mans, irrespective of their faith. Without any trace 
of fanaticism or discrimination on account of dif-
ferences of religion, we coexist peacefully and in a 
spirit that honors each and every human being.’’. 
(12) In 1993, the European Union defined the 
membership criteria for accession to the European 
Union at the Copenhagen European Council, obli-
gating candidate countries to have achieved certain 
levels of reform, including stability of institutions 
guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, and human 
rights, and respect for and protection of minorities. 
(13) Turkey’s persecution of religious minori-
ties violates the European Union Charter of Funda-
mental Rights as well as the United Nations Inter-
national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 
which Turkey has signed and ratified, and which 
guarantees freedom of religion. 
(14) The Government of Turkey has failed to 
recognize the international legal personality of the 
Ecumenical Patriarchate. 
(15) The Government of Turkey and the gov-
ernments of all nations should accord to the Ecu-
menical Patriarchate the diplomatic rights and im-
munities under the Vienna Convention. 
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(16) The Government of Turkey has and con-
tinues to violate the rights and privileges of the Ecu-
menical Patriarchate under the Treaty of Lausanne 
of 1923 and prior treaties. 
(17) The Government of Turkey has limited 
candidates available to the Holy Synod of the Ecu-
menical Patriarchate to Turkish nationals and 
reneged on its agreement to reopen the Theological 
School at Halki, thus impeding the training for Or-
thodox clergy. 
(18) The Government of Turkey has confiscated 
75 percent of Ecumenical Patriarchate properties 
and has placed a 42-percent retroactive tax on the 
Balukli Hospital of Istanbul which is operated by 
the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 
(19) Turkey has systematically converted or de-
stroyed minority religious symbols and property, in-
cluding converting the Hagia Sophia and Church of 
the Holy Saviour in Chora, UNESCO-designated 
museums located in Istanbul, into mosques, in viola-
tion of the UNESCO convention. 
(20) The European Council has agreed to open 
accession negotiations with Turkey, conditional upon 
the continuation by Turkey of reform processes to 
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increase protection and support for human rights 
and civil liberties. 
(21) Although the Constitution of Turkey os-
tensibly provides for freedom of religion, the United 
States Commission on International Religious Free-
dom’s 2021 Annual Report on International Reli-
gious Freedom maintains that, ‘‘In 2020, religious 
freedom conditions in Turkey continued to follow a 
troubling trajectory. In July, Turkish President 
Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree converting 
back into a mosque the famous Hagia Sophia, a 
former church that had been serving as a museum, 
in a move that many denounced as divisive and hos-
tile to Turkey’s religious minorities. . . The govern-
ment furthermore made little to no effort to address 
many longstanding religious freedom issues and it 
ignored the continued targeting and vandalization of 
religious minority properties throughout the country. 
Despite repeated requests by religious minority com-
munities for permission to hold board member elec-
tions for non-Muslim foundations, the government 
did not permit those elections during the year. Simi-
larly, the government disregarded calls for the re-
opening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary and 
continued to deny legal personality to all religious 
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communities. . . In December, Turkey’s parliament 
passed a law that human rights groups warned 
would increase governmental control over civil soci-
ety, including religious groups, by subjecting them to 
intensified oversight and new limitations on online 
fundraising. . . Many religious minorities continued 
to feel threatened in connection with incidents per-
petrated by nonstate actors or due to direct pressure 
from the state. . . Throughout the year, authorities 
brought politically motivated charges of blasphemy 
against individuals and groups, while others in offi-
cial positions utilized rhetoric characterized as hate 
speech that denigrated nonreligious individuals and 
members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, 
and intersex (LGBTI) community. Religious sites— 
including places of worship and cemeteries—were 
subject to vandalism, damage, and, in some cases, 
destruction, which the government regularly fails to 
prevent or punish.’’. 
(22) Accordingly, in its 2021 Annual Report on 
International Religious Freedom, the United States 
Commission on International Religious Freedom rec-
ommended that the Department of State ‘‘[i]nclude 
Turkey on the U.S. Department of State’s Special 
Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe vio-
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lations of religious freedom pursuant to the Inter-
national Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)’’, the same 
recommendation it made in 2020. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the designation of Turkey as a country on 
the ‘‘Special Watch List’’ for severe violations of re-
ligious freedom pursuant to section 402(b)(1)(A)(iii) 
of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
(22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(iii)) would be a powerful 
and effective tool in— 
(A) highlighting abuses of religious free-
dom in Turkey and against the Ecumenical Pa-
triarchate; and 
(B) in encouraging improvement with the 
respect to religious freedoms and the rights of 
the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey; and 
(2) the President should, in accordance with the 
recommendation of the United States Commission 
on International Religious Freedom, designate Tur-
key as a country on such ‘‘Special Watch List’’. 
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