The headline over her latest article is Israel’s never-ending Holocaust. One of her main points is that Israel has never confronted the trauma of the Nazi holocaust and has “turned it into a placard in the service of the national trauma, to reinforce the constant existential fear and the aggressiveness that comes with it.”

Because what she wrote is so important, and in my view ought to be read by all peoples of all faiths everywhere who want to understand why the Zionist state is what it is, I am going to quote her at some length.

She wrote:

The Holocaust is the primary way Israel defines itself. And that definition is narrow and ailing in the extreme, because the Holocaust is remembered only in a very specific way, as are its lessons. It has long been used to justify the existence and the necessity of the state, and has been mentioned in the same breath as proof that the state is under a never-ending existential threat.

The Holocaust is the sole prism through which our leadership, followed by society at large, examines every situation. This prism distorts reality and leads inexorably to a forgone conclusion… that all our lives are simply one long Shoah (experience of persecution and extermination – my amplification not Merav’s).

The ‘Hitlers’ are always there: Just a week ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said for the nth time that there is no shortage of those who want to exterminate us completely. In other words, there is no lack of reasons to continue to reinforce the fear of the Holocaust – which, according to his father, historian Benzion Netanyahu, has never ended.

So it is that we don’t have any rivals, adversaries or even enemies. Only Hitlers. This is how the Holocaust is taught in school, this how it is that Israeli students are taken to visit death camps – and how it came to be that, as Ha’aretz reported on Friday, just 2 percent of Israeli youth feel committed to democratic principles after studying the Holocaust… That’s the way it is with traumas. Because of our human limitations, a trauma that is not dealt with makes us constantly see yet another trauma approaching – even when whatever is coming has no connection to the previous trauma and may even be a good thing. Trauma leads to belligerence and a strong tendency to wreak havoc on one’s surroundings, but first and foremost on oneself.

What we consider rational is actually a frightened, defensive, aggressive pattern. Our current leaders have made Israeli Judaism just a post-traumatic syndrome, while they lead us to self-destruction.

I imagine that most if not all Arabs and other Muslims everywhere would welcome the prospect of Israel self-destructing, but in my Gentile view it is not actually a prospect to be welcomed. Why not?

If there comes a time when it seemed to them that the Zionist state’s self-destruction was imminent, Israel’s leaders would respond in the same way as they would if their state was in danger of being defeated on the battlefield. As readers of my book Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews know, that response was put into words by Golda Meir in the course of one of my BBC Panorama interviews with her when she was prime minister. In a doomsday situation, she said, Israel “would be prepared to take the region down with it.”

The question arising is something like this. Is there any power on Planet Earth that could assist Israeli Jews to save themselves from themselves – perhaps I should say save themselves from their deluded leaders?

The more I think about this question, the more I am convinced that there is only one power that could do it – the Jews of the world. But that must be the subject of another post and I will welcome thoughts from others before I write it.

www.alanhart.net, January 30, 2012

The ministry sent a letter to state television channel TRT on Jan. 3 recommending that pop singer Can Bonomo represent Turkey at the yearly event, Haberturk reported. The move was intended as an opening to Jews amid the worst period in Turkish- Israeli relations in the countries’ histories, the Istanbul- based newspaper said. Bonomo was announced as Turkey’s representative for the contest by TRT on Jan. 6, it said.

Turkey will also be the first Muslim country to air a documentary about the Holocaust as part of the same cultural opening toward Jews, Haberturk reported. French director Claude Lanzmann’s 9.5-hour documentary “Shoah” began airing with Turkish subtitles on TRT on Jan. 26 and will continue in episodes to be aired each Thursday, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at bharvey11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

via Turkey Ministry Recommends Jewish Artist for Eurovision, HT Says – Bloomberg.

Photo: Reuters

Turkey’s Chief Rabbi Izak Haleva (C) and Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu (L) light candles, in memory of holocaust victims, during a commemoration to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day at Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul, January 26, 2012.

Turkey marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day by becoming the first predominantly Muslim country to screen the iconic holocaust documentary, Shoah.

The screening of the legendary nine-hour documentary on the Jewish Holocaust on Turkish state TV was a key part of Turkey’s observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

By video link-up from Paris, Shoah director Claude Lanzmann addressed a ceremony in Istanbul’s Neve Shalom Synagogue on Thursday, the eve of the Holocaust commemoration. The meeting was attended by high-level state officials, who joined members of the Jewish community. Lanzmann says the screening in Turkey of Shoah has special significance.

