IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1631 
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. 
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. HIN-
CHEY, 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 terri-
tory 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 associa-
tion as Greek Cypriots in the occupied areas are unable 
to worship freely due to the restricted access to religious 
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•HRES 1631 IH 
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 Cyp-
riot, 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 in-
come 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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•HRES 1631 IH 
Whereas under the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus, 
religious sites have been systematically destroyed and a 
large number of religious and archaeological objects ille-
gally 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 ‘‘Cy-
prus’ 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 church-
es were left open to both looters and vandals with noth-
ing 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 reli-
gious sites have been desecrated, pillaged, looted, and de-
stroyed, 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, sta-
bles, 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 con-
verted into a night club, and the Church of Panagia 
Trapeza in Acheritou village was used as a sheep stall be-
fore 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 sto-
len 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 con-
fiscated 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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•HRES 1631 IH 
northern Cyprus for the destruction of religious and cul-
tural property there under international law; 
Whereas the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of 
Cultural Property During Armed Conflict, of which Tur-
key 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 misappropria-
tion of any acts of vandalism directed against cultural 
property’’; 
Whereas according to the 1970 United Nations Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Conven-
tion on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Il-
licit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership which 
has been ratified by Cyprus and Turkey, parties are re-
quired 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 compul-
sion 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 move-
ment for Greek Cypriots and limiting access to their 
places of worship and participation in other aspects of re-
ligious life; 
Whereas the European Court further ruled that Turkey’s re-
sponsibility 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 var-
ied 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 inter-
active 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 dis-
repair; 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 im-
port restrictions on categories of Pre-Classical and Clas-
sical archaeological objects, as well as Byzantine period 
ecclesiastical and ritual ethnological materials, from Cy-
prus: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) expresses appreciation for the efforts of 
those countries that have restored religious property 
wrongly confiscated during the Turkish occupation 
of northern Cyprus; 
(2) welcomes the efforts of many countries to 
address the complex and difficult question of the 
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status of illegally confiscated religious art and arti-
facts, and urges those countries to continue to en-
sure that these items are restored to the Republic of 
Cyprus in a timely, just manner; 
(3) welcomes the initiatives and commitment of 
the Republic of Cyprus to work to restore and main-
tain religious heritage sites; 
(4) urges the Government of Turkey to— 
(A) immediately implement the United Na-
tions Security Council Resolutions relevant to 
Cyprus as well as the judgments of the Euro-
pean Court of Human Rights; 
(B) work to retrieve and restore all lost ar-
tifacts and immediately halt destruction on reli-
gious sites, illegal archaeological excavations, 
and traffic in icons and antiquities; and 
(C) allow for the proper preservation and 
reconstruction of destroyed or altered religious 
sites and immediately cease all restrictions on 
freedom of religion for the enclaved Cypriots; 
(5) calls on the United States Commission on 
International Religious Freedom to investigate and 
make recommendations on violations of religious 
freedom in the areas of northern Cyprus under con-
trol of the Turkish military; 
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(6) calls on the President and the Secretary of 
State to include information in the annual Inter-
national Religious Freedom and Human Rights re-
ports on Cyprus that detail the violations of religious 
freedom and humanitarian law including the contin-
uous destruction of property, lack of justice in res-
titution, and restrictions on access to holy sites and 
the ability of the enclaved to freely practice their 
faith; 
(7) calls on the State Department Office of 
International Religious Freedom to address the con-
cerns and actions called for in this resolution with 
the Government of Turkey, OSCE, the United Na-
tions Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or 
Belief, and other international bodies or foreign gov-
ernments; 
(8) urges OSCE to ensure that member states 
do not receive stolen Cypriot art and antiquities; and 
(9) urges OSCE to press the Government of 
Turkey to abide by its international commitments by 
calling on it to work to retrieve and restore all lost 
artifacts, to immediately halt destruction on reli-
gious sites, illegal archaeological excavations, and 
traffic in icons and antiquities, to allow for the prop-
er preservation and reconstruction of destroyed or 
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altered religious sites, and to immediately cease all 
restrictions on freedom of religion for the enclaved 
Cypriots. 
Æ 
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