ISTANBUL (Marmara)–Charges of insulting and vilifying Turkishness and the Republic in a radio broadcast have been brought against Gedikpasa (Istanbul) Armenian Protestant Church and School Endowment President Krikor Agabaloglu. The endowment was established by Sultan Abdulaziz in 1850.
Agabaloglu–as well as reporter/interviewer Cezmi Ersoz and radio station owner Tacettin Ulusoy–face imprisonment of 1 to 6 years if convicted.
In the broadcast–Agabaloglu criticized the General Directorate of Endowmen’s for illegally seizing properties of the Gedikpasa Protestant Church and School Endowment in 1979.
Agabaloglu said–"I am being dragged into court because I stated that properties of an Armenian Endowment are–through unofficial means (gayri resmi)–being wrongfully seized (gasp oldugunu) in Turkey."
President of the endowment Agabaloglu recently applied to the European Human Rights Commission in order to recover some of the seized properties.