WRITTEN QUESTION E-0792/04 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Return of property by Turkey.
Date: 2004-03-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Armenian question, EU relations, Türkiye, ownership, religious group

C 84 E/672

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

If she wants to travel to another Member State from Ireland she will effectively require a visa, since Ireland
does not apply, by its own choice, the Community legislation on uniform short-stay visas, external border
controls and circulation within an area where internal border controls on persons have been abolished
(‘Schengen acquis’). However, it should be stressed that, due to her status as the spouse of an EU citizen,
she should be granted every facility for obtaining any necessary visas, which shall also be issued free of
charge.

In the second example, the Latvian citizen living in Ireland or in any other Member State shall become an
EU citizen as from accession of Latvia to the European Union on 1 May 2004 and shall benefit directly
from the rights attached to EU citizenship as laid down in Part Two of the EC Treaty and, in particular,
from the right to free movement and residence within the territory of the Member States (subject, where
relevant, to applicable transitional measures for workers) and the right to vote and to stand as a candidate
at municipal and European Parliament elections in the Member State where he resides.

(2004/C 84 E/0758)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0792/04

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: Return of property by Turkey

Many of the Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac and Armenian people who were deported in the Ottoman Empire in
1915 were liquidated. The Turkish State later seized their property on the grounds that those who had
been liquidated had disappeared and were no longer looking after their property. These seizures took
place, ‘inter alia’, between 1951 and 1960. In official documents and decisions, the Turkish State calls this
property ‘surrendered Armenian assets’.

Will the Commission consider taking measures to induce Turkey to return this property to the Assyrian-
Chaldean-Syriac and Armenian owners?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(19 April 2004)

The question of the confiscated and seized properties of non Moslem communities in Turkey has been
repeatedly mentioned in the Commission’s Regular Report in past years.

In particular, in its Regular Report of October 2002, the Commission mentioned ‘in the case of non-
Moslem religious communities, only properties declared under Law No 2762 of 1936 are legally
recognised, and all properties not listed in 1936 have been taken over by the Turkish State or may be
confiscated. Armenian, Greek and Catholic properties have been confiscated, or are at risk’. In its Report of
November 2003, the Commission mentioned that ‘the question of confiscated properties, which is a major
concern of non-Moslem religious communities, has still not been addressed. Given these communities’ lack
of legal status, their properties are permanently at risk of being confiscated and attempts to recover
property by judicial means encounter numerous obstacles.’

The Commission has recently been informed that as part of their efforts to address the problems of the
non-Moslem communities, the Turkish authorities have recently decided to compile an inventory of the
properties confiscated and seized since 1936.

The Commission will continue to follow this matter closely.