RETURNING CHURCHES, RESTORING RIGHTS: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARAM HAMPARIAN
By:Armenian Weekly
Wed, Jun 15 2011
The Armenian Weekly conducted an interview today with the ANCA
executive director Aram Hamparian. The interview focuses on H.Res
306, the Return of Churches resolution, introduced today. Below is
the interview.
Aram Hamparian Alongside the Armenian Genocide Resolution, there was
a new resolution recently introduced in the House of Representatives
calling upon Turkey to respect the rights of Christians and to return
their stolen churches. Can you tell us more about it?
Well, to begin with, we’re very encouraged by the introduction H.Res.
306-the Return of Churches resolution-by two of the most senior members
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce and Howard Berman,
and gratified by the broad, bipartisan support it has garnered.
This religious freedom measure was launched with several dozen
original cosponsors, including the co-chairs of the Human Rights,
Hellenic, and Armenian caucuses, and, notably, Congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
A reading of the resolution’s text shows that it calls, very simply,
upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations
to return confiscated Christian church properties and fully respect
the rights of all Christians, among them, of course, Armenians,
Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, and Arameans (Syriacs) who have lived
for thousands of years in what is present-day Turkey.
This legislation speaks to us powerfully as Americans-committed,
as we are, to the principle of religious liberty; as Christians-who
seek for ourselves and all people the right to worship in freedom;
and as Armenians-who are working for a truthful and just resolution
of the Armenian Genocide that morally and materially makes whole the
victim of this horrific crime. There’s no better place to start this
long overdue process than with Turkey returning stolen churches.
Why this resolution now?
This measure is urgently needed to confront-and eventually
reverse-the vast destruction visited upon religious sites during
the Armenian Genocide as well as Turkey’s official and ongoing,
post-genocide destruction of church properties, desecration of holy
sites, discrimination against Christian communities, and denial of
rights to Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Pontians, Arameans
(Syriacs), and others.
It’s adoption would add the powerful voice of the U.S. Congress-and
the full moral authority of the American people-to the international
defense of religious freedom for the Christian nations residing within
the borders of present-day Turkey.
Can you briefly describe the communities and churches this legislation
seeks to protect?
Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, and Arameans (Syriacs) have
long lived in what is present-day Turkey. Many thousands of years
before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, these nations gave
birth to great civilizations and established a rich civic, religious
and cultural heritage. They were, upon these biblical lands, among
the first Christians, dating back to the time of the travels through
Anatolia by the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew. Armenia, in 301
A.D., as is well known, became the first nation to adopt Christianity
as a state religion.
As students of religion worldwide know, the territory of
present-day Turkey is home to many of the most important centers
of early Christianity-most notably Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon,
and Constantinople. These lands contain a remarkably rich legacy of
Christian heritage, including thousands of religious sites.
And, of course, the Armenian Genocide nearly wiped out these Christian
nations.
It’s true. The Armenian Genocide of 1915 and, more broadly, Ottoman
Turkey’s genocidal drive to eliminate its entire Christian population,
represents a terrible watershed in the histories of the Christians of
these lands, marking, as it does, a genocidal shift from the Turkish
leadership’s ongoing policy of violence and oppression to one of an
outright, systematic, intentional and state-implemented campaign of
race extermination.
And so, during the World War I-era, after centuries of growing
intolerance and persecution, Ottoman Turkey perpetrated a
government-sponsored campaign of genocide against its Armenian and
other Christians subjects, resulting in the murder of over 2,000,000
Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, Arameans (Syriacs), and
the exile of hundreds of thousands others from their homelands of
thousands of years.
The Republic of Turkey, heir to the Ottomans, continued these
genocidal policies against the remaining Christian population, through
ethnic-cleansing, organized massacres, destruction of churches and
religious sites, illegal expropriation of properties, discriminatory
policies, restrictions on worship, and other means. As a result only
a small fraction of the vast Christian population that once populated
Anatolia remains today in modern Turkey.
What is the situation today of remaining Christians within Turkey?
The endangered Christian communities within Turkey’s present-day
borders, in addition to all the crimes visited upon them and their
holy sites throughout their histories, continue, to this day, to
endure oppressive restrictions imposed by the government of Turkey
on their right to practice their faith in their historic places
of worship. These endangered sites are, nearly all, still today in
Turkish hands as a direct result of genocide.
