His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, has commended U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement of concern regarding Turkey’s confiscation of religious properties, and offered assistance in securing their rightful return, Asbarez writes.

“The Holy See of Cilicia, which was violently uprooted from its centuries-old Seat, remains the legal owner and spiritual steward for numerous churches, monasteries, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, orphanages, monuments, cemeteries, and other religious sites and properties across the Armenian lands currently within the borders of present-day Turkey. These properties, as well as countless movable assets – among them spiritual and cultural treasures – were illegally seized from the Armenian Church by the Ottoman Turkish Empire starting in the 1890’s and extending through the entire Armenian Genocide (1915).

Indeed, the tragic history of mass murder in Turkey, as well as the confiscation and desecration of religious sites is well documented by governments, churches and academic institutions around the world, including, we understand, in the vast archival holdings of the U.S. Department of State,” he wrote in his November 5 letter.

His Holiness concluded his letter by offering “assistance in this worthy endeavor as your government seeks to secure the return by Turkey of confiscated religious properties to their rightful owners.”