Turkey Attempts to Take Over Armenian Properties in Jerusalem
Posted on June. 4. 2020
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
An article in the Jewish Press of February 13, 2020 exposed the
activities of the Turkish Government to take over the Armenian and
Christian Quarters of Jerusalem. The article by journalist Baruch
Yedid is titled, “Turkey Working to Take Over Armenian Quarters in
Jerusalem’s Old City.”
Jerusalem’s Armenian “residents have told TPS [Tazpit Press Service]
about efforts of Turkish officials in recent years to persuade them to
deny the Armenian holocaust perpetrated by the Turks a century ago and
other actions to acquire property owned by local Christians, according
to Yedid.
A Jerusalem Armenian, whose grandfather had survived the Armenian
Genocide, told TPS that 40 minutes into a meeting with a Turkish
female diplomat, she tried to convince him to drop his activities for
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. “I realized that she wanted
to persuade me to cease my activity to preserve the Armenian
massacre.” The Armenian said that he immediately showed the door to
the Turkish diplomat who understood that the Armenian community will
never give up on the recognition of the Genocide. “We will wait
another 100 years, but we will never rescind our demand for
compensation until we reach a payment agreement, like the one that
Israel signed with Germany,” the Armenian said.
Other Armenian property owners in Jerusalem told TPS that Turkish
government representatives recently offered them $3,000 grants for
their various needs. However, Armenians rejected the Turkish bribes,
calling them “silencing grants designed to ensure that the Turkish
government will not be sued for the 1915-1917 massacres.” Even though
the Israeli journalist Yedid uses the term ‘massacre’ in line with the
Israeli Government’s denialist policy, he quickly deviates from that
policy by explaining that “the Armenian extermination was a deliberate
and systematic genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire during the
First World War against the Armenian population in its territory. Even
after World War I, Turks, Kurds, and Arabs continued to massacre
Armenians until 1923, and it is widely believed that about half the
Armenians in Turkey, about 1.5 million people, were murdered.” Turks
and Kurds did commit Genocide against Armenians, but I am not aware of
any massacres of Armenians by Arabs.
Yedid continued his article by citing examples of Turkish attempts to
purchase Armenian properties in Jerusalem: “Turkish pressures are also
manifest in its activity to acquire Armenian assets. TPS learned that
a few months ago, the residents of the Armenian Quarter were shocked
to find that one of their homes was sold to a Muslim, three times its
real value. An inquiry revealed that funding for the purchase of the
Armenian property came from Turkey. Following the incident, some of
the community leaders met to review the chain of events and took
action to prevent the leakage of the community’s assets to the Turks.
There is still a lingering fear among the Armenians of the Turks
taking over or buying more property.”
Yedid cited another Turkish scheme to take over Christian properties
in Jerusalem: “One Christian trader, who asked to remain anonymous,
said that the Turks recently transferred to the Jordanian Waqf [Muslim
endowment] very old ownership certificates, some crumbling, including
Ottoman-era documents and property ownership documents in the Armenian
and Christian Quarters. The trader, who showed TPS photos of several
of the certificates, says the Turks have asked the Waqf to verify the
documents which are being used to purchase the assets.” It is
paradoxical that the Turkish government would not disclose from its
archives the certificates of properties (deeds of trust) owned by
Armenians prior to the Genocide, yet it would send copies of property
certificates to a Jordanian Waqf.
Yedid also covered in his article “the growing Turkish activity in
Jerusalem and its support for the Muslim Brotherhood [which] are of
concern to Israel. In its recent annual intelligence assessment, the
IDF [Israel Defense Forces] Intelligence Division has, for the first
time, defined Turkey as a threat.”
Yedid then described Israel’s reluctance to recognize the Armenian
Genocide: “Israeli officials have often raised the possibility of
recognizing the Armenian holocaust as a counter-reaction to Turkish
activity against Israel, which includes the hosting of Hamas’
terrorist headquarters in Turkey. Over the years, Israel has refrained
from officially recognizing the Armenian genocide, fearing that such
recognition would damage diplomatic relations between Israel and
Turkey.” This is a nonsense argument as Israel’s relations with Turkey
are already damaged and its recognition of the Armenian Genocide will
not cause any further damage, just like last fall’s recognition of the
Armenian Genocide by the U.S. House and the Senate did not negatively
affect US-Turkish relations.
The Israeli journalist correctly pointed out that “Turkey monitors all
publications on the Armenian genocide and considers the issue of great
significance to Turkish national security, and accordingly, the Turks
have not relented with their attempt to persuade the Armenians in
Jerusalem to cease their commemorative endeavors.”
Yedid also reported that the Turkish government has been encouraging
Turkish tourism to Jerusalem by paying the cost of travel to mosques
in Jerusalem and the West Bank: “Turkish nonprofits operate in
Jerusalem daily, helping mainly the Muslim Brotherhood and Jerusalem
religious activities. A source in the Armenian Quarter said that
Turkish tourists in the Old City have also recently been working
against the Armenians, tearing up posters and publications about the
Armenian genocide. Graffiti inscriptions in condemnation of the
Armenians were sprayed on the Quarter’s walls.”
Furthermore, the Turkish ‘Heritage’ Society is active in Jerusalem “in
the fields of education, culture, real estate and welfare, and also
carries funding for the ‘convoy project’ to transport thousands of
Muslim worshipers to mosques as well as funding tens of thousands of
meals to break the Ramadan fast,” according to Yedid.
Similarly, TIKA, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Turkish
Cooperation and Coordination Agency, funded several projects in
Jerusalem. Dozens of mosques and houses have been renovated by Turkey.
It is up to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem to counter the
Turkish efforts by precluding local Armenians from selling their
properties to Turkish buyers. The Armenian Government’s Office of the
High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs should assist the Armenian
Patriarchate of Jerusalem to oppose the Turkish attempts to encroach
on the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem.