IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1631 

Calling for the protection of religious sites and artifacts from and in Turkishoccupied areas of northern Cyprus as well as for general respect for 

religious freedom. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 

Mr. BILIRAKIS (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SMITH

of New Jersey, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, 

Ms. TITUS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. LIPINSKI, and Mr. 

SPACE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Calling for the protection of religious sites and artifacts 

from and in Turkish-occupied areas of northern Cyprus 

as well as for general respect for religious freedom. 

Whereas the Government of Turkey invaded the northern 

area of the Republic of Cyprus on July 20, 1974, and the 

Turkish military continues to illegally occupy the territory to this day; 

Whereas the Church of Cyprus has filed an application 

against Turkey with the European Court of Human 

Rights for violations of freedom of religion and association as Greek Cypriots in the occupied areas are unable 

to worship freely due to the restricted access to religious 


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sites and continued destruction of the property of the 

Church of Cyprus; 

Whereas according to the United Nations-brokered Vienna 

III Agreement of August 2, 1975, ‘‘Greek-Cypriots in the 

north of the island are free to stay and they will be given 

every help to lead a normal life, including facilities for 

education and for the practice of their religion . . .’’; 

Whereas according to the Secretary General’s Report on the 

United Nations Operation in Cyprus in June 1996, the 

Greek Cypriots and Maronites living in the northern part 

of the island ‘‘were subjected to severe restrictions and 

limitations in many basic freedoms, which had the effect 

of ensuring that inexorably, with the passage of time, the 

communities would cease to exist.’’; 

Whereas the very future and existence of historic Greek Cypriot, Maronite, and Armenian communities are now in 

grave danger of extinction; 

Whereas the Abbot of the Monastery of the Apostle Barnabas 

is routinely denied permission to hold services or reside 

in the monastery of the founder of the Church of Cyprus 

and the Bishop of Karpass has been refused permission 

to perform the Easter Service for the few enclaved people 

in his occupied diocese; 

Whereas there are only two priests serving the religious needs 

of the enclaved in the Karpas peninsula, Armenians are 

not allowed access to any of their religious sites or income generating property, and Maronites are unable to 

celebrate the mass daily in many churches; 

Whereas in the past Muslim Alevis were forced out of their 

place of prayer and until recently were denied the right 

to build a new place of worship; 


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Whereas under the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus, 

religious sites have been systematically destroyed and a 

large number of religious and archaeological objects illegally looted, exported, and subsequently sold or traded in 

international art markets, including an estimated 16,000 

icons, mosaics, and mural decorations stripped from most 

of the churches, and 60,000 archaeological items dating 

from the 6th to 20th centuries; 

Whereas at a hearing held on July 21, 2009, entitled ‘‘Cyprus’ Religious Cultural Heritage in Peril’’ by the U.S. 

Helsinki Commission, Michael Jansen provided testimony 

detailing first-hand accounts of Turkish soldiers throwing 

icons from looted churches onto burning pyres during the 

Turkish invasion and provided testimonies of how churches were left open to both looters and vandals with nothing done to secure the religious sites by the Turkish 

forces occupying northern Cyprus; 

Whereas Dr. Charalampos G. Chotzakakoglou also provided 

testimony to the U.S. Helsinki Commission that around 

500 churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and other religious sites have been desecrated, pillaged, looted, and destroyed, including one Jewish cemetery; 

Whereas 80 Christian churches have been converted into 

mosques, 28 are being used by the Turkish army as 

stores and barracks, 6 have been turned into museums, 

and many others are used for other nonreligious purposes 

such as coffee shops, hotels, public baths, nightclubs, stables, cultural centers, theaters, barns, workshops, and 

one is even used as a mortuary; 

Whereas expert reports indicate that since 2004 several 

churches have been leveled, such as St. Catherine Church 

in Gerani which was bulldozed in mid-2008, the northern 


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wall of the Chapel of St. Euphemianos in Lysi which was 

destroyed by looters as they removed all metal objects 

within the wall, the Church of the Holy Virgin in the site 

of Trachonas was used as a dancing school until the 

Turkish occupiers built a road that destroyed part of it 

in March 2010, the Church of the Templars was converted into a night club, and the Church of Panagia 

Trapeza in Acheritou village was used as a sheep stall before it was recently destroyed by looters removing metal 

objects from medieval graves within the church; 

Whereas the Republic of Cyprus discovered iron-inscribed 

crosses stolen from Greek cemeteries in the north in 

trucks owned by a Turkish-Cypriot firm that intended to 

send them to India to be recycled; 

Whereas United States art dealer Peggy Goldberg was found 

culpable for illegally marketing 6th century mosaics from 

the Panagia Kanakaria church because the judge found 

that a ‘‘thief obtains no title or right of possession of stolen items’’ and therefore ‘‘a thief cannot pass any right 

of ownership . . . to subsequent purchasers.’’; 

Whereas the extent of the illicit trade of religious artifacts 

from the churches in the Turkish occupied areas of 

northern Cyprus by Turkish black market dealer Aydin 

Dikmen was exposed following a search of his property 

by the Bavarian central department of crime which confiscated Byzantine mosaics, frescoes, and icons valued at 

over Ö30 million; 