“This is [a] pioneering event, the consequences that Turkey will be followed by other Arab countries and one day by Iran, I am sure,” said Lanzmann. “And I want to salute the determination, [the] courage of the people of Turkish television.”

It is the first time the film is being shown on state television in a predominantly Muslim country. The screening is part of the French-based Aladdin project that seeks to build greater understanding through culture between Muslims and Jews.

Aladdin director Abraham Radkin says the film is important in raising awareness among Muslims about the Holocaust.

“Over the past 60 years, the Muslim world [has] been excluded from history learning in other parts of the world,” said Radkin. “So we are trying to fill a gap, a knowledge gap, and we hope we can promote relations between Jews and Muslims and remove some of the misunderstanding.”

That view is shared by Turkish Jews attending Thursday night’s ceremony to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This woman says Turkish people are not sufficiently aware about the Holocaust.

“I don’t think so. If you think about the whole of Turkey, I don’t think so,” she said. “So everybody should know about it, because it should not repeat again.”

In 2003, the Neve Shalom Synagogue, where the Thursday-night ceremony was held, was hit along with another synagogue by simultaneous truck bombs, killing 27 people. The attacks were blamed on a Turkish al-Qaida cell. The synagogue was also attacked by gunmen in 1986. Twenty-two Jews were killed.

Observers say anti-Semitism in Turkey, fueled by Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, remains a concern.

Political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University was instrumental in persuading Turkish state TV to screen Shoah. He says the broadcast is important for Turkey.

“There [are] a lot of misjudgments about Judaism, about the lack of knowledge about European Jews, what happened to them in the Second World War,” said Aktar. “Turkey was a neutral country and didn’t know about much about all of this. Turkish public needs to be informed about atrocities of the 20th century.”

Turkey’s broadcast of Shoah comes as diplomatic tensions between Ankara and Israel remain high. Israeli commandos in 2010 killed nine Turkish citizens seeking to break by sea Israel’s economic blockade of Gaza. Turkey’s decision to screen Shoah is seen as part of its policy to separate its differences with the Israeli government from the Jewish people.

The documentary’s screening also comes as Ankara is embroiled in a diplomatic fight with France over Turkey’s denial that its Ottoman rulers committed a genocide against the country’s Armenian population during World War I. Earlier this week, the French Senate passed a bill that makes it a crime to deny Armenian genocide claims.

Shoah’s French director Lanzman, who condemns the law, believes the screening of films like his is effective in helping countries to face up to their past.

“I [am] absolutely sure that this is [a] first step and that the day when [they] will decide to deal themselves with their own past, they will do it, and they don’t need anybody with a gun behind them,” he said.

Turkey’s broadcast of Shoah has already drawn praise both at home and abroad. The move is seen as an important step in supporting Turkey’s small Jewish community but also, observers say, a shrewd diplomatic move by the government.

via Turkey Marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day | Europe | English.

Turkey's broadcast of the film is the culmination of work by a group which tries to improve Jewish-Muslim relations (AFP/File, Andrei Nacu)

ANKARA — Turkish public television will show an epic French documentary about the Holocaust, the first broadcast of its kind by national media in a Muslim state, it was announced Wednesday.

A spokesman for Turkish public television TRT said the 1985 film “Shoah” would be shown on one of the network’s 14 channels, but did not say when.

The director of nine-hour-plus documentary, Claude Lanzmann, called the Turkish move historic.

“We should acknowledge the courage and determination of the Turks,” said Lanzmann, who spent 11 years working on the documentary. “Turkey is a country people don’t know and understand very badly.”

Turkey’s broadcast of the film is the culmination of work by the Aladdin Project, a Paris-based group which tries to improve Jewish-Muslim relations.

The group said in a statement the film would be shown Thursday, the day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, adding that it had never before been shown in its entirety in a Muslim country.

Consisting largely of Holocaust-survivor interviews, the film examines the killing of European Jews in Nazi death camps during World War II.

Its broadcast comes at a sensitive time in Turkey’s international relations.

Ankara hopes to eventually join the European Union, but it is embroiled in a spat with Paris over the French senate’s approval of a law making it a crime to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces in World War II was genocide.

Ankara’s relations with Israel were damaged in 2010 after Israeli commandoes stormed a Turkish aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip in an operation that led to the deaths of nine Turkish activists.

via AFP: Turkey to become first Muslim nation to show Holocaust film.

