Two American Armenians in Los Angeles brought a compensation suit against Turkish Republic, Central Bank of Turkish Republic and Ziraat (Agricultural) Bank, which caused great reactions. The citizens living in the regions where Armenians lived in the past, have become concerned with the possibility of losing their properties and land.
Prof. Dr. Kemal Çiçek, head of the Armenian Studies Desk at Turkish Historical Society, has proved by the records from American archives, that Armenians cannot get any compensation from Turkey.
According to Treaty of Lausanne the U.S., acceding to the treaty as an observer, claimed compensation for Rums and Armenians who had been Ottoman subjects and were living in the U.S. and for the American companies doing business in Turkey at that time. This claim for compensation was accepted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 24 December 1923 and two compensation commissions were set up both in the U.S. and Turkey. However, commission officials determined that the claims were not based upon evidence.
The commissions' studies continued until 1934. Armenians, Rums and American companies brought $55M compensation; however, the U.S. commission found the evidence insufficient and reduced the amount of compensation to $5M. After the negotiations, Turkey accepted to pay $1.3M as a compensation. After the payment of $900,000 by Turkey, the U.S. commission refused to take any more, stating there was no person left that deserved compensation.
Prof. Dr. Çiçek stated that, there is no need to worry about compensation claims, because compensation issue was ended 75 years ago. He emphasized once again that American Armenians cannot get any compensation from Turkey.
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