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Armenian Legal Center Highlights Link between Property & Religious Rights at International Conference in DC Video

December 11, 2017 By administrator

Kate Nahapetian,Property & Religious Rights at International Conference in DC

By Kate Nahapetian, Executive Director
Armenian Legal Center 
for Justice and Human Rights (ALC)

Members of Congress, Religious Leaders and Advocates from Across the World Gather at Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom
Washington, DC – Kate Nahapetian, Executive Director of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights (ALC), spoke on a December 6th panel on the Protection of Sacred Sites and Property Rights at the Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom in Washington, DC organized by the Order of St. Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The overarching theme of this year’s discussions was, “Persecution of Christians in the Holy Lands and the Middle East: Consequences and Solutions.”  Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou of Tufts University Fletcher School for Law & Diplomacy and a former Commissioner with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom opened the conversation by highlighting the purpose of the frequent destruction of sacred sites, which “are designed to humiliate to remind [religious minorities] that they are second class citizens.”

In her opening remarks, Nahapetian outlined the historic weight of the issue, telling the audience that, “Property issues were integral to realizing the [Armenian] Genocide because if you dispossess the community, you ensure that they are impoverished and that they cannot resist the persecution. If you take away their religious sites, you ensure that they will not return.”

Other panelists, including Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Ecumenical Director and Diocesan Legate of Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), touched on the confiscation of church properties in Turkey pointing out that, “The Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem has 950 pieces of property in Constantinople, Smyrna and some parts of Asia Minor. [They] have been trying to get in touch with the Turkish authorities for the last ten years.” According to the Archbishop, to this day not a single piece has been given back.

In a similar vein, Nahapetian further noted that, “Of the over 2000 Armenian churches that existed before the Armenian Genocide, less than 50 of them are operational today in Turkey. Only three of those 50 are outside of Istanbul, and it’s no coincidence that there are very few Armenians outside of Istanbul.”

Nahapetian suggested several solutions to the issue, including creating third party arbitration for issues of religious minority property confiscation, as the court systems in offending countries like Turkey are frequently hostile to such claims and often mount numerous bureaucratic and judicial obstacles to pursuing them.

However, she also explained the frequent insufficiency of treaties in protecting religious minorities and their properties from politically motivated destruction and dispossession, reminding the audience that, “[Treaties protecting the Christian community] are not enough. Before the genocide there were treaties that protected the Christian community of the Ottoman Empire.”

Instead, Nahapetian offered another possible solution, “to document the properties to make them toxic for third party use.” She argued that even in the absence of proper legal remedies, which will inevitably take time to establish, “You can decrease the profit motive in using these properties by third parties who care…including corporations or other investors.” If these properties came with significant political consequence down the road, investing in them, “repurposing” them, would become too expensive an endeavor for third parties to undertake, increasing the incentive to voluntarily return them to the expelled communities.

Nahapetian went on to introduce the ALC’s long term project for doing just that, its Property Documentation Database, announced earlier this year, which catalogues stolen and confiscated properties in modern day Turkey.  To submit documentation concerning stolen or lost properties from the Armenian Genocide, individuals can visit: https://armenianlegal.org/document-preservation-form/.

Other panelists included Ambassador Patrick Theros, Representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the United States and Rabbi Arthur Schneier, founder of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation. The panel was chaired by Dr. Anthony Limberakis Commander, Order of Saint Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Members of Congress from both the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committee, academics from across the country, and religious leaders and human rights advocates from the Greek, Armenian, Syriac and Coptic communities addressed other panels during the three day conference from December 4-6, 2017.

The Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights (ALC) fights to redress human rights violations emanating from the Armenian Genocide that continue to this day and undermine stability in a region that has for far too long been marred by policies founded on genocide, not human rights and justice.  ALC promotes scholarship on the legal avenues for addressing the challenges emanating from the Armenian Genocide, in addition to pursuing cases in national and international courts, while promoting the protection of Armenian cultural heritage through the return of stolen properties and artifacts.

Photo Caption:  L to R: Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Rabbi Arthur Schneier; Kate Nahapetian, Ambassador Patrick Theros and Archbishop Vicken Aykazian. Photo by Anna Mehrabyan.

Kate Nahapetian
Executive Director

Armenian Legal Center

for Justice and Human Rights (ALC)

1711 N Street NW, Washington DC 20036
(202) 742-8702
kate@armenianlegal.org
http://www.armenianlegal.org 
https://www.facebook.com/armenianlegalcenter 
https://twitter.com/ALCJHR   
Admitted in Washington, DC, California & New York

 

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Conference, International, Kate Nahapetian, property, Religious Rights

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP): Azerbaijani Aliyev’s family owns property of over $140 mln

May 11, 2016 By administrator

Aluyev familOrganized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has published information on the property of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s family.

According to the information, Aliyev’s daughters – Leyla and Arzu – live in a US$26 mln penthouse in downtown London.  The penthouse was purchased in September 2006, being registered via an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

Aliyev’s family overall owns property of over US$140 all over the world, these being only the known properties.

