6th century BCE, but Armenian kingdoms date MUCH further back than that, let alone actual Armenian origins.

Some scholars believe, for example, that the earliest mention of the Armenians is in the Akkadian inscriptions dating to the 28th-27th centuries BC, in which the Armenians are referred to as the sons of Haya, after the regional god of the Armenian Highlands.

Artak Movsisyan, Hnaguyn Petut’yunĕ Hayastanum–Aratta (Yerevan: Depi yerkir 1992) 41.

We have 3000+ solid years of history, up to 5000 years of fairly accurately traceable history, and who knows how many more years of much more murky/difficult to trace history.

As to conquering being the way of the world, while this is correct, there are very different methods and means to that conquering, and what is done with/to the conquered afterward. Unfortunately, the Turks have one of, if not THE worst, bloodiest track records as far as how they ruled the lands they conquered. There in lies the difference, and thus, the problem.

But it's people that make culture, traditions and heritage and not land.

To a certain extent. Lands represent a lot when it comes to traditions and heritage. For example, there is nothing more sacred or holy to Armenian culture than Ararat. Even today, even though it no longer belongs to Armenians territorially, it is very, very much a part of Armenian culture, tradition and heritage, and will always remain so. The same goes for apricot trees, pomegranates, etc. These are all things that helped shape our culture (i.e. the 3000 year old duduk instrument, which is synonymous with Armenian music, was formed from the wood of apricot trees). Again, I'm sure these are things difficult to grasp if you don't come from an ancient, deeply routed culture. I know because I have a great deal of difficulty trying to get Americans to understand this concept.

Just as you said, Armenian's have created little communities all around the world, so they could have moved and created their own empire in a different geography. Needless to say they chose the familiarity of their own land rather than moving for their own independence and freedom, so the rest is history.

Incorrect. They chose to stay and defend their 3000+ year old ancestral land rather than being intimidated, just as many Armenian women chose to drown themselves in rivers rather than let a Turk touch them, or take them into a harem. It's called pride in ones self, and ones legacy. They'd rather honor that legacy through death, than run away like cowards, despite the insurmountable odds. It's called dedication. It is precisely that dedication that made the Turks hate the Armenians so much. Again, these are difficult concepts to grasp if you aren't a part of the history that's behind them and fuels them. It is the reason that despite all the tragedy our people were riddled with throughout our history, somehow, WE still survived while much bigger, much more powerful peoples have disappeared.

[garod]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

This is OUR pain. This is a mourning for ALL OF US.

In 1915, when we had a population of only 13 million people, there were 1,5 to 2 million Armenians living on this land. In Thrace, in the Aegean, in Adana, in Malatya, in Van, in Kars…In Samatya, in Şişli, in the Islands, in Galata…

They were the grocer in our neighbourhood, our tailor, our goldsmith, our carpenter, our shoemaker, our farmhand, our millwright, our classmate, our teacher, our officer, our private, our deputy, our historian, our composer…Our friend. Our next-door neighbours and our companion in bad times. In Thrace, in the Aegean, in Adana, in Malatya, in Van, in Kars…In Samatya, in Şişli, İn the Islands, in Galata…

On April 24th, 1915 they were “rounded up”. We lost them. They are not here anymore. A great majority of them do not exist anymore. Nor do their graveyards. There EXISTS the overwhelming “Great Pain” that was laid upon the qualms of our conscience by the “Great Catastrophe”. It’s getting deeper and deeper for the last 95 years.

We call upon all peoples of Turkey who share this heartfelt pain to commemorate and pay tribute to the victims of 1915. In black, in silence. With candles and flowers...

For this is OUR pain. This is a mourning for ALL OF US

April 24th, 2010

19.00

Taksim Square, Tram Stop

http://buacihepimizin.org//index.php?sayfa=2

[seruven]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

This is OUR pain. This is a mourning for ALL OF US.

In 1915, when we had a population of only 13 million people, there were 1,5 to 2 million Armenians living on this land. In Thrace, in the Aegean, in Adana, in Malatya, in Van, in Kars…In Samatya, in Şişli, in the Islands, in Galata…

They were the grocer in our neighbourhood, our tailor, our goldsmith, our carpenter, our shoemaker, our farmhand, our millwright, our classmate, our teacher, our officer, our private, our deputy, our historian, our composer…Our friend. Our next-door neighbours and our companion in bad times. In Thrace, in the Aegean, in Adana, in Malatya, in Van, in Kars…In Samatya, in Şişli, İn the Islands, in Galata…

On April 24th, 1915 they were “rounded up”. We lost them. They are not here anymore. A great majority of them do not exist anymore. Nor do their graveyards. There EXISTS the overwhelming “Great Pain” that was laid upon the qualms of our conscience by the “Great Catastrophe”. It’s getting deeper and deeper for the last 95 years.

