ISTANBUL
GREEKS SEEK JUSTICE IN LAND CLAIMS.
www.Apodimos.com
The various interests try they
create also serious problems the Greek character of
Patriarchates with accent in the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of
Constantinople and
the Patriarchate
Jerusalem. The
diachronic effort of various interests for quite
some time strikes the Ecumenical Patriarchate and
the Greek minority that according to the
international treaties exists there.
All know that justice is the
biggest good for all independent if
they are
natives’
residents of state or are minority. In
our previous article of month February in
Greek language titled
ΕΝΑΣ ΧΡΟΝΟΣ ΕΠΙΘΕΣΕΩΝ ΕΝΑΝΤΙΟΝ του ΟΙΚΟΥΜΕΝΙΚΟΥ
ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΕΙΟΥ και της ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΜΕΙΟΝΟΤΗΤΑΣ.
,
we present the continuous
attacks that it accepts the Ecumenical Patriarchate
of Constantinople
and the Greek minority in
Turkey.
And also in other previous articles, we had been
reported for similar subjects that concern the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the
Greek minority in Turkey, witches you study
in Greek language
Ø
SEPT of 2004
Η
ΙΜΒΡΟΣ ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ. ΟΠΩΣ ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ και η ΔΙΕΚΔΙΚΗΣΗ του
ΑΙΓΑΙΟΥ από τους ΤΟΥΡΚΟΥΣ
Ø
JUN of 2003
ΕΙΣ
ΜΝΗΜΗ της ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΗΣ που ΧΑΘΗΚΕ.
Ø
MAR of 2003
ΚΑΙΝΟΥΡΓΙΟΙ ΑΓΩΝΕΣ για τους ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ της ΠΟΛΗΣ, για
την ΑΝΑΚΤΗΣΗ των ΠΕΡΙΟΥΣΙΩΝ ΤΟΥΣ..
Now you we recommend you study
the below serious situation and you will
occupy the necessity for attribution of justice in
the Greeks of minority in
Turkey.
In this situation in witch the ISTANBUL GREEKS
SEEK JUSTICE IN LAND CLAIMS and have the legal
transaction to do it.
The Case
Turkey is trying to bring its
laws on minorities in tune with those of the EU,
but ethnic Greeks living in the capital say they
are victimized through unfair land expropriations.
The ecumenical patriarch and
archbishop of Constantinople
Vartholomeos
, is wont to call the 2,000-strong Greek
community of
Istanbul a "drop in the ocean".
Shrunken and scarred by the violent vicissitudes of
Greek-Turkish relations over the decades, that drop
is now in danger of evaporating. Despite reforms
for the protection of minorities intended to
bring Turkey in line with European Union law,
the leaders of
Istanbul's Greek community are struggling for basic
rights.
That includes
establishing the legal grounds to claim back
around 400 pieces of prime
Istanbul real estate gradually
confiscated by the Turkish state since 1974.
"The confiscated
property was certainly worth billions of dollars. We
are talking about entire apartment buildings and
tracts of city land that produced significant
revenues," says
Vassilis
Kalamaris, an attorney for the patriarchate.
Based on a 1974 Supreme Court decision, the
Turkish state refused to recognize titles to Greek
minority properties purchased or acquired by
donation after 1936, when Turkey conducted a
mandatory registration of minority properties.
"Under the Turkish
legal framework, the state would come knocking at
our door and say that you had no right to possess
this land you acquired in 1944, 1959 and so forth,
because it was not registered in the list you
submitted in 1936,"
Kalamaris told the
Athens News.
New property
law
In an effort to streamline its
minority rights laws with those of the EU, which it
hopes to join, Turkey enacted a law last August.
"The new law passed
in August said that we can acquire new property. The
reform was a worthless gift. None of our communities
or foundations want new
property. All we want is to get back what was
unjustly taken away from us,"
Kalamaris underlined.
