I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4347 

To require the Secretary of State to provide an annual report to Congress 

regarding United States Government efforts to survey and secure the 

return, protection, and restoration of stolen, confiscated, or otherwise 

unreturned Christian properties in the Republic of Turkey and in those 

areas currently occupied by the Turkish military in northern Cyprus. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2014 

Mr. ROYCE (for himself and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of State to provide an annual 

report to Congress regarding United States Government 

efforts to survey and secure the return, protection, and 

restoration of stolen, confiscated, or otherwise 

unreturned Christian properties in the Republic of Turkey and in those areas currently occupied by the Turkish 

military in northern Cyprus. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Turkey Christian 

5 Churches Accountability Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) United States diplomatic leadership contrib4 utes meaningfully and materially to the protection 

5 internationally of religious minorities and their faith6 based practices and places of worship. 

7 (2) The International Religious Freedom Act of 

8 1998 states that ‘‘It shall be the policy of the United 

9 States to condemn violations of religious freedom, 

10 and to promote, and to assist other governments in 

11 the promotion of, the fundamental right to freedom 

12 of religion.’’. 

13 (3) The House of Representatives, when it 

14 adopted House Resolution 306 on December 13, 

15 2011, called on the Secretary of State, in all official 

16 contacts with Turkish leaders, to urge Turkey to 

17 ‘‘allow the rightful church and lay owners of Chris18 tian church properties, without hindrance or restric19 tion, to organize and administer prayer services, reli20 gious education, clerical training, appointments, and 

21 succession’’, and to ‘‘return to their rightful owners 

22 all Christian churches and other places of worship, 

23 monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, 

24 holy sites, and other religious properties, including 

25 movable properties, such as artwork, manuscripts, 

26 vestments, vessels, and other artifacts’’. 


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1 (4) On September 28, 2010, the House of Rep2 resentatives adopted House Resolution 1631, calling 

3 for the protection of religious sites and artifacts, as 

4 well as for general respect for religious freedom in 

5 Turkish-occupied areas of northern Cyprus. 

6 (5) Christian churches and communities in the 

7 Republic of Turkey and in the occupied areas of Cy8 prus continue to be prevented from fully practicing 

9 their faith and face serious obstacles to reestab10 lishing full legal, administrative, and operational 

11 control over stolen, expropriated, confiscated, or oth12 erwise unreturned churches and other religious prop13 erties and sites. 

14 (6) In many cases the rightful Christian church 

15 authorities, including relevant Holy Sees located out16 side Turkey and Turkish-occupied territories, are ob17 structed from safeguarding, repairing, or otherwise 

18 caring for their holy sites upon their ancient home19 lands, because the properties have been destroyed, 

20 expropriated, converted into mosques, storage facili21 ties, or museums, or subjected to deliberate neglect. 

22 (7) While the Turkish Government has made 

23 efforts in recent years to address these issues and to 

24 return some church properties, much more must be 

25 done to rectify the situation of Christian commuVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:36 Mar 31, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4347.IH H4347

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1 nities in these areas, as a vast majority of Christian 

2 holy sites continue to be held by the Turkish Gov3 ernment or by third parties. 

4 (8) On April 24, 2013, Catholicos Karekin II 

5 and Catholicos Aram I, spiritual leaders of the mil6 lions of Christian Armenian faithful in Armenia and 

7 the Diaspora, noted that Turkey continued to un8 justly ‘‘[retain] confiscated church estates and prop9 erties, and religious and cultural treasures of the Ar10 menian people’’, and called on Turkey ‘‘[t]o imme11 diately return the Armenian churches, monasteries, 

12 church properties, and spiritual and cultural treas13 ures, to the Armenian people as their rightful 

14 owner’’. 

15 (9) The boundaries of Turkey encompass sig16 nificant historic Christian lands, including the bib17 lical lands of Armenia (present-day Anatolia), home 

18 to many of early Christianity’s pivotal events and 

19 holy sites, such as Mount Ararat, the location cited 

20 in the Bible as the landing place of Noah’s Ark. 

21 (10) These ancient territories were for thou22 sands of years home to a large, indigenous Christian 

23 population, but, because of years of repressive Turk24 ish Government policies, historic atrocities, and bruVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:36 Mar 31, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4347.IH H4347

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1 tal persecution, today Christians constitute less than 

2 one percent of Turkey’s population. 