We call upon all peoples of Turkey who share this heartfelt pain to commemorate and pay tribute to the victims of 1915. In black, in silence. With candles and flowers...

For this is OUR pain. This is a mourning for ALL OF US

April 24th, 2010

19.00

Taksim Square, Tram Stop

http://buacihepimizin.org//index.php?sayfa=2

Good to see that it was organized without a problem..

[Alexandros]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Child killed, five others wounded by explosion in eastern Turkey

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

ISTANBUL - Daily News with Wires

One child died and five others were injured Tuesday in the eastern province of Van after ammunition they reportedly found near a military barracks exploded.

News agencies reported that the children were playing with ammunition they found outside the fence of the shooting range of the Mustafa Muğlalı Barracks when the explosion occurred.

However, Murat Durmaz, the mayor of Özalp district in which the explosion occurred, said Wednesday there was a witness who saw a soldier throw a bomb at the children and run.

Olcay Akyürek, 13, was rushed to the hospital with a helicopter because of serious injuries, but could not be saved.

Nurullah Erçiçek, 9, Orhan Erçiçek, 11, Yunus Yaman, 13, Doğukan Meşe 12, and Fidan Coşar, 9, were transported to Özalp State Hospital by ambulance, where they were reported to be in fair condition.

The incident created tension in the district, with shop owners refusing to open their stores Wednesday in protest.

A group of approximately 500 people gathered in front of the District Governor’s Office, chanting slogans as they walked towards the Özalp office of the Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, to wait for the arrival of the funeral cortege from Van.

The protestors chanted slogans in Turkish and Kurdish while passing the Musatafa Muğlalı Barracks, including “Muğlalı Barracks shall leave Özalp,” “Muğlalı Barracks, the home of killers,” and “Martyrs do not die.”

After the funeral, Cüneyt Caniş, the BDP’s provincial head, asked people to open their stores and not to fall for provocations.

Later, a group that wanted to march toward the barracks was calmed down by Durmaz.

Soldiers from the barracks have caused tension in the past. On July 30, 1943, 33 locals from Özalp, which is close to Iran, were detained for smuggling and taken into military custody on the orders of Gen. Mustafa Muğlalı before being allegedly shot dead.

In 1949, the Democrat Party, or DP, opposition submitted an application for an inquiry into the matter. Muğlalı pled guilty and a military court sentenced him death, which was later commuted to 20 years in prison due to his age.

The top military appeals court overturned the sentence but he died in prison in 1951 at age 71 while the appeal process was underway.

In 2004, the General Staff named the Gendarmerie Border Command in Özalp after the general, a move that angered many locals.

Link

[Alexandros]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Catholic bishop stabbed to death in Turkey

Page last updated at 13:15 GMT, Thursday, 3 June 2010 14:15 UK

A Roman Catholic bishop has been stabbed to death in southern Turkey, state-run media report.

Luigi Padovese, 63, was attacked in his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, according to Anatolia news agency.

The attack was allegedly carried out by his driver, according to the private NTV news channel. He died in hospital shortly afterwards.

There has been a series of attacks on Christians in Turkey in recent years.

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Mgr Luigi Padovese assassinated in southern Turkey

06/03/2010 15:11

TURKEY – VATICAN

by Geries Othman

Ankara (AsiaNews) –Mgr Luigi Padovese, bishop of Iskenderun, in Anatolia, was killed today around 1 pm. A priest friend had just met and spoken to him right after 12 o’clock.

The prelate’s driver and aide, a Muslim who had worked for the prelate for some time, is thought to have attacked the bishop with a knife.

Eyewitnesses said that the driver appeared “depressed, violent and threatening” in recent days.

Mgr Padovese, 63, was appointed Apostolic Vicar to Anatolia in 2004. Currently, he was the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Turkey.

He was closely involved in ecumenical work and dialogue with Islam as well working to breathe new life in Turkey’s Christian communities.