What does the U.S. government-Turkey’s ally-have to say about religious
freedom in Turkey?
The State Department, which often goes to great and frequently
unreasonable lengths to excuse Turkey’s conduct, has criticized
the persecution of Christians in Turkey, including the improper
confiscation of their properties.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, established by
Congress, recently designated Turkey as one of a handful of countries
on its watch list for a third consecutive year.
All this reflects the sad reality faced by the remaining Christians
in Turkey. They are, all too often, prevented from praying in their
historic churches, which have been desecrated, sometimes used as
storage sheds-and in some cases, even turned into barns. In very rare
instances-such as the Akhtamar Church-Turkey has undertaken repairs,
but refused to these return religious properties to their rightful
church owners, instead converting them into museums, where prayer,
as a rule, is prohibited.
Has Congress taken action on these types of religious freedom issues
in the past?
The United States, as a nation that was, quite literally, founded
upon a belief in religious liberty, has a long and proud tradition
of actively promoting and defending freedom of faith around the world.
Our own Bill of Rights safeguards religious freedom for Americans, and
our longstanding leadership in championing the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and other international covenants has helped protect
freedom of faith across the globe.
America’s enduring commitment to religious freedom was powerfully
reaffirmed in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and
has been underscored in countless pieces of specific legislation. Here
are a few examples:
Just last year, the U.S. House passed H.Res.1631, which called for
the protection of minority religious communities and places of worship
in the illegally-occupied portion of Cyprus.
S.Res.705, adopted by the U.S. Senate during the 110th Congress,
reaffirmed U.S. support for the preservation of religious and cultural
sites, and, in particular, called upon the government of Lithuania to
halt and, if necessary, reverse the desecration of a Jewish cemetery
located in the Snipiskes area of Vilnius.
H.Res.562, passed by the House during the 105th Congress, cited
the confiscation of property by foreign governments as a means of
victimizing minority populations, and, specifically, urged foreign
governments to return wrongfully expropriated properties to religious
communities.
H.Res.191, which was adopted by the U.S. House during the 109th
Congress, called upon the government of Romania to provide fair,
prompt, and equitable restitution to all religious communities for
church properties that had been previously stolen by the government.
H.R.3096 from the 110th Congress, put the U.S. House on record pressing
the government of Vietnam to respect freedom of religion and to return
properties confiscated from churches.
H.Con.Res.371, passed by the House during the 110th Congress, called
on foreign governments to return looted and confiscated properties
to their rightful owners or, where restitution was not possible, to
pay equitable compensation, in accordance with principles of justice
and in an expeditious manner that is just, transparent, and fair.
What type of opposition do you expect to this resolution?
Sadly, if history is any guide, we can look to the Turkish government
to stridently oppose this effort to end faith-based discrimination,
promote religious tolerance, and secure the rightful return of
Christian churches.
This bipartisan measure speaks openly and honestly about the real
situation in Turkey today, which inevitably runs up against the many
Ottoman and Kemalist myths about Turkey as a model of tolerance and
pluralism. So, we’re likely to hear that this measure is unnecessary or
even counter-productive given all the great strides that the Turkish
government is supposedly making. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear the
Turkish Embassy trying to spin that its adoption would somehow upset
the fragile Turkey-Armenia Protocols process.
What can our readers do to help move this legislation forward?
The quickest and easiest first step is for folks to send a free ANCA
WebMail asking their U.S. Representatives to support the Return of
Churches resolution (H.Res.306) and work for its adoption.
Another great way to help is to spread the word to friends,
family, work colleagues, and people you know who attend churches,
mosques, synagogues, and other places of worship – basically anyone
concerned about religious freedom and human rights. Send them the
link or just explain in your own words what this
effort is all about.
There are so many ways to engage, from getting involved with your local
ANCA chapter and visiting with your local legislators to meeting with
the editors of your community newspapers, volunteering for supportive
candidates, and building coalitions with friendly groups.
There are as many ways to help as there are people who want to be
helpful. If people need a hand, we’re here for you. Just send us an
email, call, or post a note to our Facebook page.
www.anca.org/return