Serbia's parliament voted Thursday to restore property confiscated from the Serbian Orthodox Church and other religious communities by the postwar communist government. The measure passed with 126 votes in the 250-seat legislature.
Under the law, agricultural land, buildings, apartments, and cultural assets across Serbia, including the UN-administered province of Kosovo, may be returned to their original owners or compensated at current market value. A new restitution directorate will handle claims, which must be submitted by September 2008, and will report its findings to the government quarterly.
Church-related holdings account for roughly three percent of all property nationalized after World War II, according to expert estimates. Archival data cited by broadcaster B92 indicated the Serbian Orthodox Church has already sought the return of land worth about two billion euros, along with 250,000 hectares of farmland. Before the war, the Roman Catholic Church held around 30,000 acres of agricultural land in the country.
Economy Minister Milan Parivodic said a broader denationalization bill covering private property is also being drafted and could go before parliament as early as September. About 7.5 million people live in Serbia, the majority of them Orthodox Christians.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.