He was scheduled to visit Cyprus tomorrow to meet Benedict XVI who is visiting the island where he will release the Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod for the Churches of the Middle East.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Link

I have lost count for how many Christian priests that have been killed lately in Turkey.

[Haykakan]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Turkish journalist sued for writing a book about Hrant Dink
assassination acquitted


June 5, 2010 - 13:13 AMT 08:13 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net -

Nedim Sener, a reporter sued for his portrayal of the assassination of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, has been acquitted in the
case, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The journalist faced trial for `making targets of civil servants,'
`obtaining secret documents' and `exposing secret documents' in his
book, `Hrant Dink Cinayeti ve İstihbarat Yalanları' (The Hrant Dink
Murder and Intelligence Lies).

The court concluded that some of the plaintiff names `were already
known by the public before the book's release and that the so-called
secret documents in the book were accessible in the Dink assassination
case before its publication.'

`I do not approve of the case's participants washing their dirty hands
with this file,' said Sener, who attended the hearing, as did one of
the plaintiffs, security officer Muhittin Zenit. Two of the case's
other plaintiffs, security officers Ali Fuat Yilmazer and Faruk Sari,
were represented by their lawyer at the hearing. The lawyer of
plaintiff Ramazan Akyurek did not attend the hearing.

`Since my code name was uncovered, I have become a target of terror
organizations. The change of my code name will not amend the
situation,' Zenit said at the hearing.

Public Prosecutor Celal Kara repeated his request on the case,
demanding a 1-3 prison sentence for Sener on the count of `making
targets of civil servants fighting terrorism.' He dropped the other
charges since the `secret' documents in the book were no longer
classified.

Sener's lawyer Yucel Dosemeci said Zenit's name and code name were
mentioned in the indictment at the court dealing with the Hrant Dink
assassination, and that Akyurek's assignment was announced in the
Official Gazette. `My client has not written on anything other than
what is already known by the Istanbul court,' Dosemeci added.

He also said Sener had received the Abdi Ipekci Journalism Award as
well as the Turkish Journalists' Society Award for his book and was
declared a hero by the International Press Institute. In his defense,
Sener said he did not make targets of civil servants and that he did
nothing but write about the documents seen by the court. `If there is
any crime, it was committed by the plaintiffs and public prosecutors,'
he said, arguing that the plaintiffs aimed to influence another case
at the court through a penalty decision.

[Alexandros]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

European Court gives ownership of orphanage to patriarchate

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The European Court of Human Rights makes a decision recommending Turkey to give the ownership of the Büyükada Orphanage back to Fener Greek Patriarchate. The court also orders Turkey to pay 26,000 euros to the Patriarchate for lawsuit-related expenses. The wooden historical orphanage, damaged at a fire 30 years ago and has been a hot debate in Turkey

The European Court of Human Rights has decided Turkey should transfer the legal title of the Büyükada Orphanage historical building to the Fener Greek Patriarchate.

The court also ordered Turkey to pay the Fener Greek Patriarchate 6,000 euros for non-pecuniary damage and 20,000 euros for costs and expenses. The wooden historical orphanage is located on Büyükada, the largest of the Prince’s Islands on the Marmara Sea.

The court recalled its decision on July 8, 2008, which said Turkish authorities were not entitled to deprive the applicant of its property without providing appropriate compensation. The court said, “the church had not received any compensation and it had therefore had to bear an individual and excessive burden, entailing a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 [property protection].”

The Orthodox side claims the Greek Orphanage belongs to the Fener Greek Patriarchate on the basis of the Ottoman firmans mandate, which were converted to property titles after the foundation of the Turkish Republic.

The Turkish government insists the ownership of the orphanage does not belong to the Greek community any longer. In view of the adjustment process to EU standards, Turkey passed a law in August 2002 regarding the registration of properties belonging to minority foundations and their subsequent return to such minorities.

It is Europe's largest wooden building and the second largest in the world. Built in 1898 originally by a French company to run as a grand hotel with a gambling casino, it failed to receive permission from the Sultan Abdulhamid II. It was eventually bought by Eleni Zarifi of the prominent Greek banking Istanbul family, who donated it to the Fener Greek Patriarchate to be used as an orphanage. The sultan himself helped the cause of housing by a generous gift of 146 gold pieces.

The Büyükada Greek Orphanage housed Greek orphans from 1903 until 1964 when it was transferred to the nearby Heybeli Island. The imposing wooden building in Büyükada was left abandoned and eventually suffered further damages by a fire in 1980.

