Turkish parliament adopts law to return properties to Christian and Jewish minority foundations

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's parliament approved a law Wednesday to return properties confiscated by the state to Christian and Jewish minority foundations - a key reform demanded by the European Union, the AP reports.



The EU has long been pressing Turkey to pass the measure that would allow the foundations belonging to minority groups to reclaim seized assets - including churches, school buildings and orphanages - that were registered in the names of saints.



Turkey is far from European Union accession, said European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini, in a statement to Italian daily Il Giornale di Vicenza yesterday. Turkey has many deficiencies in terms of freedom of speech, women's rights and prison standards, he said, adding that the EU cannot talk about Turkish membership before these obstacles are overcome.



The parliament passed the measure 242-72. President Abdullah Gul, a close associate of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is expected to sign the measure.



Turkey seized some properties owned by minority foundations in 1974 around the time of an invasion of Cyprus that followed a coup attempt by supporters of union with Greece.



The country's population of 70 million, mostly Muslim, includes 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 23,000 Jews and fewer than 2,500 Greek Orthodox Christians.



Parliament first approved the measure in November 2006. But the president at the time, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, was a secularist who was often at odds with Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government, and he vetoed it.