Jerusalem Patriarchate Wins Court Case Against Turkey

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has won its legal battle for the return of its vast properties in Turkey. This was reported by Armenian Weekly.

In 2012, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem filed a lawsuit to reclaim more than a thousand real estate properties that had been confiscated by the Turkish government decades ago. After years of legal proceedings in Turkey, the Patriarchate finally achieved a significant victory last week.

In 1973, the General Directorate of Foundations in Turkey seized the property of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, claiming that the St. James Armenian Church foundation established during the Ottoman Empire was no longer operational. The initial lawsuit filed by Patriarch Nurhan Manougian in 2012 was rejected by both a subordinate court in Ankara and the appellate court. Subsequently, the Patriarch appealed to the Constitutional Court of Turkey, which ruled that the subordinate court had violated the rights of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.