Voting 43 to 1, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the Berman-Cicilline Amendment calling on Turkey to “return stolen Armenian and other Christian churches to their rightful owners.”

The resolution’s chief sponsors were Ed Royce, a Republican from California, and Howard Berman, the committee’s ranking Democratic member from California.

“Conditions in Turkey have deteriorated with violent hate crimes increasingly linked to religion. My resolution urges Turkey to protect its vulnerable religious minorities,” Royce said.

“By expropriating church properties, harassing worshippers, and refusing to grant full legal status to some Christian groups, Turkey has failed to fulfil its obligation as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which requires freedom of thought, conscience and religion,” Berman said.

The Turkish Embassy in Washington has rejected the charges in a recent statement, saying, “The resolution is deeply regrettable because it unfairly distorts the facts on the ground while flatly overlooking Turkey’s efforts to promote religious freedom and tolerance.”