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ANKARA, May 10 (AFP) - 18h11 - The Turkish
government has drafted a bill sought by the European
Union to address complaints from non-Muslim
religious foundations over restrictions to their
property rights, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali
Sahin said Tuesday.
"From time to time, there have been complaints from
(non-Muslim) community foundations and EU
officials... This bill aims to eradicate to a great
extent those complaints," Sahin told reporters after
a cabinet meeting.
He said the draft bill would be sent to parliament
in several days, without explaining what specific
measures it contained.
The EU, set to open membership talks with Turkey on
October 3, has long pressed Ankara to amend legal
provisions restricting the property rights of
non-Muslim religious foundations in the country.
Predominantly Muslim Turkey is home to small
communities of Christians, mainly Orthodox Greeks
and Armenians, and Jews, most of them concentrated
in Istanbul.
In an October report on Turkey's democratization
progress, the EU said that non-Muslim communities
"lack legal personality, face restricted property
rights and interference in the management of their
foundations, and are not allowed to train clergy,"
even though their freedom to worship was largely
unhampered.
"Their existing properties are permanently at risk
of being confiscated and attempts to recover
property by judicial means encounter numerous
obstacles," the report said.
AFP
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