According to Luiz Bakar, an Istanbul lawyer and press spokesperson for the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate, at least 40 properties owned by Christian foundations in Istanbul have already been commandeered by the Turkish state on the basis of this 1936 statement. In the majority of cases, the government has simply waited until the benefactors who donated property to non-Muslim foundations died. Then a court case was filed by the General Directorate of Foundations to cancel the post-1936 deed, allowing the property to revert to the heirs of the original owner. Dozens of additional church institutions, including churches, schools, and hospitals, are in jeopardy right now, Bakar said. Lengthy court proceedings have, in some cases, delayed a final decision for a decade or more, but so far not a single non-Muslum religious foundation has managed to keep property bought after 1936.
Muslim foundations can buy and sell real estate, and individuals can bequeath property if they like.
But Christians or Jews are not allowed this privilege. This item appears with the permission of Human Rights Without Frontiers. HRWF is located at 5 rue de la Presse, B-1000 Brussels. We encourage readers to visit HRWF and explore the broad array of material about religious freedom.