ANTELIAS, Lebanon -- Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Ken Hachikian offered a broad vision of how the "Return of Churches" movement reflects and also materially reinforces the broader international movement to hold the Republic of Turkey responsible for a truthful, just, and comprehensive resolution of the Armenian Genocide. Hackikian offered his remarks at the recently concluded three-day international conference in Beirut titled "The Armenian Genocide: From Recognition to Reparation," hosted by His Holiness, Vehapar Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, and organized by the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia. The conference featured presentations by dozens of leading academics and thought-leaders from across the globe, all addressing the topic of securing reparations owed by Turkey to the Armenian nation for the Armenian Genocide. Hachikian's speech offered first-hand insights into the ANCA's pivotal role in the passage of the Return of Churches Resolution, H.Res.306, and outlined, in broader terms, how this effort fits into the cause of justice for the Armenian Genocide and the future viability of the Armenian nation. In a speech that addressed the moral and material aspects of the justice owed the Armenian nation, Hachikian stressed that "[a]s we approach the end of a century in which all the moral and material costs of the Armenian Genocide have fallen upon the victims of this crime, we seek, for ourselves and all humanity, a new era, a better century--guided by the ethic that the burdens of this genocide and all genocides will, as they rightly must, be borne by its perpetrator." Aram I, who, in his opening statement powerfully asserted the Catholicosate of Cilicia's legal claims to Armenian Church properties, closed the conference by reporting that, based on the emerging conclusions of the conference, the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, in collaboration with the Armenian Catholic and Evangelic churches and Armenian political parties, community leadership, and major players of Armenian communities: 1) will explore with organized efforts the concrete possibilities of moving forward, taking into consideration the provisions provided by the international law; 2) will seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice through the UN on the legal consequences of the Armenian Genocide; and 3) will explore the possibilities of raising the Armenian case before the European Court of Human Rights, based on human rights violation related to genocide and confiscation of properties. "This is not an easy process, taking into consideration the present political landscape and geopolitical interests. However, we are determined to embark on this critical process with renewed faith and firm determination," Aram I concluded. "The role of the Republic of Armenia is pivotal in this respect. We are seeking justice: recognition of the Armenian Genocide and reparation. This is a challenge before us. The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is ready to respond to this challenge with strong commitment and a profound sense of responsibility." During his presentation, Hachikian explained that Armenians are "not seeking truth simply for the sake of truth, but for all the world; and certainly we as Armenians know all too well the reality of the Armenian Genocide and the ongoing consequences of this crime. We are in no need of further affirmation. Nor of vengeance or vindication. No. We seek truth in the name of justice. And justice in the interest of survival. That is why we struggle so mightily against Ankara's denial of truth and obstruction of justice." Hachikian also gave a public lecture on this topic, hosted by the ANC of the Middle East, at the Shaghzoyan Center in the Bourj Hammoud neighborhood of Beirut. The talk was titled, "The Question of Return of Church Properties in the U.S. Congress: What is the role of Armenian activists? What are the implications for Turkey? Is this a precursor to a meaningful discussion of reparations?" Below is the full text of Hachikian's speech. *** I want to start my remarks today by thanking Vehapar Aram I for his vision in hosting this gathering and bringing us all together under the leadership of the Great House of Cilicia and also to express my appreciation to the organizers of this conference for inviting me to participate from across the Atlantic in this important academic undertaking. I will share with you today the Armenian National Committee of America's contribution to the great cause of securing for our nation the restitution and reparations owed to our people for Turkey's crime of genocide. My perspective here today, born of my experience and shaped on the front lines of our common cause, is a political one. My views, and those of my colleagues, have, nonetheless, been meaningfully informed, greatly enriched, and consistently energized by the far-reaching body of academic inquiry on this subject, but our struggle is waged in the civic arena. Scholars, as they should, shed light; politicians, as we must, deliver heat. We need both now more than ever. To prevail, our struggles must be won both on the intellectual battlefield and on the field of public and political discourse. My comments today about our community's effort in the United States to press Turkey to return churches will, I hope, help inform you about the urgency of such efforts and also inspire our friends and allies around the world to join in this noble undertaking. We must continue our efforts to prevail intellectually, but we also must not forget that there is an essential battle to be joined in the halls of our governments. For what we seek is nothing less than a turning of the tide. As we approach the end of a century in which all the moral and material costs of the Armenian Genocide have fallen upon the victims of this crime, we seek, for ourselves and all humanity, a new era, a better century--guided by the ethic that the burdens of this genocide and all genocides will, as they rightly must, be borne by its perpetrator. The return of churches, Turkey's surrender--voluntary or otherwise--of the thousands of church properties it stole from Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Syriacs, and other Christians prior to, during, and after the Armenian Genocide era, would represent a meaningful first step by the Turkish government toward accepting its responsibility for a truthful and just resolution of this still unpunished crime against humanity. It would, as well, mark a major blow for the cause of international religious freedom in a corner of the world sadly known not for its pluralism, but rather for the depths of its