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ANKARA: Turkey embarks on restoration efforts of Armenian churches

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  • ANKARA: Turkey embarks on restoration efforts of Armenian churches

    Journal of Turkish Weekly
    April 11 2015

    Turkey embarks on restoration efforts of Armenian churches

    11 April 2015


    Ankara has embarked on a series of restoration projects on Armenian
    churches in Turkey, amid criticism that the country's remaining
    Armenian cultural and historical heritage not destroyed during World
    War I has been left to ruin.

    The restorations are part of the government's bid to show that it is
    improving the rights of Turkey's Armenian community. For some
    observers, the past year's intensified restoration efforts of about a
    dozen churches throughout the country are no doubt related to the
    upcoming 100th commemoration of the World War I killings of Armenians
    in the Ottoman Empire.

    The government's efforts to reconcile with Turkey's small Armenian
    community dates back a few years, with the reopening of the Akdamar
    (Akhtamar) Church near the southeastern city of Van. The 10th-century
    Church of the Holy Cross on Akhtamar Island in Lake Van was reopened
    in 2007 as a museum.

    Ankara spent 2 million Turkish Liras on extensive restorations of the
    church, and in 2010 a religious ceremony was held there for the first
    time in 95 years.

    In addition, the word `Armenian' could not be found anywhere on the
    church's original information signboard, but it was renewed last year
    in order to emphasize that the church was a part of Armenian heritage
    in Anatolia.

    Similar changes are expected to be made during the renewal of other
    signboards where `Armenian' has been omitted.

    Today, the Armenian community in Turkey, which numbers around 70,000,
    is almost entirely concentrated in Istanbul.

    In a historic first, the Turkish government last year offered
    condolences for the mass killings of Armenians in 1915, which then
    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoƄ?an said had `inhumane consequences,'
    expressing hope that those who had died were now at peace.


    11 April 2015

    http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/183236/turkey-embarks-on-restoration-efforts-of-armenian-churches.html

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