ATAA, FTAA Call Congress to Reject Anti-Turkish Bill

13/12/2011

Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA) and Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) issued a joint letter regarding H.Res. 306, which accuses Turkey of destroying its Christian heritage. The letter, is as follows;

Dear Representative:

We, the Presidents of America’s national Turkish American grassroots organizations, The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA and Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA), representing over 500,000 Turkish Americans and 300,000 Turkic Americans, respectfully urge you to reject and oppose H.Res.306. H.Res.306 accuses Turkey of destroying its Christian heritage.

Suspension of the rules is used for bills that are not controversial, whereas H.Res.306 is replete with controversy. Only recently were the false accusations of genocide against Armenians, Greeks and other Christians, cloaked in the words “intentional destruction”, removed from the text of H.Res.306.

Still, controversy belies H.Res.306. H.Res.306 is with disregard to the tremendous advancements Turkey has made in religious freedom. H.Res.306 is untimely given that last summer Turkey adopted laws for the return of confiscated Church property. Furthermore, while social, economic, and political upheaval has overtaken the region, Turkey is an anchor of peace, prosperity, freedom and stability.

Finally, H.Res.306 is disingenuous in its claim of universal rights, given its gross disregard for the freedom of Muslims and Jews in states neighboring Turkey, particularly the former countries of the ethnic lobbies that are supporting H.Res.306.

H.RES. 306 IS MOOT

In August 2011, Turkey adopted laws for the return of confiscated church property. The 2011 Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and the Progress Report of the European Union commend freedom of religion in Turkey. Turkish policy is to redress any violation of religious rights, by accepting the absolute jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Indeed, the highest court in Turkey is not in Ankara, but in Strasbourg. Turkey complies with the decisions of the ECHR.

In 2010 the ECHR ordered Turkey to return church property on the Island of Büyükada to the Greek Orthodox Church. The Greek Patriarchate commended Turkey for being the firstEuropean Council Member to actually obey an ECHR order and return real property. H.Res. 306 would be substantially less moot, if it expected reciprocation from former Ottoman countries that are European Council members subject to the jurisdiction of the ECHR, such as Greece, South Cyprus and Armenia, for the return of Turkish religious property, including mosques and synagogues.

Turkish policy is also to rehabilitate and place into public service as many religious sites as is feasible. In a country that offers over 10,000 years of human history and even greater numbers of sacred sites, the task of restoring, protecting, and placing into public service this rich cultural heritage is expensive, time consuming, and delicate work, and rarely assisted by others – even by those who are so eager to complain about Turkey.
H.RES. 306 IS UNTIMELY

Turkey is an anchor of peace, prosperity, freedom and stability in a region overtaken by social, economic, and political upheaval.

The democracies and economies of Greece, Armenia the Middle East and North Africa raise grave concerns. The Greek economic crisis is gripped with riots. And since the independence of Armenia, over one million Armenians have left their country due to its political and economic problems — more than 100,000 seeking work and citizenship in Turkey. The Arab Spring looks to Turkey among other models for inspiration and guidance. Viewing Turkey, not in a vacuum or with blinders, but in its proper regional context, one can see that Turkey stands head and shoulders above states in its region in terms of tolerance and freedom in a pluralist society. Turkish voters completed another successful elections on June 12. Turkey is a respected member of the European Council and has accepted the complete jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, whose decisions it respects. Turkey has the 6th strongest economy in Europe, 16th in the world, and is the 7th most visited tourist destination in the world. Turkey is a critical partner of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa.

While targeting Turkey and people of Turkish heritage with gross misrepresentations is unethical and unfair, doing so when Turkey is America’s main interlocutor in the region is undemocratic, unpatriotic, unappreciative, and unproductive.

H.RES. 306 DOES NOT RESPECT “UNIVERSAL” HUMAN RIGHTS

If universal human rights are the true aim of H.Res.306, its main sponsors might have asked their Armenian American constituents to take a good look at themselves and Members of Congress to take a broader and deeper look at the region before throwing the first stone at Turkey. Armenia’s brutal occupation of western Azerbaijan that has caused the massacres of thousands and a refugee crisis of over 1.5 million Azeris is a case in point. There is no parity and meaningful discussion regarding these massacres or the plight of the refugees, let alone their demolished mosques.

Similarly, Greek American constituents should also take a good look at themselves. Athens has not permitted a single mosque to be built despite its Muslim population. In Greece, people of Turkish and Muslim heritage are subject to severe limitations on: speaking and writing their language; practicing their culture and religion; educating themselves on their Turkish and Muslim heritage; and electing their religious leaders – all fundamental freedoms controlled from Athens which to this date continues to deny the existence of its Turkish minority by referring to them as “Turcophone Hellenic Muslims.” The same holds true for Macedonians, which Athens refers to as “Slavaphone Hellenes”.

And, the same holds true for the Jewish heritage of Greece, which has all but been erased by the same types of policies.2 The same was the fate that awaited the Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus, if it was not for the 1974 Turkish Peace Operation that stopped the massacres and ethnic cleansing. Still, the destruction of the island’s 500-year Turkish heritage and even older Arab and Muslim heritage by the South Cypriot government continues unabated. A careful and sincere look at the region might lead one to expect that first the various Orthodox Churches and their followers would do some of their own housekeeping, before complaining about Turkey. Currently, the Armenian and Georgian churches are in a bitter dispute, demanding legal status for their churches and equal status for their followers in each other’s countries. Meanwhile, the Armenian Church denies the existence of the Georgian faith in Armenia, claiming that Georgians in Armenia are actually adherents of the Greek Orthodox faith and subordinated of the Georgian Church.

H.RES. 306 PREJUDICES PEOPLE OF TURKISH AND MUSLIM HERITAGE

It is important to understand H.Res. 306 in the broader context of the hatred waged by certain ethnic lobbies against Turkey and people of Turkish heritage. H.Res. 306 is a part of an Arsenal of anti-Turkish resolutions that are before Members of Congress: H.Res. 304, H.Res. 180, H.R.2597, H.R. 3131, and H.J.Res.83. The combined factual inaccuracies, derogatory tone, and frequencies in which these resolutions are introduced raise the question of the anti-Turkish and anti-Muslim hatred that belies them.

H.Res. 306 contributes to the creation of a dangerous atmosphere of hatred directed at Americans of Turkish heritage. These resolutions deny people of Turkish and Muslim heritage fairness and justice, as they place the legislature, a politically motivated body, in the seat of an arbiter of ethnic disputes. Furthermore, these resolutions harm US interests in an increasingly complex, multi-polar region, by harming US-Turkish relations.
CONCLUSION

People of Turkish heritage have a tradition of protecting and accepting refugees of religious persecution, including the Armenians during Byzantine times, Jews during the European Inquisitions, Jews during the Holocaust, Bulgarian Turks in the 1980s, and Bosnians in the 1990s. Today, the Jewish population of Turkey is the second greatest in the former Ottoman lands, Israel having the highest. There are 19 synagogues in Istanbul alone. H.Res. 306 lacks the depth and breadth of vision to see religious freedom in southeastern Europe, Caucuses, and the Middle East in their proper historical and political contexts, and constitutes an irresponsible piece of legislation.

Please allow no quarter to H.Res. 306, and other misleading anti-Turkish resolutions, to ethnic feuds on Capitol Hill, and to bigotry and hatred cloaked as human rights resolutions.

Sincerely,

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