London (AINA) -- Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon has put a motion in the House of Commons, London asking for restitution for the Genocide of Assyrians by Turks in World War One, including the return of the remains of the confiscated Churches and Monasteries. The Turkish Genocide began on April 24, 1915 and ended in 1918. The genocide, which was directed at the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire, claimed 750,000 Assyrians (75%), 1.5 million Armenian and 400,000 Greeks.

The text of the motion follows:

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EDM 1588
HISTORIC TREATMENT OF MINORITIES IN TURKEY
03.06.2009

Dismore, Andrew

That this House notes the statement by the Turkish Prime Minister recognising that Turkey's minorities have been ethnically cleansed; calls on the Government also to recognise this fact; suggests that a measure of restitution which could be made by the government of Turkey to demonstrate its good intentions would be the return to the jurisdiction of the respective Patriarchates the 2,000 Armenian, Assyrian and Syriac churches and religious monuments which were expropriated in 1923 by the Turkish State under the law of abandoned properties following the events of the 1915 Genocide; and urges the Government to make representations to Turkey to this effect.

Signatures( 20)
Standard Order Party Groups Alphabetical Order Party Totals
Status: Open signatures All signatures

Dismore, Andrew
Pound, Stephen
Spink, Bob
Rowen, Paul
Corbyn, Jeremy
Jones, Lynne
Caton, Martin
Wareing, Robert N
Leech, John
Lepper, David
Cryer, Ann
Drew, David
Durkan, Mark
Flynn, Paul
Vis, Rudi
McDonnell, Alasdair
O'Hara, Edward
Riordan, Linda
Gerrard, Neil
Clapham, Michael