The ANCA Endowment supports the immediate return by Turkey of all stolen Armenian and other Christian Churches, as a first step toward the full surrender by the Turkish government of all the fruits of its genocidal crimes.
In support of these aims, we have:
- Educated members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the full U.S. House of Representatives in the weeks leading up to their historical decision, in December of 2011, to call upon Turkey to return all Christian church properties to their rightful owners.
- Supported the creation of a dedicated website that provides comprehensive historical information and contemporary insights into the status of Armenian and other Christian churches on the territory of present-day Turkey. http://www.anca.org/return/
- Built bridges to non-Armenian Christian groups, including Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals in support of the rights of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Arameans (Syriacs) and other Christians in Turkey.
- Reminded legislators that, thousands of years before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, Armenians and other indigenous nations gave birth to great civilizations and established a rich civic, religious and cultural heritage.
- Stressed that that Armenians were among the first Christians on the biblical lands of Anatolia, dating back to the travels of the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, and that Armenia, in 301 A.D., became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.
