IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 306 
Urging the Republic of Turkey to safeguard its Christian heritage and to 
return confiscated church properties. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 15, 2011 
Mr. ROYCE (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. 
COSTA, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. FRANK of Mas-
sachusetts, Mr. BACA, Mr. CICILLINE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. SAR-
BANES, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. NUNES, Ms. CHU, Mrs. 
MALONEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. WOLF, 
Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. MCCOT-
TER, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. 
GALLEGLY, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. DENHAM, Mr. CARDOZA, and Mr. DOLD) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Urging the Republic of Turkey to safeguard its Christian 
heritage and to return confiscated church properties. 
Whereas the United States has an interest in protecting and 
preserving the rights of national, religious, and ethnic 
groups worldwide; 
Whereas the United States remains concerned about the wel-
fare of Christian communities within the Republic of 
Turkey, their right to worship and practice their faiths 
freely, and the legal status and condition of churches and 
other places of worship, monasteries, schools, hospitals, 
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•HRES 306 IH 
monuments, relics, holy sites, and other religious prop-
erties in the Republic of Turkey; 
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
(UDHR) affirms that ‘‘(e)veryone has the right to free-
dom of thought, conscience and religion; this right in-
cludes freedom to change his religion or belief, and free-
dom, either alone or in community with others and in 
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in 
teaching, practice, worship and observance’’; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey is a signatory to the UDHR 
and therefore is obligated to accord to all its citizens, in-
cluding religious minorities, ‘‘freedom of thought, con-
science, and religion’’, as defined by the UDHR; 
Whereas the Ottoman Empire’s oppression and intentional 
destruction of much of its ancient Christian populations, 
including over 2,000,000 Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, 
Pontians, and Syriacs, has left only a small fraction of 
these populations to care for their vast religious heritage 
within modern Turkey; 
Whereas the non-Muslim population in the contemporary Re-
public of Turkey is less than one percent of the total pop-
ulation, rendering these religious communities especially 
vulnerable; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey has been responsible for the 
destruction and theft of much of the Christian heritage 
within its borders; 
Whereas the Republic of Turkey, through official and unoffi-
cial acts of discrimination, intolerance, and intimidation, 
has hindered the remaining Christians on its territory 
from freely practicing their ancient faiths; 
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•HRES 306 IH 
Whereas in its 2011 Annual Report, the United States Com-
mission on International Religious Freedom placed Tur-
key on its ‘‘Watch List’’ for the third straight year, and 
concluded that ‘‘The Turkish government continues to 
impose serious limitations on freedom of religion or be-
lief, thereby threatening the continued vitality and sur-
vival of minority religious communities in Turkey.’’; and 
Whereas Turkish reforms carried out over the past decade to 
ameliorate the situation of religious minorities have been 
sorely inadequate: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives urges 
the Government of Turkey to honor its obligations under 
international treaties and human rights law to— 
(1) end all forms of religious discrimination; 
(2) allow the rightful church and lay owners of 
Christian church properties, without hindrance or 
restriction, to organize and administer prayer serv-
ices, religious education, clerical training, appoint-
ments, and succession, religious community gath-
erings, social services, including ministry to the 
needs of the poor and infirm, and other religious ac-
tivities; 
(3) return to their rightful owners all Christian 
churches and other places of worship, monasteries, 
schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, holy sites, and 
other religious properties, including movable prop-
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•HRES 306 IH 
erties, such as artwork, manuscripts, vestments, ves-
sels, and other artifacts; and 
(4) allow the rightful Christian church and lay 
owners of Christian church properties, without hin-
drance or restriction, to preserve, reconstruct, and 
repair, as they see fit, all Christian churches and 
other places of worship, monasteries, schools, hos-
pitals, monuments, relics, holy sites, and other reli-
gious properties within Turkey. 
Æ 
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