And to mark 550 years of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, a top Turkish musician has been doing what he does best, in an anniversary concert.

“As a son of this land, together with the Turkish classical military band and representatives of three big religions, we will play and perform a Jewish psalm, then a Christian psalm and a Muslim psalm,” said classical pianist and composer Tuluyhan Ugurlu in a break from rehearsals.

Euronews

ANKARA — Unbeknownst to many, Turkish diplomats on duty around Europe saved hundreds of Jews during World War II by giving them Turkish passports, enabling them to travel to safety in Turkey.

This little known episode is told in an independent documentary entitled “Turkish Passport”, being promoted as finally revealing “a secret kept for 66 years”.

The film recounts memories known mainly to 19 diplomats and the Jews they saved from German Nazi death camps. It is based on testimonies by witnesses and their relatives.

“To remember and never to forget,” said Gunes Celikcan, 30, one of the producers, as he talked about why the film was made.

“There is not much about what the Turks did during that period of history,” Celikcan told AFP, as Turkey remained neutral during World War II.

He said the diplomats saved around 2,000 Jews from the Holocaust but the exact figure is unknown.

“We wanted to show this for the very first time and commemorate those diplomats,” none of whom survive today, he said.

The docudrama directed by Burak Arliel was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May. It has since been screened in Istanbul and other Turkish cities and made the rounds of festivals in the US and Europe.

And though the buzz is quiet, it’s building — and not all is favourable.

Its release comes at a low-point in relations between Israel and Turkey, after Israel’s refusal to apologise for a deadly commando raid on a humanitarian flotilla bound for the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip. The incident left nine Turkish nationals dead on May 31, 2010.

In protest, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and froze military ties and defence trade deals.

The Palestinians have widespread support in Turkey, where a wildly popular Turkish film series, “Valley of the Wolves”, has fuelled strains, blasted by Israel as having anti-Semitic content.

Celikcan said the film has been six years in the making and “has nothing to do with the changing political spectrum”.

But not all agree, including the chief political analyst for The Jerusalem Post, Gil Hoffman, and former Israeli cultural attache in Turkey Batya Keinan.

In a recent article reprinted in several Turkish newspapers and websites, Hoffman said the movie was “rewriting history” with one of its “central messages — that the Turkish government was actively involved in saving Jewish lives in Europe.”

This “does not appear to be the case”, he wrote. “Historical records indicate that the diplomats acted on their own, despite orders to the contrary from Ankara.”

Hoffman also quoted Keinan. “The Turkish press office is using the movie for propaganda,” she said. “They are trying to say ‘we are good people who protected Jews in the Holocaust and Palestinians now, and yet you shoot at us.’ Shame on you.”

The comments have angered the movie’s backers.

“This film is not propaganda. … There is no state involvement,” said Asli Sena Genc, a representative for the Istanbul promoters. “This is a historical fact.”

Celikcan said the Turkish foreign ministry gave the filmmakers access to official archives, but ministry officials told AFP the film was a private initiative and the ministry made no official contribution.

The docudrama recounts how the diplomats, including ambassador to Vichy France Saffet Arikan, found a way out for Turkish and foreign Jews, sending them to Istanbul on 12 trains at different points during the war.

Behic Erkin, Turkey’s ambassador to Paris from 1940-43, and Kudret Erbey, consul-general in the German city of Hamburg from 1940-45, were also involved.

“Turkish diplomats did their best to save Jews amid the raging brutality against Jews during World War II,” said Naim Guleryuz, a historian and consultant on the film who heads a Turkish foundation that promotes the history and culture of Turkish Jews.

“This part of the story is actually known by historians but we wanted to make it public knowledge through this documentary,” he said.

Researchers went to the United States, Israel, France and Germany, tracking down survivors or their relatives, some of whose tales are told on the film’s official website.

In one, Arlette Bules recalls when her father was arrested by the Germans and sent to the internment camp of Drancy, outside Paris.

“My mother immediately went to the Turkish Embassy and asked for help rescuing my father. Thanks to the letters written by the ambassador, my father was rescued,” she said.

Celikcan recalls another testimony about a Jewish father who called his two daughters to his deathbed after the war. “He told them ‘never forget that it was the Turks who saved us’ and then died making a military salute.”

“We did this film without any expectation,” Genc told AFP. “We only wanted to reveal a secret which has been kept for so many years.”