intolerance. Our advocacy in Washington, D.C. on this issue has, over the past year, taken its place alongside our Armenian Genocide recognition efforts, our struggle against Ankara's denials, and our other work on issues of concern to Armenian Americans. Of course, this initiative, like all of our community's advocacy investments is, at its heart, aimed at promoting Armenia's viability. Our North Star--the light that guides us as we navigate the political waters--is the survival of the Armenian people, the security of the Armenian homeland, and the strengthening of the Armenian nation. That is why we seek a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide. We are not seeking truth simply for the sake of truth, but for all the world, and certainly we as Armenians, know all too well the reality of the Armenian Genocide and the ongoing consequences of this crime. We are in no need of further affirmation. Nor of vengeance or vindication. No. We seek truth in the name of justice. And justice in the interest of survival. That is why we struggle so mightily against Ankara's denial of truth and obstruction of justice. Reasons of morality, of course, compel us to demand respect for human life and to stand up--in the name of our ancient faith and in the spirit of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide--against mass murder. The cause of genocide prevention, a core moral imperative of our age, requires that we--as witnesses to the depths of man's inhumanity to man--bring the full measure of our devotion to ending forever the cycle of genocide. Turkey's denial of truth and obstruction of justice for the Armenian Genocide sets a dangerous precedent, an unacceptable precedent, emboldening potential perpetrators that their crimes can be committed with impunity. Nowhere is this more urgent for us than in deterring Turkey from committing renewed aggression against the Armenian people, for Armenia cannot be safe as long as it is has on its border an over-armed and unrepentant perpetrator of genocide. We seek, as well, for the citizens of Turkey, a transformation of Turkish society. A Turkey that fully accepts responsibility for the Armenian Genocide would very likely be one that is on the road to rehabilitation into a more just and tolerant society. We have seen few signs of progress on this front. In fact, in recent years, all we've heard are alarm bells. In today's Turkey, Hrant Dink's killer is treated like a hero and most of those guilty of his assassination are let free. Armenians are regularly threatened with renewed deportations while the remaining Christian heritage of Anatolia is being systematically erased. The country's most popular films and books are about scapegoating and striking down treasonous minorities. Turkey today is not simply an unrepentant post-genocidal state, but a pre-genocidal society, lashing out at imagined enemies and seeking out its next targets. What is needed is not simply a change in Turkey's policies, but rather a profound, long-term movement, driven by both international and domestic pressure, to rehabilitate Turkey into a modern, tolerant, and pluralist society that--as proof of its reform--willingly forfeits the fruits of its genocidal crimes. For justice is vital for Armenia's survival. Consider the vast and devastating demographic, material, geographic, and cultural and legacy of the Armenian Genocide. The core elements of Armenian viability were nearly destroyed forever. This concern is very clearly not just about our past. For upon a just resolution of this crime rests the very ability of Armenians to restore the elements of viability that have long sustained our nation and to finally close the wounds of genocide that so crippled--and, because they are so deep, may yet kill--our poor and orphaned nation. These are the stakes. At risk is our very survival. Not our dignity, or simply our pride, but our very place at the table of nations. That is why we see seek the truth. That is why we demand justice. And part of justice, perhaps among the first measures that can realistically be secured, is the return of our sacred sites. A first front--but not a final one--in a long struggle for our survival. Our Church, as always, at the fore, fighting for justice, and truth, and an enduring peace among men. Our efforts on this front, as have been widely reported, began with the introduction, on June 15 of last year, of H.Res.306, the "Return of Churches" Resolution, by two of the most senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce and Howard Berman. This religious freedom measure was launched in parallel with the Armenian Genocide Resolution, the genocide-prevention measure that we have traditionally advanced through Congress. Congressman Royce launched H.Res.306 by stating that "conditions in Turkey have deteriorated with violent hate crimes increasingly linked to religion. My resolution urges Turkey to protect its vulnerable religious minorities." His Democratic colleague, the Ranking Member of the panel, Howard Berman, sharing his concerns, stated: "By expropriating church properties, harassing worshippers, and refusing to grant full legal status to some Christian groups, Turkey has failed to fulfill its obligation as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which requires 'freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.'" We were gratified by the broad, bipartisan support this resolution garnered. It was launched with numerous original co-sponsors, including the co-chairs of the Human Rights, Hellenic, and Armenian Caucuses. The resolution's text showed that it called upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations to return confiscated Christian church properties and to fully respect the rights of all Christians, among them the Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, and Arameans (Syriacs), who have lived for thousands of years on what is present-day Turkey. The resolution called on the U.S. secretary of state, in all official bilateral contacts, to press the Turkish government to: 1) end all forms of religious discrimination; 2) allow the rightful church and lay owners of Christian church properties, without hindrance or restriction, to organize and administer prayer services, religious education, clerical training, appointments, and succession, religious gatherings, social services, including ministry to the needs of the poor and infirm, and other religious activities; 3) return to their rightful owners all Christian churches and other places of worship, monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, holy sites, and other religious properties, including movable properties, such as artwork, manuscripts, vestments, vessels, and