US PANEL PRESSES TURKEY ON RELIGIOUS RIGHTS
Agence France Presse
July 20 2011
WASHINGTON – A US congressional committee on Wednesday urged Turkey
to ensure religious freedom and return church properties to their
“rightful owners” in a vote opposed by the Ankara government.
After a spirited debate, the House Foreign Affairs Committee
approved a text that says Turkey should “end all forms of religious
discrimination” and “return to their rightful owners” all churches
and other Christian historic sites.
“Religious minorities are under grave threat in today’s Turkey,”
said Representative Ed Royce, a Republican from California.
“Rather than enjoying protection, very vulnerable religious minority
groups including the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox
Church are denied full legal status,” he said.
Turkey in 1971 closed a major seminary of the Orthodox Church, which
has been seated in Istanbul since Byzantine times, as the secular
state tried to bring universities under its control.
Turkey does not recognize Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I’s title
as head of Orthodox Christians and considers him only the spiritual
head of Turkey’s tiny Greek Orthodox minority.
Turkey had voiced opposition to the amendment — which was included
in a spending bill — and noted that the country has historically
been home to large numbers of Christians and Jews.
“Turkey opposes the language in the measure because it presents a
biased, one-sided perspective and wholly disregards the constructive
steps Turkey has taken to safeguard and expand religious freedom and
tolerance and to preserve places of worship belonging to Jews and
Christians,” Namik Tan, Turkey’s ambassador to Washington, said in
a statement.
The measure enjoyed support from both major US parties. But
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California who
eventually voted for the text, questioned why the House zeroed in
on Turkey.
In comments that angered some colleagues, Rohrabacher said that Turkey
had a better record than most Muslim-majority countries and suggested
that fellow lawmakers were acting to please constituents of Greek or
Armenian heritage.
“We have a terrible double standard when it comes to Turkey. Yes,
they have legitimate concerns, but that doesn’t mean we have to be
inconsistent, singling them out,” Rohrabacher said.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee last year voted to describe the
1915-1917 mass killings of Armenians as “genocide,” leading Turkey
to withdraw its ambassador temporarily.