Celikcan was philosophical. “If this film makes a positive impact to mend fences between the two countries, we should only be happy for that” — a view also held by Israeli diplomat Keinan, who has worked for recognition in Israel of these Turkish diplomats’ wartime role.

“Even though there are problems with the ‘Turkish Passport’, the aggressive promotion of the movie could end up helping the current efforts to improve ties between Israel and Turkey,” she said in The Jerusalem Post.

via AFP: Film shows how Turkish passports saved Jews.

Tzofia Hirschfeld

Turkey’s Jewry, which used to be one of the most influential Jewish communities in the Middle East, has turned into its own shadow since the Marmara affair.

It is a community which is trying with all its might to convey the feeling that nothing has changed, but the great efforts invested in saying that “everything’s fine” reveal its insecurity.

Hubris

‘Turkey’s policies brought Israel to its knees’ / Ynet

Ankara’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu boasts Turkey’s firm Middle East policies have isolate Israel even further both regionally and internationally

Turkey’s Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Haleva visited Israel last week as part of a conference initiated by Prof. Shmuel Refael, director of the Naime and Yehoshua Salti Center for Ladino Studies at Bar-Ilan University.

Haleva was happy to answer any question regarding Turkey’s Jews or Ladino, but did not offer much on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan or his stand regarding the diplomatic crisis with Israel.

“We don’t intervene in political issues,” he clarifies in a conversation with Ynet. “We have a good relationship with the government, and when we encounter problems we turn to them and they help us.

“We have a good relationship with the prime minister, who listens to our problems and tries to help. We act like a good community and don’t take a political stand.”

המרמרה עוגנת באיסטנבול (צילום

:AP)

Marmara docks in Istanbul (Photo: AP)

Asked to address the problems encountered by the community, Rabbi Haleva avoids the security-related issues, like reinforcing security outside synagogues, and focuses on less essential difficulties.

“The Jewish cemetery has filled up,” he says. “We turned to the local authority and were given a special area to set up a new Jewish cemetery.”

‘Unpleasant atmosphere’

As for the Jews who still live in Turkey, Rabbi Haleva tries to describe a life unaffected by the Marmara affair and the diplomatic crisis.

“Anti-Semitism? We have no special problem with anti-Semitism,” he clarifies. “Anti-Semitism exists everywhere and for years, but we don’t actually feel it. There are of course anti-Semitic journalists, but we are trying to advance a law against hatred.

“We hope that as part of the law, even those who don’t engage in hateful activities, but just write about them, will be punished too. In the meantime we have failed, and the law only punishes those who have caused real damage.”

What does the life of Turkey’s Jews look like since the Gaza-bound flotilla?

“We went through tough days, absolutely, but there were no security problems, because whenever there’s a need we turn to the police and they send guards over.

“There’s no doubt that when a ship wants to cross the border it leads to an unpleasant atmosphere, because even though we have no political connection to Israel, we do have a connection and sympathy toward Jews.”

Last week, TIME website readers chose Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan as Person of the Year for 2011, but a large number of readers also selected him as the most hated person.

Asked to address the choice, Rabbi Haleva remains loyal: “TIME’s choice is their decision. He is undoubtedly a popular person, and like every public figure he has opponents.”

No Reform Jews, no Conservatives

In the beginning of the 20th century, Turkey had some 300,000 Jews. Upon the State of Israel’s establishment, many of them made aliyah and now the Turkish Jewish community includes some 20,000 people, most of them in Istanbul, which has 18 synagogues that are mostly active on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

Istanbul also has a Jewish education system from kindergarten to high school, youth clubs and a Talmud Torah school.

The local rabbinate has a divorce court and a kashrut department, which is responsible for the kosher butcher shops. They produce kosher wine and cheese, and until three years ago they also had a matzah factory.

Although Turkey feels like Europe, its Jewish community is completely different. “It’s a very special community, which isn’t divided into various factions,” explains Rabbi Haleva. “All Turkish Jews belong to Orthodox Judaism. There are no Reform Jews and no Conservatives.

“Turkey’s Jews sympathize with the State of Israel like any other Jew. There is no anti-Zionism among us. Today there is no mass immigration to Israel because every Jew remains where he can make a living. Whoever fails in business makes aliyah.”

What would you like to wish upon Turkey’s Jews?