3 (11) As a result of the Turkish Government’s 

4 invasion of the northern area of the Republic of Cy5 prus on July 20, 1974, and the Turkish military’s 

6 continued illegal and discriminatory occupation of 

7 portions of this sovereign state, the future and very 

8 existence of Greek Cypriot, Maronite, and Armenian 

9 communities are now in grave jeopardy. 

10 (12) Under the Turkish occupation of northern 

11 Cyprus, freedom of worship has been severely re12 stricted, access to religious sites blocked, religious 

13 sites systematically destroyed, and a large number of 

14 religious and archaeological objects illegally con15 fiscated or stolen. 

16 (13) The United States Commission on Inter17 national Religious Freedom, in its 2012 annual re18 port, criticized ‘‘the Turkish government’s system19 atic and egregious limitations on the freedom of reli20 gion’’, and warned that ‘‘[l]ongstanding policies con21 tinue to threaten the survivability and viability of 

22 minority religious communities in Turkey’’. 

23 (14) Christian minorities in Turkey continue to 

24 face discrimination, prohibitions on the training and 

25 succession of clergy, and violent attacks, which have 


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1 at times resulted in lenient sentencing, including the 

2 reduced sentence for the murderer of the Catholic 

3 Church’s head bishop in Turkey, Luigi Padovese, in 

4 June 2010, or delayed justice, including the unre5 solved torture and murder, in April 2007, of three 

6 employees of a Protestant Bible publishing house in 

7 Malatya, Turkey. 

8 (15) The Government of Turkey, in contraven9 tion of its international legal obligations, refuses to 

10 recognize the 2,000-year-old Sacred See of the Ecu11 menical Patriarchate’s international status, has con12 fiscated the large majority of the assets and prop13 erties of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Greek cul14 tural and educational foundations, maintains that 

15 candidates for the position of Ecumenical Patriarch 

16 must be Turkish citizens, and continues to refuse to 

17 reopen the Theological School at Halki, thus imped18 ing training and succession for the Greek Orthodox 

19 clergy in Turkey. 

20 (16) The Government of Turkey, in contraven21 tion of its international legal obligations, continues 

22 to place substantial restrictions and other limitations 

23 upon the Armenian Patriarchate’s right to train and 

24 educate clergy and select and install successors with25 out government interference. 


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1 (17) Religious freedom is an essential corner2 stone of democracy that promotes respect for indi3 vidual liberty, which contributes to greater stability, 

4 and is therefore a priority value for the United 

5 States to promote in its engagement with other 

6 countries. 

7 SEC. 3. REPORT REQUIREMENTS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter 

10 until 2021, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 

11 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa12 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen13 ate a report on the status and return of stolen, con14 fiscated, or otherwise unreturned Christian churches, 

15 places of worship, and other properties in or from the Re16 public of Turkey and in the areas of northern Cyprus oc17 cupied by the Turkish military that shall contain the fol18 lowing: 

19 (1) A comprehensive listing of all the Christian 

20 churches, places of worship, and other properties, 

21 such as monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, 

22 relics, holy sites, and other religious properties, in23 cluding movable properties, such as artwork, manu24 scripts, vestments, vessels, and other artifacts, in or 

25 from Turkey and in the territories of the Republic 


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1 of Cyprus under military occupation by Turkey that 

2 are claimed as stolen, confiscated, or otherwise 

3 wrongfully removed from the ownership of their 

4 rightful Christian church owners. 

5 (2) Description of all engagement over the pre6 vious year on this issue by officials of the Depart7 ment of State with representatives of the Republic 

8 of Turkey regarding the return to their rightful own9 ers of all Christian churches, places of worship, and 

10 other properties, such as monasteries, schools, hos11 pitals, monuments, relics, holy sites, and other reli12 gious properties, including movable properties, such 

13 as artwork, manuscripts, vestments, vessels, and 

14 other artifacts, both those located within Turkey’s 

15 borders and those under control of Turkish military 

16 forces in the occupied northern areas of Cyprus. 

17 (b) INCLUSION IN ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON

18 HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES AND INTERNATIONAL RELI19 GIOUS FREEDOM REPORT.—The information required 

20 under subsection (a) shall be summarized in the annual 

21 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and Inter22 national Religious Freedom Reports. 

Æ 


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