Have you contacted Congress? The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, under the leadership of Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), is set to consider H.R. 4347, the Turkey Christian Churches Accountability Act, on Thursday, June 26th at 9:00 am EST. The Turkish Government and its lobbyists are hell-bent to stop this religious freedom measure.Just take a look at the latest letter they sent to Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week, arguing that Turkey’s return of stolen Christian churches is “offensive to Muslims and Jews.” It goes on to accuse Armenia of “committing wholesale massacres and forcing over a million Azeris from their homes.”
Tell Congress that Turkey’s vast theft of centuries old Armenian, Greek and Syriac churches is unacceptable and demand their immediate return. Contact your U.S. Representative and urge support for H.R. 4347.
Backgound: Introduced this March of this year by Chairman Royce along with the panel’s Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), H.R. 4347 would require that the U.S. Department of State formally report to Congress on an annual basis about the status of Turkey’s return of stolen Christian churches and properties in Turkey and occupied Cyprus. H.R. 4347 builds on a measure (H.Res.306), spearheaded by Chairman Royce and then House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), which was overwhelmingly adopted by the House of Representatives on December 13, 2011. That resolution set the groundwork for H.R.4347 by calling upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations to return confiscated Christian church properties and to fully respect the rights of Christians to practice their faiths.
Published by the Armenian National Committee of America
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