“I want world peace – that we’ll open the television and not hear about explosions and gunshots. I think the entire world is thirsty for peace, and as a religious scholar I pray for peace everywhere. I believe that when a person prays, God listens.”

via Turkey’s rabbi: Erdogan a popular man – Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews.

By Joëlle Fiss
Senior Associate, Fighting Discrimination Program

Myth vs. Reality on U.S. Engagement with Islamic States

Yesterday, in an historic vote, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on combating religious intolerance.

The novelty of this text is that it does not include the harmful concept of “defamation of religions.” Instead, the General Assembly resolution calls on governments to speak out and to condemn hatred, while encouraging open debate, human rights education, and interfaith and intercultural initiatives.

The resolution marks a welcome departure from previous U.N texts. For over a decade, efforts were made in several venues at the U.N. to promote the concept that was intended to prohibit “defamation of religions.”  What it did, in fact, was provide cover for abusive national blasphemy laws. Human Rights First has long argued that this concept is inconsistent with universal human rights standards that protect individuals rather than abstract ideas or religions. Indeed, blasphemy laws promote a stifling atmosphere in which governments can restrict freedom of expression, thought and religion and persecute religious minorities. Such resolutions were sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Last week, the U.S. government organized a two-day Istanbul Process Conference inviting experts from around the world to share best practices on how to fight discrimination based on religion or belief. Some have criticized the United States’ engagement with the O.I.C. on these issues. Human Rights First has worked for years to reverse the tide of defamation of religions at the U.N. , and has welcomed HRC resolution 16/18 as well as this most recent General Assembly resolution. We believe it is important for governments to now implement the provisions of these resolutions.

Here are some commonly expressed concerns and our response to them:

Myth 1: The U.N. resolution opens the door to limiting freedom of speech.

Wrong. The resolution acknowledges the language of article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), notably that “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.” It calls on states to take measures “consistent with their obligations under international human rights law, to address and combat such incidents.”

The United States has a reservation to that provision, to the extent that it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, so it is not bound by the obligation. In fact, the U.S. has the highest threshold of free speech in the world, and the U.S. government has expressed no intention of lowering those standards. However, that does not exempt all other states from their legal obligations to fight “incitement, hostility or violence” according to article 20 of the ICCPR. After all, that is what they signed up to, so they have an obligation by law to honor their commitment.

In all respects though, the implementation of Article 20 must not infringe Article 19, which reasserts everyone’s right to freedom of expression. Rather than imposing new restrictions on freedom of speech, which it does not, the new consensus resolution opens the door to an action-oriented approach to fighting religious intolerance. That is very consistent with the U.S. policies and practices – combat violence, discrimination and hatred without restricting freedom of speech.  Resolution 16/18 urges states to train government officials to address religious tensions, to harmonize actions at local and national level, to raise awareness of negative stereotyping of persons, to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue, to foster religious freedom and to speak out against intolerance (among other recommendations. The only limitation on speech that is in the operative part of the resolution is incitement to “imminent violence”, which is in accordance with US law.

Myth 2: “The Istanbul Process Conference is undermining U.S. standards on freedom of expression.”

Wrong. The U.S. will always enforce its own standards on freedom of expression; these are enshrined in this country’s Constitution. But its legal exceptionalism on freedom of speech does not necessarily mean that the U.S. administration needs to be diplomatically isolated when it comes to promoting globally the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, which many in the U.S. perceive to be core and founding American values. On the contrary, since the U.S. joined the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Obama administration has openly expressed its ambition to exert leadership within the U.N. body.

The U.S. demonstrated that leadership by securing the passage of Resolution 16/18 at the Human Rights Council and by moving immediately to show through the Istanbul Process Conference that states have tools at their disposal to combat violence, discrimination and hatred without restricting free speech. This is not only important to protecting human rights, but also key to keeping the defamation concept off the U.N. agenda.

The aim of the gathering on December 12-14 was to enhance international and technical expertise on challenges that law enforcement officials and other national experts face, when tackling conflict prevention and religious intolerance. The discussions focused on the difficulties that practitioners face on the ground, such as training officials, enforcing anti-discrimination laws and collecting data on violent hate crimes.  The conference also plans to collect information on government’s best practices, which could provide a useful tool. A report will be shared and made public to states and U.N. bodies. The United States should make sure that the report remains true to its intentions, which is to highlight effective practices that do not restrict speech.

Myth 3: The O.I.C. has not abandoned the concept of defamation of religions, so why bother organizing a conference if its agenda hasn’t changed?

