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MALATYA MUNICIPALITY DEMOLISHES ARMENIAN PLACE OF WORSHIP
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-270446-malatya-municipality-demolishes-armenian-place-of-worship.html
Feb 3 2012
Turkey
Officials from the Malatya Municipality have demolished three
buildings, including a place of worship that was under renovation,
located inside an Armenian cemetery even though the Malatya governor
and mayor gave permission.
A residence for the watchman, a room to bathe the bodies of the dead
and a place of worship were pulled down when nobody in charge of the
cemetery was around on Thursday. The municipality officials said
the place of worship was being built without official permission,
and argued that there was nothing illegal about the demolishment.
Citing the intolerance towards Armenians as the reason behind the
municipality's move, Turkish media outlets reported on Friday that
the municipality had the facilities pulled down because of hundreds
of petitions submitted by locals who opposed the construction of a
place of worship for Armenians, thinking that a church was being built.
Malatya Mayor Ahmet Cakır gave verbal permission for building the
place of worship on orders by Malatya Governor Ulvi Saran. The cost of
the building was met by an İstanbul-based philanthropist foundation
of Malatya Armenians, HAYDER. The blueprint of the place of worship
was drawn up by renowned Turkish-Armenian architect Kevork Ozkaragöz.
Garo Paylan, member of the board of directors of HAYDER, said in a
statement that both the governor and the municipality were quite warm
to the idea of renovating the demolished buildings at the cemetery
four months ago.
"However, our cemetery does not belong to us anymore, it belongs to
the municipality. Therefore, we asked the municipality for renovation,
but they said they can't do it even though they will allow us to do
it," he said.
The renovation work started in the cemetery in Malatya, where there
is only about 100 Armenians left.
"It is important for those people to bury their loved ones according
to their religious practices. Since there are no churches left in
Malatya, the only place that they can have a religious ceremony is
in the cemetery," he said.
According to Paylan, the reason for the municipality to destroy the
cemetery is because of pressure being put on the municipality by
some groups to abolish it due to the French Senate's recent vote for
a controversial bill making it a crime to deny the 1915 killings of
Armenians was "genocide," ignoring warnings from Turkey that passing
the legislation would lead to new measures.
Mayor Cakır was quoted on the website of the Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos as saying he is sorry for what happened but the demolition
occurred due to miscommunication among officials and that they will
compensate for it.
Today's Zaman
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-270446-malatya-municipality-demolishes-armenian-place-of-worship.html
Feb 3 2012
Turkey
Officials from the Malatya Municipality have demolished three
buildings, including a place of worship that was under renovation,
located inside an Armenian cemetery even though the Malatya governor
and mayor gave permission.
A residence for the watchman, a room to bathe the bodies of the dead
and a place of worship were pulled down when nobody in charge of the
cemetery was around on Thursday. The municipality officials said
the place of worship was being built without official permission,
and argued that there was nothing illegal about the demolishment.
Citing the intolerance towards Armenians as the reason behind the
municipality's move, Turkish media outlets reported on Friday that
the municipality had the facilities pulled down because of hundreds
of petitions submitted by locals who opposed the construction of a
place of worship for Armenians, thinking that a church was being built.
Malatya Mayor Ahmet Cakır gave verbal permission for building the
place of worship on orders by Malatya Governor Ulvi Saran. The cost of
the building was met by an İstanbul-based philanthropist foundation
of Malatya Armenians, HAYDER. The blueprint of the place of worship
was drawn up by renowned Turkish-Armenian architect Kevork Ozkaragöz.
Garo Paylan, member of the board of directors of HAYDER, said in a
statement that both the governor and the municipality were quite warm
to the idea of renovating the demolished buildings at the cemetery
four months ago.
"However, our cemetery does not belong to us anymore, it belongs to
the municipality. Therefore, we asked the municipality for renovation,
but they said they can't do it even though they will allow us to do
it," he said.
The renovation work started in the cemetery in Malatya, where there
is only about 100 Armenians left.
"It is important for those people to bury their loved ones according
to their religious practices. Since there are no churches left in
Malatya, the only place that they can have a religious ceremony is
in the cemetery," he said.
According to Paylan, the reason for the municipality to destroy the
cemetery is because of pressure being put on the municipality by
some groups to abolish it due to the French Senate's recent vote for
a controversial bill making it a crime to deny the 1915 killings of
Armenians was "genocide," ignoring warnings from Turkey that passing
the legislation would lead to new measures.
Mayor Cakır was quoted on the website of the Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos as saying he is sorry for what happened but the demolition
occurred due to miscommunication among officials and that they will
compensate for it.