ISTANBUL. – Constantinople diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church does not comment on the bill adopted by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. The bill calls Turkey to return Christian churches to their rightful owners and stop the repression of its Christian minorities.
The diocese also added that it has no intentions to react the decision, press service of the diocese informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.
The amendment was adopted with 41 for and 1 against. It was presented by American congressmen Howard Berman and David Cicilline, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) informs.
The two congressmen offered to make amendments in financial bill of the State Department of U.S. Its formulations are in accordance with the resolution 306, which was recently brought to the Congress. This resolution calls Turkey to respect the rights and religious freedoms of Christians, including Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and other Christian nations.
“Turkish government destroyed or confiscated majority of churches during 96 years after the Genocide of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians,” said executive director of ANCA Aram Hambaryan. “The House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a strong message to Turkey. Stating it should recognize its heritage as obtained with violence, respect religious freedom of Christian communities that suffered violence and compensate the damage caused by crime.”
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