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For Immediate Action
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
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Contact: AHEPA Headquarters
Phone: (202) 232-6300
Email: press@ahepa.org
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Action Alert
Capitol Hill Action Alert
Ask Your U.S. Representative to Champion Religious Freedom!
BACKGROUND
H.Res.306 urges the Republic of Turkey to Safeguard Its Christian Heritage and to Return Confiscated Church Properties. It expresses the sense of the U.S. House of Representatives that the Secretary of State, in all official contacts with Turkish leaders and other Turkish officials, should emphasize that Turkey should:
- end all forms of religious discrimination;
- end restrictions on Christian clerical training, appointments, and succession;
- return Christian churches, holy sites, relics, movable properties such as artwork and manuscripts; and other property such as hospitals and schools to their rightful owners; and
- end restrictions on the ability to allow rightful Christian church and lay owners of Church properties to preserve, reconstruct and repair churches and other places of worship and religious properties in Turkey.
H.Res.306 contains similar language to legislation introduced by U.S. Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA) and Howard Berman (D-CA) that the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed on July 20, 2011 by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 43 to 1.
STATUS
- H.Res.306 is scheduled to come to the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 after 12 Noon.
- H.Res.306 is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), who is a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
ACTION: PLEASE CONTACT YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TODAY!
Ask your U.S. representative to support the safeguarding of Christian heritage and return of confiscated church properties in Turkey by voting YES on H.Res.306.
- Because time is of the essence, please call your U.S. representative.
- You can contact your U.S. Representative through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
- Ask to speak with the representative's legislative director or foreign affairs legislative assistant.
- H.Res.306 is scheduled to see action on the House floor on Tuesday, December 13, 2011.
- Ask him/her to be a champion of religious freedom and vote YES on H.Res.306.
Need help finding your U.S. representative?
- Visit http://house.gov
- Enter your zip code in the upper right-hand corner of the home page.
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AHEPA is the largest Greek-American association in the world with chapters in the United States, Canada, Greece, Cyprus, and sister chapters in Australia and New Zealand. It was established in 1922 by visionary Greek Americans to protect Hellenes from prejudice originating from the KKK, and in its history, AHEPA joined with the NAACP and B'nai B'rith International to fight discrimination.
The mission of the AHEPA family is to promote the ancient Greek ideals of education, philanthropy, civic responsibility and family and individual excellence through community service and volunteerism.
For more information about the AHEPA family, or how to join, please contact AHEPA Headquarters, (202) 232-6300, or visit www.ahepa.org. To learn more about the AHEPA National Educational Foundation, please visit www.ahepa.org/education.