US law firm files lawsuit to return Armenia’s property in Turkey

YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. A lawsuit to return the properties confiscated from Armenians in Incirlik has been filed. The case on landed properties in Incirlik, formerly belonging to Armenians and confiscated during the 1915 genocide, is pending before the 9th Circuit Court. Famous Armenian lawyer Vardges Eghiayan – head of “Vardges Eghiayan and law group”, who lives in the USA, informed this in an interview with Armenpress adding, “Its progress is contingent on another, similar case that is awaiting a ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States”.

Eghiayan informed that the case against the Getty Museum, filed in 2010 on behalf of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia in order to retrieve eight canon table pages illustrated by the medieval Armenian manuscript illuminator Toros Roslin, is in the final negotiations stage.

With regards to landed properties in Turkey, the renowned lawyer stressed that talks with Turkish attorneys are currently under way in order to negotiate the claims of over a hundred clients whose families once owned property in Turkey. Eghiayan’s law firm has also been asked to investigate property claims made by Protestants and Catholic churches.

He also noted that a lawsuit has been filed against the Romanian government, for its role during the Communist period in seizing a Romanian/American film production company that once belonged to an Armenian. Another lawsuit is being filed against the State of Israel, in Israel, for its role in confiscating Armenian properties during the 1948 War.

In addition to these lawsuits, the law firm has published seven books on the Armenian Genocide, and is also preparing one on confiscated Armenian properties and a history on the insurance cases that were filed in the United States. Though not quite related to the law firm, the Vatican did just recently publish a 1,100 page-long bibliography compiled by my brother, Eddie Yeghiayan. Our firm also enjoys a warm relationship with the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation’s Center for Advanced Genocide Research, which just recently accepted receipt of the files from the case on New York Life.

Since 2004, Eghiayan’s firm has been able to reach agreements with two insurance companies to secure compensation for the heirs of genocide victims. This includes the $20 million reached in the case against New York Life for the Armenians in 2004, as well as an additional $15 million for the descendants of those Greeks who held policies with that company. Another $20 million was settled in an agreement reached with France insurance company AXA in 2005.