Their properties have been given back, what about seized Foundations?

ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ
o.cengiz@todayszaman.com
1/9/2011

If you do not know the story of non-Muslim foundations in Turkey, I can summarize it as follows: In 1936, non-Muslim foundations in Turkey were requested to declare their immovable property to the government.

In 1974, when the Cyprus crisis happened and the situation escalated, the Supreme Court of Appeals made a decision regarding the non- Muslim foundations’ declarations and said that the declarations of 1936 would be considered under their regulation and if there was no explicit clause saying that these foundations may acquire new property, then all acquisitions of new properties after 1936 should be deemed invalid. As a result of this horrific, law-massacring decision of the high court, non-Muslim foundations lost thousands and thousands of properties. These properties were taken from them one by one with court orders and through administrative decisions.

For the last decade we have been trying to solve the problem. This government first took some hesitant steps in the direction of finding a solution. The law concerning non-Muslim foundations have been altered a couple of times. First, it was made clear that non-Muslim foundations may acquire new properties whether or not this had been written in their 1936 declarations. These legal amendments could not solve the problem of course. Amendments followed each other, laws gave some rights then these new rights were taken back by regulations. If you follow minority issues in Turkey, I am sure, you know this long story.

Finally, this government has taken a bold step and issued a decree in which they declared that all properties that were taken from non-Muslim foundations after 1936, will be given back. If you consider Turkey’s deep-rooted minority policies, this decree from the government can be seen as a kind of revolution. I have been criticizing this government in this column for not having taken irreversible steps to address minority issues for quite some time. Giving non-Muslims property back is an irreversible step and marks a turning point in Turkey. I welcome this development.

In my opinion, the minorities’ legal battle has also had a role in this positive development. In some recent rulings, the European Court of Human Rights declared that, seized property should be returned to non-Muslim foundations and that this violation could not be restored by only giving compensation.

I hope this decree will be followed by a useful regulation, which will not limit the scope of the rights given by the decree. The government should also solve the other problems faced by non-Muslim foundations to allow them to take advantage of the decree fully.

In the last four decades Turkey has not only seized the property of these foundations but also foundations themselves. There have been so many non-Muslims foundations that were taken over by the Directorate General for Foundations on the grounds that they were not capable of forming necessary legal bodies.

Let’s read these “seized foundations” problem from Dilek Kurban and Kezban Hatemi’s 2009 report, “The Story of an Alien(ation)”:

“As mentioned before, with the 1935 Law on Foundations, non-Muslim foundations were included among ‘affiliated foundations’ and this created a legal basis for including these foundations subsequently among ‘seized foundations’ and for taking over their immovables. Among non-Muslim communities, the Greek Orthodox community has been hit hardest by the ‘seized foundation’ practice. As of October 2007, 24 foundations of this community were included among ‘seized foundations’, and hundreds of real estates registered to these foundations were taken over. … Not only the immovables but also the management of these seized foundations were taken over by the Directorate General for Foundations.

The ‘seized foundation’ practice is continuing even during the EU accession process, despite certain improvements introduced by the government regarding the ownership rights of non-Muslim foundations.

One of the most recent examples is the taking over of a school building of the Greek Orthodox community in 2007. The Aya Yorgi Greek Church and Greek Co-Ed Primary School Foundation in Edirnekapı were included among the ‘seized foundations’ in 1991 by the Directorate General for Foundations. The foundation was included among ‘seized foundations’ claiming that the church was not holding any religious ceremonies and did not have any followers, and that the primary school did not have any students. … The Jewish community has also been hit by the ‘seized foundations’ practice, although they rarely publicize their problems compared to other non-Muslim communities. According to the Legal Department of the chief rabbi’s Office, 24 foundations of the Jewish Community have been included among ‘seized foundations’ because of “ceasing to serve a charitable and actual purpose.”

I hope the government will also solve this problem too.

I hope you all have a good weekend.

Source: