Istanbul, Turkey - Turkey's president on Tuesday approved returning property seized from religious minority foundations decades ago, state-run media said.
The new law makes it possible for Jewish and Christian foundations to recover school buildings, churches and orphanages, Anatolia news agency reported.
Turkey seized the properties in 1974, around the same time it invaded Cyprus after a failed coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece.
The country's population of 70 million, mostly Muslim, includes 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 23,000 Jews and fewer than 2,500 Greek Orthodox Christians.
The European Union had long backed the bill to return the property, and the Turkish parliament first approved it in November 2006. The president at the time, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, vetoed it then.
Parliament passed the bill again last week, and this time it was approved by President Abdullah Gul.
Critics have said the measure makes no clear provision for assets that have since been sold.
The new law also allows Muslim foundations to receive financial aid from foreign countries.