LOS ANGELES - June 24, 2011 - For Immediate Release

On June 15, 2011 a bipartisan group of U.S. legislators introduced House Resolution 306 asking Turkey to fully respect the right of Christians to practice their faith in freedom, including through the rightful return of confiscated churches to Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, Arameans (Syriacs) and other Christians communities.

The new resolution, spearheaded by senior House Foreign Affairs Committee member Ed Royce (R-CA) and the panel's Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), calls upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations to end all forms of religious persecution and to protect the rights and religious freedoms of Christians. The measure specifically calls upon Turkey to return confiscated Christian church properties.

"The American Hellenic Council supports this important resolution. We are happy to see that two CaliforniaCongressmen whom we have had very good relationships are spreaheading this effort", said Alexander Mizan, Executive Director of the American Hellenic Council.

This religious freedom measure represents an effort to highlight, confront, and eventually reverse decades of official Turkish policy of destroying Christian church properties, desecrating holy sites, discriminating against Christian communities, and denying of the right of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Pontians, Arameans (Syriacs), and others to practice their faith in freedom. The measure is consistent with many other resolutions adopted by the U.S. House over the past several decades defending religious freedom and protecting sacred sites and places of worship, as well as with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and America's longstanding leadership in supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.