The proprietary status of the Greek Orphanage has been a subject of a hot debate between the Greek Patriarchate and the General Directorate of Foundations, a powerful state institution in Turkey, which has been dealing with the fate of 2,235 properties owned by 147 minority foundations in Turkey, according to a recent report.

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Turkey says it will abide by the European court's ruling on the historical Büyükada Orphanage. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK


Rights court orders Turkey to transfer orphanage to patriarchate

Friday, June 18, 2010

IŞIL EĞRİKAVUK

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A European court has ordered Turkey to return a historical orphanage building to the Fener Greek Patriarchate, but some 1,000 properties once owned by minority foundations remain in government hands. Advocates for these groups say many of the structures were illegally confiscated and the law still insufficiently protects minority property rights

After a long legal battle, Turkey has been ordered to transfer the title for the historical Büyükada Orphanage to the Fener Greek Patriarchate, but the fate of other buildings originally belonging to minority foundations remains in doubt.

The European Court of Human Rights issued the decision Tuesday, also ordering Turkey to pay the patriarchate 26,000 euros for “non-pecuniary,” or general damages, as well as the expenses of the court case.

The 112-year-old orphanage, Europe’s biggest remaining wooden building, was built in 1898 as a hotel and casino on the largest of Istanbul’s Princes’ Islands, then purchased by a prominent Greek family that donated it to the patriarchate for use as an orphanage.

“The orphanage was opened in 1903 by Sultan Abdülhamid and remained so for a long time,” Osman Doğru, a law professor at Marmara University, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “Yet in 1964, it was emptied for security reasons and then left to its destiny.” For almost 30 years, the building simply rotted away. In 1995, Turkey’s General Directorate of Foundations took over ownership – and the court cases began.

“The decision to transfer the orphanage building’s ownership to the foundations directorate was based on the claim that the Greek Patriarchate didn’t do any maintenance work on it. However, it was the Turkish state that didn’t allow any restorations during that period,” said Kezban Hatemi, a lawyer for the patriarchate.

“Such a transfer is legally very problematic, and this case is not the only one,” Hatemi told the Daily News. “Since the 1960s, there have been many violations to the rights of properties owned by minority foundations.”

Thousands of properties

According to a 2009 report by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, or TESEV, there are approximately 1,000 “immovable properties,” essentially land parcels and buildings, in the country that originally belonged to Greek foundations but were confiscated by the Turkish state.

Foundations administered by other minority groups have been affected as well; some 30 properties belonging to Armenian foundations have likewise been seized, an issue that Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink tried to raise awareness about before his assassination in 2007.

“In 1936, the Turkish government asked all minority foundations to declare their properties. Yet, in 1975, the Supreme Court of Appeals decided that minority foundations do not have the right to hold any property and ordered all properties gained after 1936 to be returned,” Dink once said. “Yet these immovable properties weren’t returned to their [original] donators either, because they were already dead. So many of these properties were transferred to the General Directorate of Foundations.”

According to law professor Doğru, the case of the Büuükada Orphanage was complicated by the fact that the patriarchate claimed the building in 1936, when the government asked minority foundations to report their holdings. “However, the Supreme Court of Appeals found a very creative solution to the issue and said the building was actually claimed by the orphanage foundation, not the patriarchate itself, so they could transfer it to the General Directorate of Foundations,” he said.

After the building was confiscated in 1995, the Fener Greek Patriarchate applied to have the court decision cancelled. When this application was rejected, the patriarchate took the issue to the European Court of Human Rights.

“Minority foundations in Turkey did not have any property problems until the mid-1960s,” said patriarchate lawyer Hatemi. “But this situation completely changed when the Cyprus crisis started during that period. Only then were the declarations of 1936 remembered and minority foundations were used as a tool to gain power over Greece.”

The orphanage’s future

Turkey has said it will abide by the European court’s ruling on the Büyükada Orphanage. “We were already accepting this decision,” said Egemen Bağış, Turkey’s chief EU negotiator. “There are plans to renovate the building and we support them.”

Architect Korhan Gümüş, president of the Human Settlement Association, also offered his “100 percent support” for the project. “Even though the building is very old and damaged, it can still be renovated by wood experts and become a cultural asset for Istanbul,” he told the Daily News.

