Ankara (AINA) -- During a recent Turkish parlamentary debate on July 26, 2024, George Aslan, the Assyrian MP representing Mardin since the formation of the Parliament in 2023, took the floor on behalf of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (Halklarin Esitlik ve Demokrasi Partisi -- HEDEP), and addressed security and property issues.

Aslan began his talk pointing to significant developments in many areas during the last hundred years of the country's history and that members of minorities among the Turkish citizens have also been directly or indirectly affected by these developments. "Sometimes they have been targeted because of their religious identities, they have been subjected to attacks, their property and lands have been confiscated," he continued.

"The issue of land seizures is undoubtedly one of the fundamental problems that continues today," he emphasized.

Aslan confirmed that some positive steps have been taken regarding this issue during the different AKP governments, while "new problems have been added to existing ones in some places," he added.

He mentioned that in 2016, churches, monasteries, cemeteries and lands belonging to Assyrian religious foundations in Mardin were transferred to the Treasury on the grounds of the Municipality Law. Then, with a regulation made in the Parliament, only a portion of the real estate in question was returned, while dozens of other real estates were seized.

Aslan touched upon the regulatory and legal reasons for the seizure and the questionable circumstances under which the seizure was carried out, while most of the owners were abroad:

"In Mardin, most of the regulations and bureaucratic practices, especially the land registry and cadastral works and later the Law on Metropolitan Municipalities, developed unfavourably for the Assyrian community, and many properties belonging to both foundations and individuals were taken from them. The cadastral works took place at a time when the majority of Assyrians were abroad, and many lands were transferred to the Treasury and the Forestry Administration on the grounds that they were not being cultivated; reasons why people had to leave their homes and lands were not taken into account."

To back up his claims, Aslan mentioned few actual cases.

• A 57 thousand square meters of land seized earlier by the Treasury in the Assyrian village Iwardo (türkish Gülgöze), "was sold to someone who was not from the village for a very low price, well below its value," he said.
• Another seized land belonging to Assyrians in Üçköy, a neighborhood in Nusaybin "was sold to its original owner by auction for much more than its value, meaning that the person was forced to buy his own land again," he added.

Aslan reported also that another person - in a similar way - tried to buy his own land back to build a house in the Yazidi village of Bacin (turkish Güven), but he advised him not to do so, but instead to file a lawsuit against the Treasury.

Continuing his speech Aslan pointed to a sort of a formal procedure how Treasury and the state housing authorities collude in seizing private land and then put it up for sale:

"Last year, the lands belonging to the Dagiçi Neighborhood of Nusaybin were sold by the TOKI Real Estate Department (a State Housing Authority), however, following the [people's negative] reactions on the issue, the sale was cancelled. These lands belong to the village or individuals. The Treasury first seizes them and then they are transfered to TOKI. TOKI sells them by an auction; when no one attends the auction, their own officers or men attend the auction to increase the price. They do this consciously because they know that those who attend the auction from the respective villages will definitely buy the land."

In order to solve the property issue of the Assyrians, Aslan made a call in order to put an end to these injustices: "The Land Registry and Cadastre issue must be urgently reconsidered," he emphasized.

Furthermore, he pointed out that "people are applying to the courts due to the loss of their rights, and some of these cases are being taken to the European Court of Human Rights. In 2001, the then Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit called for the return of Assyrians from abroad, and later, officials of the AKP that came to power made similar calls. Following these calls, thousands of people returned from abroad and rebuilt their villages."

Aslan concluded his speech by referring to two unsolved murder cases of elderly people returning to the Assyrian villages of Yemisli and Beytüssebap, and demanded that "the land issue experienced by Assyrians should be resolved comprehensively and safety of live of people who have returned to their villages from abroad should be ensured."