Aram I, Armenian Apostolic Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, in
Antelias, Lebanon, announced that the request for the
return of the ancient residences and properties belonging to the
Catholicosate and located in Sis, in Turkish territory, will be
submitted to the European Court for Human Rights - based in Strasbourg -
after the Constitutional Court of Turkey did not accept the request to
discuss and resolve the dispute on the properties of Sis within the
Turkish legal system .
"This - remarked Catholicos Aram I in the video message in which he
announced the initiative - is the first legal action taken against
Turkey after the Armenian Genocide of 1915, is the result of long and
serious discussions, studies and consultations, and is based on
international legal provisions, including the decisions of the Treaty of
Lausanne of 1932, regarding the minorities living within the boundaries
of the Turkish Republic".
The cause to obtain the restitution of the Catholicosate’s historic
buildings located in the city of Sis, started by Catholicos Aram I in
2015, had not been taken into account neither by the Turkish Ministry of
Justice nor by the Turkish Constitutional Court. Both Turkish
institutions had not recognized any legal basis to the cause.
Sis, the ancient capital of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, corresponds
to the current Turkish town of Kozan. The intention to appeal, in April
2015, had already been announced on several occasions by the Catholicos
of Cilicia between September and October 2014. "We cannot remain
apathetic with regards to the violated rights of our nation", said Aram
on September 19, 2015 in Yerevan, on the occasion of the 5th Conference
of the Armenian Diaspora. As already reported by Agenzia Fides (see
Fides 01/10/2014), the Catholicos himself had predicted that, in the
event that the Turkish institutions would take the matter into
consideration, the appeal would be submitted to the European Court of
Human Rights.