Other cases involving churches, cemeteries and other properties wait to be resolved. The Syriac Sacred Heart Church in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district is among the buildings whose future is up in the air. According to patriarchate lawyer Hatemi, the Syriac church was confiscated by the state because it didn’t have a legal identity.

“There are many churches that were confiscated like this,” Hatemi said. “Some of them were confiscated because they didn’t have enough followers. This is not legal at all.”

The current law

In 2008, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government made some changes to the existing Foundations Law that provided some important legal rights to minority foundations, such as the right to gain property and register their existing properties.

However, the return of confiscated immovable properties, or compensation for properties sold to third parties, remains controversial. The European Court of Human Rights first ruled on this type of case in 2007, ordering Turkey to pay 900,000 euros for the confiscation of the Fener Greek Boys’ High School.

In addition, the law still forbids minority groups from establishing new foundations.

“The changes in the Foundations Law are not sufficient at all,” Dilek Kurban, TESEV’s administrative director, told the Daily News. “This current court decision [about the orphanage] proves that as well. This is not the first time that Turkey has been ordered to pay compensation, and it won’t be the last.”

Link

[Alexandros]

Re: Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

Did you say ‘change' in the CHP’?

Friday, June 18, 2010

CENGİZ AKTAR

The nationalist-conservative circle in which the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, confines itself is tightening more every day. Fatal communication errors in foreign policy, reformist initiatives inside turning null-and-void and violence gradually escalating in the Kurdish question are harbingers of unpleasant days yet to come. People are in quest of something different, have high expectations from Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the new chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. However, the image of the party has changed, and the mentality remains exactly the same. Here is a shivering example.

Hakkı Suha Okay, Kemal Anadol and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, as the deputy parliamentary group leaders of the party, had asked the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the Foundations Law. The 41-page legal reading produced by CHP to support its claim targets a total of 165 non-Muslim foundations serving around 100,000 Turkish citizens. Fortunately, Thursday the Court rejected CHP's claim with the exception of a minor article. I picked up a few paragraphs from the claim to show the xenophobic and paranoiac mentality that surrenders CHP.

Sèvres paranoia and enmity against non-Muslims

“Foundations set up by religious communities in Turkey will be able to group their members around legal entities. For a foundation established by a religious community to gain such organizational power will never create positive results in Turkey. As a matter of fact, such organizational structuring based on religious communities presents a great deal of danger to the national interests and national security of Turkey due to unlimited donations and aid opportunities.”

“Foundations established by religious communities via [the Armenian] diaspora and lobbies, and foundations by others via Soros-like funds may present a great deal of threat for the national security of Turkey. In other words, unlimited donations not subject to any public supervision may create suitable environment for the activities of Soros-like funds, of anti-Turkey lobbies and the diaspora. Therefore, they present a serious threat to Turkey's national security.”

“For the foundations of the Armenian minority, how will reciprocity with Armenia or any other state be built as Armenians, in particular, keep the ‘so-called genocide allegations’ on the world agenda nowadays. Granting foundations the right to acquire real estate is one of the biggest one-way compromises that Turkey makes. Besides, it sets the ground for the establishment of ‘Greater Armenia’ as imposed in the Sèvres Agreement (sic), which was torn apart following the [Turkish] War of Independence. Armenians have never withheld their demand of land in our country and kept this issue on the agenda by compensation calls. This is nothing but surrender on what the Armenian Diaspora and ASALA tried to obtain through lobbying and terror.”

Let’s let the slain Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink answer this. During a similar legal attack in 2005 he had written to me the following: “The rights of non-Muslims in Turkey are guaranteed by the Lausanne Treaty. The Lausanne Treaty is not only a founding agreement praised by lay republicans, but also an umbrella under which minorities are protected. The Lausanne Treaty cites in many articles that minorities are allowed to build new schools, new institutions and new foundations. And Article 37 states that the articles protecting minorities cannot be removed by any law or directives, and new laws to be adopted cannot be superior to those articles. However, some laws adopted in the Republican era, for instance the article of the Civil Code that targets non-Muslim foundations, which reads ‘foundations for the benefit of communities are not allowed,’ is definitely against Lausanne.”

As the CHP is stuck in the 1920s, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg asked for the return of a Greek orphanage in Büyükada, owned by a foundation and usurped by the state, back to the Patriarchate. And the Ecumenical Patriarch wants to transform the building into an environment protection center. This is how the homeland is protected, not through CHP's nonsense.

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