other artifacts; and 4) allow the rightful Christian church and lay owners of Christian church properties, without hindrance or restriction, to preserve, reconstruct, and repair, as they see fit, all Christian churches and other places of worship, monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, holy sites, and other religious properties within Turkey. This legislation was crafted to speak powerfully to Americans, who are fundamentally committed to the principle of religious liberty. It has, as you know, long been a priority for American citizens to seek for others around the world the same right to worship in freedom that they enjoy in the United States. It also spoke meaningfully to Armenians and our allies, who share a devotion to a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide, which morally and materially makes whole the victims of this horrific crime. Its immediate purpose was to directly challenge and then to eventually reverse the vast destruction visited upon religious sites and the theft of church properties during the Armenian Genocide, as well as Turkey's official and ongoing post-genocide destruction and desecration of holy sites and its discrimination against Christian communities. Through its adoption, its sponsors sought to add the powerful voice of the U.S. Congress--and the full moral authority of the American people--to the international defense of religious freedom for the Christian nations residing within the borders of present-day Turkey. Part of building support for this measure was educating legislators about the history of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, and Arameans (Syriacs) who have long lived on what is present-day Turkey. Another key element was reaching out to new allies among traditional American faith-based groups, including evangelicals and others sometimes known as Christian conservatives. Many Representatives were surprised to learn that these nations, many thousands of years before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, gave birth to great civilizations, each with their own rich civic, religious, and cultural heritage. These nations were, upon these Biblical lands, among the first Christians, dating back to the time of the travels through Anatolia by the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew. It held great meaning for Members of the U.S. Congress that the territory of present-day Turkey is today home to many of the most important centers of early Christianity, most notably Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Constantinople, but also that the Turkish government has systematically sought to erase this remarkably rich Christian legacy, including through the destruction of thousands of religious sites. The destruction of these holy places accelerated during the 1890′s and through the Armenian Genocide era. The Armenian Genocide and, more broadly, Ottoman Turkey's genocidal drive to eliminate its entire Christian population, marked a terrible watershed in the histories of the Christians of these lands, as the Turkish leadership shifted from a policy of violence and oppression to one of an outright, systematic, intentional, and state-implemented campaign of ethnic and cultural extermination. The Republic of Turkey, legal heir to the Ottomans, continued these genocidal policies against the remaining Christian population through ethnic-cleansing, organized massacres, destruction of churches and religious sites, illegal expropriation of properties, discriminatory policies, restrictions on worship, and other means. Estimates are that of the well over 2,000 Armenian churches that existed in the early 1900′s, far fewer than 50 are functioning today. Perhaps as few as 200 even remain standing today. The rest have been ground into dust. And, only a small fraction of the historic Christian population that once populated Anatolia remains today in modern Turkey to care for their cultural heritage. Let me pause for a moment to impress upon you just how very sensitive a matter religious rights--and in particular Christian issues--are in modern-day American civic life. Last year, President Obama's nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Francis Ricciardone, was asked at his confirmation hearing, at our direct urging, how many of the pre-1915 Christian churches in Turkey were still operating. When he answered that a majority still were--a patently inaccurate response that echoed Ankara's false narrative of tolerance and pluralism--his confirmation process froze in its tracks. It only went forward after he responded to Senate protests and Armenian American community outrage by publicly withdrawing his response and officially correcting his answer. We must, as we did in this instance, publically and forcefully confront those who deny the truth about the genocide and its ongoing impact; for our failure to do so would allow these hateful denials to gain credibility. Returning to the plight of Christians in Turkey, it's clear that the endangered Christian communities within Turkey's present-day borders continue, to this day, to endure oppressive restrictions imposed by the government of Turkey on their right to practice their faith in their historic places of worship. These endangered sites--at least those that remain--are, nearly all, still today in Turkish hands as a direct result of genocide. Many other properties--thousands now emptied of even ruins--are also illegally in Turkey's possession. The remaining Christians in Turkey are, all too often, prevented from praying in their historic churches, which have been desecrated, sometimes used as storage sheds, and in some cases even turned into barns. In very rare instances, such as the Akhtamar Church, Turkey has undertaken repairs for transparently cynical public relations reasons, but refused to return religious properties to their rightful church owners, instead converting them into museums, where prayer, as a rule, is prohibited. And, by the restoration of these properties to their rightful Armenian owners, we mean the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, the Holy See of Cilicia, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Armenian Evangelical Church, and the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, established by Congress, recently designated Turkey as one of a handful of countries on its watch list for a third consecutive year. It has concluded: "Over the previous five decades, the [Turkish] state has, using convoluted regulations and undemocratic laws, confiscated hundreds of religious minority properties, primarily those belonging to the Greek Orthodox community, as well as Armenian Orthodox, Catholics, and Jews