ASIA/TURKEY - Turkish Court orders the return of land to a Christian Foundation

Friday, 30 January 2015

Istanbul (Agenzia Fides) - Istanbul Administrative Court ordered the restitution of property rights of a large plot of land to the sira Kadim Meryemana Foundation, linked to the Syrian Orthodox Church, land which had been confiscated in 1970. The news of the ruling, issued last week, was released yesterday by the local media. On the large real estate, located in the historic district of Bomonti, in the center of Istanbul, there are some departments of the University of Fine Arts Mimar Sisan.
The real estate was originally donated by a benefactor to the Syrian Church in 1956. Fourteen years later, in 1970, the Turkish Dicastery of the Treasury had canceled all donations and transfers of property made in favor of non-Muslim religious foundations after 1936, referring to the laws that in that year had blocked the acquisition of real estates by non-Muslim religious bodies. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 30/01/2015)


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