“Other international properties include a US$ 25 million London mansion; a flat valued at up to US$ 8 million overlooking the Speakers’ Corner of Hyde Park; nine waterfront mansions in Dubai valued at US$ 44 million; a dacha near Moscow worth at least US$ 37 million; and a US$ 1.1 million villa in an exclusive neighborhood in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary,” the information reads.

OCCRP earlier published information revealing the activity of the Azerbaijani lobbyists in the U.S.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Aliyev, Azerbaijan, family, occrp, property

TURKEY Death of Mustafa. Koç, Koç Holding CEO whose family fortune comes from the confiscation of Armenian property

January 22, 2016 By administrator

arton121256-276x183Mustafa Koç, the boss of the largest industrial conglomerate in Turkey, Koç Holding, died Thursday in an Istanbul hospital following a heart attack at age 55, announced his doctors.

“We lost Mustafa Koç following a heart attack which he suffered at his home, despite all the efforts of the doctors,” he told reporters a doctor of the American Hospital of the Nisantasi area. CEO fainted during a workout. He had suffered last year a gastric surgery and lost about 40 kg, the Turkish media reported.

Mustafa Koç led since 2003 one of the strongest and most respected companies of Turkey, founded in 1920 by his grandfather Vehbi Koç.

Vehbi Koç was born July 20, 1901 in Ankara in a family of the working class. Like the Sabanci family, he turned the Armenian private property in 1942 including that of Margarios Ohanyan.

By itself, the family group and Koç hundred companies provide 9% of Turkish exports and 8% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Koç Holding has the particular Tüpras oil company, which owns one of the largest refineries in Europe and a major automotive cluster in Turkey that produces models of Fiat and Ford brands. He is also active in the banking sector.

The boss of Koç Holding had suffered the wrath of the government of the current Islamic-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, especially after he criticized the repression of political slingshot June 2013. His group had particularly suffered significant tax adjustments.

Friday, January 22, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Armenian, confiscated, Mustafa. Koç, property, Turkey

Syrian man claims Turkey is building new tomb on his property

February 24, 2015 By administrator

205569_newsdetailA Syrian man from Syria’s Kurdish town of Kobani has claimed that the land on which Turkey has chosen to move the recently exhumed remains of Süleyman Şah actually belongs to him and that no one informed him that the tomb would be built on his private property, a Turkish daily has reported.

According to a report published by the Vatan daily on Tuesday, the plot of land Turkey chose to rebuild the tomb, which is about 200 meters away from the Turkish-Syrian border in Şanlıurfa in an area being called Syrian Eşme, belongs to a 45-year-old Syrian man named Bozan Osman

Speaking to the daily, Osman, who took shelter in Şanlıurfa’s Birecik district near his relatives when clashes between Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and Kurdish fighters broke out last autumn, said the land where the new tomb will reportedly be built belongs to him. He added that he didn’t sell the land or make any agreement with anyone regarding it.

“I saw Turkish soldiers going toward our village on [Saturday] night. I mean, the distance is [so close], around 200 meters. When we looked there [his land] in the morning, we saw the troops. I went to our mukhtar, Suphi Yavuz, and asked if the Turkish troops were on our land. The mukhtar told me: ‘Nothing bad will happen. The Turkish Republic is a big state and it won’t cause you grievance.’ The area is around 1,000 square meters. The whole of it belongs to me. No one came to me beforehand to inform me [that the tomb would be placed there],” Osman said.

The Syrian man also claimed that he went to speak with the Turkish soldiers and they also told him that “nothing bad will happen.”

He spoke about how the conditions of war in the area have affected him and the 12 members of his family, and he asked the Turkish government for help: “We are already in a difficult situation. While we were in Syria, we were earning our living by farming the land where the tomb will be built. We had planted wheat and barley. We are asking for help from the Turkish government. Land in Syria is too expensive. We don’t know what will happen.”

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: kobani, land, new, private, property, Süleyman Şah, Syria, tomb, Turkey

Turks return Armenians’ property with one hand and seize it with another – review

May 29, 2014 By administrator

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party returns the one-time Armenian buildings to their original owners with one hand Armenian buildingwhile trying to seize it with another, reports the Istanbul-based bilingual weekly Agos.

The publication says that the earlier decision to return the community’s property symbolized a kind of new approach to the historical injustice, which could not be ignored despite the remarkable differences between the buildings’ original appearance and current look.

“In the run-up to 2015, the ‘just memory’ of the Armenian Genocide is turning into state policies, so the property return may have a certain value in terms of reinstating that justice.

“But to heal and repair the injustice of the past it is necessary to find permanent rather than transient solutions,” reads the article.

It says further that the local authorities in Istanbul’s Zeitinburnu neighborhood have filed a lawsuit to reinstate the ownership right to the land lot returned to the Armenian church of Sourb Prkich (Holy Savior).

A namesake hospital is said to be the building’s owner, but the city authorities reportedly appeal against the decision to return it to the Armenian community.

The property is thought to be of vital importance for the hospital which offers aid to not only Armenians but also any individual regardless of religion or ethnic identity.

“That move by the Zeitinburnu mayor’s office will hopefully be remembered as an unpleasant step tomorrow. To avoid such problems it is necessary to return the entire property without preconditions and take steps towards reparation,” says the publication.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenians, property, Turks

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