Turkey and Ecumenical Patriarchate Religious Freedom Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.3056 | Sponsor: Rep. Maloney, Carolyn B. (D-NY)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Turkey and Ecumenical Patriarchate Religious Freedom Act of 2021
This bill requires reports on religious freedom in Turkey.
The Department of State must report to Congress on the State Department's policy for promoting religious freedom in Turkey.
If the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends putting Turkey on the State Department's special watch list of countries that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom but the State Department does not do so, the President must report to Congress a justification for the decision. The President shall not have to make this report if Turkey is added to the special watch list or designated a country of particular concern for religious freedom.

To oppose violations of religious freedom in Turkey by the Government 
  of Turkey and to safeguard the rights and religious freedoms of the 
                        Ecumenical Patriarchate.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Turkey and Ecumenical Patriarchate 
Religious Freedom Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The promotion and protection of the universally 
        recognized right to the freedom of religion is a priority of 
        United States foreign policy as stated in section 402 of the 
        International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6442).
            (2) The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the spiritual home of 
        the world's oldest and second largest Christian Church.
            (3) Within the 2,000-year-old Sacred See of the Ecumenical 
        Patriarchate, the New Testament was codified and the Nicene 
        Creed was created.
            (4) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is one of the world's 
        preeminent spiritual leaders and peacemakers representing over 
        300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.
            (5) The disappearance of the See would mean the end of a 
        crucial link between the Christian and the Muslim world since 
        the continuing presence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 
        Turkey is a living testimony of religious co-existence since 
        1453.
            (6) The Ecumenical Patriarch has direct jurisdiction over 
        the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and thus is the 
        spiritual and ecclesiastical leader of its 1.5 million 
        adherents.
            (7) The Ecumenical Patriarch is, in a sense, also an 
        American spiritual leader and should be afforded the 
        protections of an American spiritual leader.
            (8) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was awarded the 
        Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award bestowed by the 
        United States Congress, and he coordinated with religious 
        leaders around the world to issue a condemnation of the 
        September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as an anti-
        religious act.
            (9) The Ecumenical Patriarchate has a record of reaching 
        out and working for peace and reconciliation amongst all faiths 
        and has fostered dialogue among Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
            (10) The Ecumenical Patriarchate co-sponsored the Peace and 
        Tolerance Conference in Istanbul which issued the Bosphorus 
        Declaration that stated, ``A crime committed in the name of 
        religion is a crime against religion.''.
            (11) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew stated in Brussels in 
        2004, ``The Ecumenical Patriarchate is a supranational 
        ecclesiastical institution . . . which demonstrates religious 
        tolerance as a beautiful reality. For we bear respect toward 
        all of our humans, irrespective of their faith. Without any 
        trace of fanaticism or discrimination on account of differences 
        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, obligating 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 minorities violates 
        the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the 
        United Nations International 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 governments of all 
        nations should accord to the Ecumenical Patriarchate the 
        diplomatic rights and immunities under the Vienna Convention.
            (16) The Government of Turkey has and continues to violate 
        the rights and privileges of the Ecumenical 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 Ecumenical Patriarchate to 
        Turkish nationals and reneged on its agreement to reopen the 
        Theological School at Halki, thus impeding the training for 
        Orthodox 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 destroyed 
        minority religious symbols and property, including converting 
        the Hagia Sophia and Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, 
        UNESCO-designated museums located in Istanbul, into mosques, in 
        violation 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 increase protection and support 
        for human rights and civil liberties.
            (21) Although the Constitution of Turkey ostensibly 
        provides for freedom of religion, the United States Commission 
        on International Religious Freedom's 2021 Annual Report on 
        International Religious 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 hostile 
        to Turkey's religious minorities. . . The government 
        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 communities for permission to hold board 
        member elections for non-Muslim foundations, the government did 
        not permit those elections during the year. Similarly, the 
        government disregarded calls for the reopening of the Greek 
        Orthodox Halki Seminary and continued to deny legal personality 
        to all religious communities. . . In December, Turkey's 
        parliament passed a law that human rights groups warned would 
        increase governmental control over civil society, 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 perpetrated 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 official 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 recommended 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 violations of religious freedom pursuant to the 
        International 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 religious 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 freedom in 
                Turkey and against the Ecumenical Patriarchate; 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 Turkey as a country on such 
        ``Special Watch List''.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON FAILURE TO PLACE TURKEY ON THE ``SPECIAL WATCH LIST'' 
              FOR ENGAGING IN OR TOLERATING SEVERE VIOLATIONS OF 
              RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), if--
            (1) the United States Commission on International Religious 
        Freedom recommends in its Annual Report on International 
        Religious Freedom that Turkey should be placed on the ``Special 
        Watch List'' for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of 
        religious 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)), and
            (2) Turkey is not placed on such ``Special Watch List'' 
        pursuant to such section 402(b)(1)(A)(iii) within 90 days after 
        the date on which such Annual Report is submitted to Congress,
the President shall, not later than 90 days after making the 
determination not to place Turkey on such ``Special Watch List'', 
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that 
contains a detailed justification therefor.
    (b) Exception.--The President is not required to submit a report 
under subsection (a) if, at the time the report is required to be so 
submitted, Turkey--
            (1) has been designated as a country of particular concern 
        for religious freedom pursuant to clause (ii) of section 
        402(b)(1)(A) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 
        (22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)); or
            (2) has been placed on the ``Special Watch List'' for 
        engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious 
        freedom pursuant to clause (iii) of such section.

SEC. 5. REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE'S POLICY FOR PROMOTING 
              RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN TURKEY.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Act, 
the Secretary of State, following consultation with the appropriate 
congressional committees, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on the Department of State's policy for promoting 
religious freedom in Turkey, including a description of planned efforts 
to combat deteriorating conditions for religious freedom in Turkey, 
including diplomacy, foreign assistance, and other relevant efforts.

SEC. 6. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the Senate.
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