The cumbersome
requirements of the law also suggest that
Turkey's reforms do not
always achieve their goal.
The law required cabinet approval for the
purchase or sale of property by communities. The
August law stated:
"Community foundations,
regardless of whether or not they have a charter or
foundation, can acquire or dispose of real property
with the permission of the council of ministers."
A further directive issued by the directorate of
foundations in October, reportedly on instructions
from the office of then premier
Bulent Ecevit,
threw even more bureaucratic red tape in the way of
community organizations seeking to acquire or sell
property.
After the EU
refused to open accession talks with Turkey last
December, the law was revised in January,
doing away with the need to obtain cabinet
approval to buy or sell property belonging to
minority foundations. But it is still
necessary to obtain approval of both the local
directorate of foundations and the headquarters in
Ankara.
But the real issue
for the Istanbul Greeks remains the return of
confiscated property. Although the new law passed
in January does not specifically establish a right
to reclaim confiscated property,
Kalamaris believes it
provides sufficient grounds to legally challenge in
the courts past judicial rulings by which valuable
real estate was confiscated. Moreover, those
properties acquired by the Greek minority after
1936 and not previously registered in the land
registry can now be legally registered with proof of
ownership like rental agreements or utility bills.
"The
Greek
Balouki
Hospital suffered most from this situation. They
have had 136 pieces of valuable real estate
confiscated by the state,"
Kalamaris said.
Another key property
is a huge real estate parcel that once housed an
orphanage on the posh resort
island of
Prinkipos
off Istanbul, and
was owned by the patriarchate. This land was
also expropriated by the state, which blocked
an effort by the church to develop the prime
property as a hotel unit. The patriarchate's
case against the state is still under review in the
Turkish Council of State.
But the problem is not
exclusive to the Greeks, as the Armenian
community has faced a similar predicament on a
much smaller scale. Diram
Bakar, a lawyer for
the community, told the
Athens News that he was
successful in reversing a handful of expropriations
through legal challenges
in court.
Over several weeks until the
February 8 deadline for registering all property,
a small group of
Istanbul Greeks worked for hours on end compiling
the full record of title to hundreds of pieces of
property owned by dozens of Greek community
foundations. These
were submitted to both the land registry and the
directorate of foundations in compliance with the
new law. The registered properties are the legacy
of a once vibrant community of wealthy merchants and
businessmen numbering over 150,000 just half a
century ago.
No equality
for Istanbul Greeks
Although they are Turkish
citizens, the Greeks of
Istanbul complain that they do
not enjoy equality in the eyes of the law.
Greek Orthodox foundations are placed under the
category of «foreign foundations», even
though the Greek minority is comprised of
native-born Turkish citizens whose ancestors
have lived in the country for centuries.
Article 37 of the
Treaty of Lausanne, which still largely
determines the rights of
Istanbul's Greek minority,
stipulates that no Turkish domestic law can limit
the treaty rights of the Greek community,
including that of self-administration. But the
Turkish state frequently finds formal pretexts to
dissolve the governing boards of Greek community
foundations, opening the way for the judicial
expropriation of the property of minority
communities.
The majority of Greek-owned
property is still in Greek hands - some $10
billion worth - but there are fears that the
process of expropriation will soon target these
properties as well.
All, should know below that
have direct relation with the behaviour of Turkey in
the E.E. and be summarising in the
subject, that the revised EU
accession partnership for Turkey, due to be
submitted at the end of March, will set forth
a clear obligation for Ankara to respect the
property rights of the Greek minority -
including the right to reclaim properties
arbitrarily expropriated by the state over the last
three decades and they should
have their mind
, that «The EU
Commission's evaluation report last October refers
to religious foundations and their rights. It
stresses
Turkey's
shortcomings and requests a change in the legal
framework to address that. We underlined this
problem leading up to Copenhagen and will do so
again for the revised accession partnership. This
will certainly be a condition Turkey must fulfil, »