The concept of defamation of religions – most frequently seen in national legislation in the form of blasphemy laws – has not vanished into thin air. Blasphemy laws continue to abuse human rights and to inflict brutality on innocent victims.  Human Rights First’s recently updated report documents over 100 incidents from 18 countries. It illustrates how blasphemy laws are frequently invoked to stifle dissent and harass rivals. The report also shows how blasphemy laws can provide state-sanction for discrimination against minority religions and faiths. Since the laws are discriminatory in their open-endedness they enable governments through their application to essentially determine which ideas are acceptable and which are not. As such, accusations of blasphemy have led to arbitrary arrests and detentions and restrictions in the practice and worship of minority religions.

The chilling number of incidents cited in the report of angry mobs taking the law into their own hands provides a window into the violence that blasphemy or rumors of blasphemy can incite. The majority of cases of mob violence hail from Pakistan and Indonesia. Sometimes mobs target government officials for not being strict enough in their application of blasphemy laws. But the violence is most frequently directed toward religious minority communities where the practice of their religion has been deemed blasphemous or, where simply a misspoken word or alleged desecration of the Koran incites retaliation. Violence goes unpunished and sometimes it is rather the victims of the violence that are prosecuted for their role in protecting themselves, their homes, and their places of worship.

At the international level, too, certain leaders have not abandoned reference to defamation of religions. This requires continued vigilance on the part of the US and like-minded governments, as well as human rights and other civil society groups, to ensure that the momentum remains on the side of the new consensus approach.

In organizing this conference, the U.S. took the lead in demonstrating that all states can do more to  combat hatred without restricting speech.  Ultimately, the Istanbul process (and the U.N. resolutions that inspired it) should be judged not by the decision of the U.S. to engage other states to implement resolutions, but on the extent to which it contributes to improving the ways in which states fight religious intolerance while respecting freedom of speech.

PRN: 2011/2144

WASHINGTON–The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on Tuesday, December 13th on H.Res.306, a religious freedom measure that calls upon Turkey to return stolen Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, and Syriac church properties, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

This religious freedom measure, which was adopted 43 to 1 on July 20th of this year by the Foreign Affairs Committee, was introduced by Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Howard Berman (D-CA). It has been scheduled for a floor vote by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) under a special parliamentary procedure known as the Suspension Calendar. The text of the resolution that is set to come before the House will be the same as the abridged version adopted at the committee level.

“The bipartisan consensus and cooperation we are seeing in support of pressing Turkey to return stolen Christian properties within its present-day borders both reflects and also reinforces America’s enduring commitment to religious freedom, as so powerfully reaffirmed in the enactment by Congress of the International Religious Freedom Act, and so enduringly represented on the international stage by America’s leadership in supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We encourage supporters of religious liberty – of all faiths – to contact their legislators in support of H.Res.306, and call on all members of the U.S. House to cast their votes for this principled stand for freedom of faith.”

Take part in the ANCA action alert in support of H.Res.306.

For minute-by-minute updates on House consideration of the matter, follow the ANCA Facebook page. The ANCA Facebook page is open to the public, although to participate in the discussion or offer comments, you will need sign-in or register.

Historical Background

Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, Arameans, and Syriacs have long lived in present-day Turkey. Thousands of years before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, they gave birth to great civilizations and established a rich civic, religious and cultural heritage. They were, upon these ancient and biblical lands, among the first Christians, dating back to the travels through Anatolia of the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew. Armenia, in 301 A.D., became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.

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, and 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, violence, 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 historic Christian population that once populated Anatolia remains in modern Turkey.

The endangered Christian communities within the borders of present-day Turkey, in addition to all the crimes and persecutions visited upon them throughout their histories, continue, to this day, to endure oppressive restrictions imposed by the government of Turkey on their ability to worship in freedom in their historic places of worship, which are still today in Turkish hands as the result of genocide.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has designated Turkey as one of a handful of countries on their watch list for a third consecutive year. The State Department has documented the persecution of Christians in Turkey, including the improper confiscation of their properties. The remaining Christians in Turkey are, all too often, prevented from praying in their historic churches, many of which are desecrated on a daily basis and even used as storage sheds. In very rare instances, Turkey has undertaken repairs of selected Christian churches, but refused to return them to the rightful church owners, and instead converting them into museums, where prayer, as a rule, is prohibited.

via House Set To Call On Turkey To Return Churches | Asbarez Armenian News.