Hillary Clinton pledges continued pressure on Turkey to return Armenian churches.

Secretary of State Clinton, in written responses to questions submitted by Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), the Ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, offered inordinate and undeserved praise for Turkey for taking “concrete steps” to return a tiny fraction of stolen religious properties, but did commit to continuing to both press Ankara to return additional properties confiscated from minority religious communities to their rightful owners, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Representative Berman’s question, which referenced the Return of Churches resolution, H.Res.306, that he helped pass on the floor of the U.S. House, pressed the Secretary as to whether she was “satisfied that Turkey is committed to returning confiscated Christian churches and fully respecting the Armenian and other Christian populations that have lived on these lands since biblical times?” In her response, Secretary Clinton overstated Turkey’s actual actions and offered unmerited praise for its stated intentions, which, even if fully implemented, would return less than 5% of stolen church properties to the rightful owners among Christian and other religious communities. She did however, in keeping with the letter and spirit of H.Res.306, and its Senate companion, S.Res.392, promise that the Department of State “will continue to remain vigilant of the situation for religious communities and encourage needed reforms in the country.”

“We join with Armenian Americans from California and across the United States in thanking Congressman Berman for raising these vitally important issues with Secretary Clinton,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “While we certainly appreciate that Secretary Clinton – in accord with the letter and spirit of H.Res.306 – has committed the United States to continuing to press Turkey to return stolen religious properties to their rightful owners, we remain deeply troubled that her undeserved praise for Ankara’s still hollow promises of reform, its political diversions, and its token actions reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of the Department State regarding the full return by Turkey of the fruits of its genocidal crimes against Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, Arameans, Syriacs, and others.”

Withdrawal of Snipers: In response to a second question from Congressman Berman regarding Azerbaijan’s opposition to an OSCE Minsk Group proposal, backed by both Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, for the withdrawal of snipers from the front lines, Secretary Clinton restated U.S. support for pulling back snipers as a step toward decreasing regional tensions. The rest of her response, which again reflected the Administration’s policy of artificial even-handedness in dealing with one-sided threats and aggression coming from Baku, offered generic calls on “all sides” to “improve the atmosphere for negotiations, prevent unnecessary casualties, and strengthen implementation of the ceasefire.”

In his third question to Secretary Clinton, Representative Berman asked for an update on progress the Administration has made in expanding U.S.-Armenia trade and investment in recent years. The Secretary responded by offering an overly optimistic perspective on the limited work of the U.S.-Armenia Joint Economic Taskforce (USATF) in growing bilateral commercial relations. Her answer, while consistent with the President’s campaign commitments to expand U.S.-Armenia economic ties, fails to reflect the lack of material progress over the past three years in expanding trade and investment, through the negotiation of a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, a Double Tax Treaty, or other bilateral accords, commercial programs, and targeted trade initiatives. The one specific future project she cited was U.S. sponsorship of a “Reverse Trade Mission” to the United States for up to 10 Armenian businesspeople from the information technology sector. This mission will provide Armenian entrepreneurs a chance to explore opportunities to buy American products, sell Armenian products, and build mutually beneficial relationships with U.S. counterparts.