Armenian genocide reparations
[3] Former Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee, Professor Alfred de Zayas, Geneva School of Diplomacy,[4] stated that "[b]ecause of the continuing character of the crime of genocide in factual and legal terms, the remedy of restitution has not been foreclosed by the passage of time".
[6] In January 1916, the Ottoman Minister of Commerce and Agriculture issued a decree ordering all financial institutions operating within the empire's borders to turn over Armenian assets to the government.
[7] It is recorded that as much as 6 million Turkish gold pounds were seized along with real property, cash, bank deposits, and jewelry.
[7] After the end of World War I, genocide survivors tried to return and reclaim their former homes and assets, but were driven out by the Turkish National Movement.
[6] The punishment of the crime of the Armenian massacres, as well as the obligation to make restitution to the survivors were envisaged by the victorious Allies of World War I, and were included in the Peace Treaty of Sèvres, signed by the Ottoman Empire alike.
In particular, the fixing of the proper borders of an Armenian state was undertaken pursuant to the treaty and determined by a binding arbitral award.
[6] Many Armenians demand a restoration of the Turkish-Armenian border as demarcated by former United States President Woodrow Wilson in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, and a hefty amount of cash reparations.
From the Malta exiles taken by the Allied forces headed by Britain that included more than 140 people in the aftermath of World War I, several suspected criminals were never tried.
In this scope, according to Professor Richard Hovannisian, this kind of process is possible by the consent of the parties, and such an agreement or treaty between Armenia and Turkey does not exist.
[1] Professor de Zayas states the following: The lands, buildings, bank accounts and other property of the Armenian communities in Turkey were systematically confiscated.
[5] Particularly important are Principles 9 and 12 that state that civil claims relating to reparations for gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law shall not be subject to statutes of limitations (article 9), and that restitution shall be provided to re-establish the situation that existed prior to the violations of human rights or international humanitarian law.
[22] This can also be supplemented with facts that Armenia was nonexistent as an independent state at the time of the genocide and that the victims were mainly the subjects of the Ottoman Empire itself.
[46] According to the Getty, the museum legally acquired the pages, which is known as the Canon Tables, in 1994 from an anonymous private collector "after a thorough review of their provenance.
"[46] Michael Bazyler, a Chapman University law professor and member of the plaintiff's legal team, believes this is the first case filed in the United States for the return of cultural or religious objects taken around the time of World War I.
[47] It seeks compensation for land, buildings and businesses allegedly seized from Armenians along with bank deposits and property, including priceless religious and other artifacts, some of which are now kept in museums in the Republic of Turkey.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs think that records of the properties and profits still exist, and they are seeking an accounting that could reach billions of dollars.
[49][50] For the first time in Turkey, subjects such as confiscated Armenian property, reparations, and the challenges of confronting the past and moving forward were discussed.
[50] Some of those present were Turkish and Western intellectuals such as Sevan Nişanyan of the Istanbul-based Armenian newspaper Agos, Welsh writer-activist Eilan Williams, Worcester State University philosopher Henry Theriault, and author Temel Demirer.
Larisa Alaversyan of the opposition Heritage Party says that the adoption of the bill would create further precedent for Armenia's application to an international court on the issue.