Whereas a report prepared by the Law Library of Congress 

on the ‘‘Destruction of Cultural Property in the Northern 

Part of Cyprus and Violations of International Law’’ for 

the U.S. Helsinki Commission details what obligations 

the Government of Turkey has as the occupying power in 


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northern Cyprus for the destruction of religious and cultural property there under international law; 

Whereas the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of 

Cultural Property During Armed Conflict, of which Turkey is a party, states in article 4(3) that the occupying 

power undertakes to ‘‘Prohibit, prevent and, if necessary, 

put a stop to any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of any acts of vandalism directed against cultural 

property’’; 

Whereas according to the 1970 United Nations Educational, 

Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership which 

has been ratified by Cyprus and Turkey, parties are required to take steps to prevent illicit traffic through the 

adoption of legal and administrative measures and the 

adoption of an export certificate for any cultural object 

that is exported, and ‘‘illicit’’ refers to any export or 

transfer of ownership of cultural property under compulsion that arises from the occupation of a country by a 

foreign power; 

Whereas according to the European Court of Human Rights 

in its judgment in the case of Cyprus v. Turkey of May 

10, 2001, Turkey was responsible for continuing human 

rights abuses under the European Convention on Human 

Rights throughout its 27-year military occupation of 

northern Cyprus, including restricting freedom of movement for Greek Cypriots and limiting access to their 

places of worship and participation in other aspects of religious life; 

Whereas the European Court further ruled that Turkey’s responsibility covers the acts of soldiers and subordinate 


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local administrators because the occupying Turkish forces 

have effective control of the northern part of the Republic 

of Cyprus; 

Whereas in March 2008, President Christofias and former 

Turkish Cypriot leader Talat agreed to the setting up of 

a ‘‘Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage’’ with a 

mandate to engage in ‘‘serious work’’ to protect the varied cultural heritage of the entire island; 

Whereas this Committee was developing a list of all cultural 

heritage sites on the island to create an educational interactive program for the island’s youth to understand the 

shared heritage and to undertake a joint effort to restore 

the Archangel Michael Church and the Arnvut Mosque; 

Whereas while significant work was done on the Arnvut 

Mosque, the Archangel Michael Church remains in disrepair; and 

Whereas, on July 16, 2002, and again in 2007, the United 

States and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus 

signed a Memorandum of Understanding to impose import restrictions on categories of Pre-Classical and Classical archaeological objects, as well as Byzantine period 

ecclesiastical and ritual ethnological materials, from Cyprus: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) expresses appreciation for the efforts of 

3 those countries that have restored religious property 

4 wrongly confiscated during the Turkish occupation 

5 of northern Cyprus; 

6 (2) welcomes the efforts of many countries to 

7 address the complex and difficult question of the 


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1 status of illegally confiscated religious art and arti2 facts, and urges those countries to continue to en3 sure that these items are restored to the Republic of 

4 Cyprus in a timely, just manner; 

5 (3) welcomes the initiatives and commitment of 

6 the Republic of Cyprus to work to restore and main7 tain religious heritage sites; 

8 (4) urges the Government of Turkey to— 

9 (A) immediately implement the United Na10 tions Security Council Resolutions relevant to 

11 Cyprus as well as the judgments of the Euro12 pean Court of Human Rights; 

13 (B) work to retrieve and restore all lost ar14 tifacts and immediately halt destruction on reli15 gious sites, illegal archaeological excavations, 

16 and traffic in icons and antiquities; and 

17 (C) allow for the proper preservation and 

18 reconstruction of destroyed or altered religious 

19 sites and immediately cease all restrictions on 

20 freedom of religion for the enclaved Cypriots; 

21 (5) calls on the United States Commission on 

22 International Religious Freedom to investigate and 

23 make recommendations on violations of religious 

24 freedom in the areas of northern Cyprus under con25 trol of the Turkish military; 


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1 (6) calls on the President and the Secretary of 

2 State to include information in the annual Inter3 national Religious Freedom and Human Rights re4 ports on Cyprus that detail the violations of religious 

5 freedom and humanitarian law including the contin6 uous destruction of property, lack of justice in res7 titution, and restrictions on access to holy sites and 

8 the ability of the enclaved to freely practice their 

9 faith; 

10 (7) calls on the State Department Office of 

11 International Religious Freedom to address the con12 cerns and actions called for in this resolution with 

13 the Government of Turkey, OSCE, the United Na14 tions Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or 

15 Belief, and other international bodies or foreign gov16 ernments; 

17 (8) urges OSCE to ensure that member states 

18 do not receive stolen Cypriot art and antiquities; and 

19 (9) urges OSCE to press the Government of 

20 Turkey to abide by its international commitments by 

21 calling on it to work to retrieve and restore all lost 

22 artifacts, to immediately halt destruction on reli23 gious sites, illegal archaeological excavations, and 

24 traffic in icons and antiquities, to allow for the prop25 er preservation and reconstruction of destroyed or 


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1 altered religious sites, and to immediately cease all 

2 restrictions on freedom of religion for the enclaved 

3 Cypriots. 

Æ 


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