For Hill Staff

Spearheaded by senior U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee member Ed Royce (R-CA) and the panel's Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), this religious freedom resolution calls 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 in freedom.

This bipartisan effort to press Turkey to safeguard the Christian community and heritage within its present-day borders reflects America's enduring commitment to religious freedom, as so powerfully reaffirmed in the enactment by Congress of the International Religious Freedom Act, and represented, on the international stage, by America's leadership in supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The following are helpful resources for the "Return of Churches" resolution and anticipated amendment to the State Department Authorization Bill.

Fact Sheets on the "Return of Churches" Amendment

• Why pass H.Res.306 - the "Return of Churches" resolution and amendment
• Myths and Facts: Turkey's Troubling Record of Restricting Religious Freedom
• Early Christianity in the Lands of Present-Day Turkey
• Setting the Record Straight: A point-by-point rebuttal to the Turkish Embassy's attack on H.Res.306

The Resolution

• Read the text of the Resolution
• View the complete list of House cosponsors
• Read the "Dear Colleague" sent by resolution authors Reps. Ed Royce and Howard Berman

Religious Persecution in Turkey

• U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom - Annual Report, 2011
• Recommendations for promoting and protecting the human rights of Syriac (Aramean) Christians - Syriac Universal Alliance, March, 2011
• Legal and Social Problems of Protestants in Turkey, 2010
• Persecution of Christians in Turkey - Catholic Online, 2009
• Global Restrictions on Religion - Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life 2009
• Turkey's Christians Under Seige - Jonathan Eibner, Christian Solidarity Int'l (May 2011)
• The Right to have Place of Worship - a Trapped Right - March 2011
• VIDEO: CBS News 60 Minutes - Patriarch Bartholomew Feels "Crucified" - Dec. 2009
• VIDEO: CNN World's Untold Stories - The Last Patriarch - August 2010

Confiscation of Christian Churches in Turkey

• The Story of an Alien(ation): Real Estate Ownership Problems of Non-Muslim Foundations and Communities in Turkey
• Confiscation of Armenian Property and the Destruction of Armenian Historical Monuments as a Manifestation of the Genocidal Process - by Dr. Dikran Kouymjian
• A map and descriptions of confiscated Armenian Churches in Turkey - VirtualAni.org
• The Condition of Armenian Monuments in Western Armenia Since 1915 - Research on Armenian Architecture