Eurasia Press & News
The Turkish government has published a decree for the returning of all properties seized by the Turkish State in the last 75 years to minorities, their foundations or individual representatives.
This move paves the way for the Bulgarian Church Board of Trustees to get back most of its 45 properties, located in Turkey.
The decision comes in the eve of the Holly for Muslims Ramadan Bayram.
“We will ask to have all properties, including churches, cemeteries, and water fountains, purchased after 1936 and later appropriated, to be returned and to receive reimbursement for those that have already been sold,” Dimitar Atanasov, an advisor to His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, said. He further explained he was going to a dinner with Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayipp Erdogan, to discuss the matter.
