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ARMENIAN CEMETERY DAMAGED
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 6 2012
Turkey
An under-construction chapel in a historic Armenian cemetery in
Malatya that houses the remains of journalist Hrant Dink's family
was demolished Feb. 3 by municipal teams, causing incredulity in the
Armenian community.
"If this is deemed suitable for us, what can we do? They are knocking
down our place of last prayer [the chapel]. This is very unfortunate
for Malatya," Hosrof Köletavitoglu of the Philanthropist Armenians
from Malatya Association (HAYDER) told the Hurriyet Daily News.
Only a few burials a year are still made on the cemetery's remaining
0.2 hectares, Köletavitoglu said, adding that funerals were processed
at a tent they had named the "place of last prayers." The demolished
chapel was being built through money raised by Armenians who live in
Istanbul but are originally from Malatya.
"We consulted the office of the governor and the municipality to
build us a small chapel in place of the tent. We asked them to build
it for us. When they said they could not build it, we said, 'Then
allow us to build it.' We started the construction as soon as we got
the building permit; we were about to finish it," Köletavitoglu said.
"Heavy construction equipment is going over the graves of my
ancestors," Köletavitoglu said, adding that this situation pained him.
"We are not building this tiny chapel for the 50 Armenians living
here. It is our fathers, our ancestors that are buried here."
Meanwhile, officials from Malatya Municipality told the Daily News that
several complaints and reports had been lodged with the municipality
and that they had determined that a guard's cabin was also being
built separately to the chapel, leading them to order the demolition
of the cabin.
"Our target was only to knock down the guard's house, but a
misunderstanding caused the whole construction to be knocked down,"
an official said.
However, Köletavitoglu said they had earlier declared that they were
going to build a building for the guard and that a misunderstanding
was impossible.
Former HAYDER head Garo Paylan agreed with Köletavitoglu and said
he was also very sad that earthmovers were operating on top of his
family's graves.
"The demolished chapel was over my grandfather's grave," Paylan said.
"I think it was because of the 'genocide denial motion' in France.
Because when the motion was in question, the municipality first asked
us to lower the roof of the chapel even though the project had been
approved before."
Last year the Malatya Governor's Office had discussed plans to restore
a historic Armenian Church in Malatya located in the neighborhood
where Dink was born, Köletavitoglu said.
"On one hand, a tiny chapel is being knocked down; on the other
hand talks on a historic church being restored are continuing. These
contrasts confuse us," he said.
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 6 2012
Turkey
An under-construction chapel in a historic Armenian cemetery in
Malatya that houses the remains of journalist Hrant Dink's family
was demolished Feb. 3 by municipal teams, causing incredulity in the
Armenian community.
"If this is deemed suitable for us, what can we do? They are knocking
down our place of last prayer [the chapel]. This is very unfortunate
for Malatya," Hosrof Köletavitoglu of the Philanthropist Armenians
from Malatya Association (HAYDER) told the Hurriyet Daily News.
Only a few burials a year are still made on the cemetery's remaining
0.2 hectares, Köletavitoglu said, adding that funerals were processed
at a tent they had named the "place of last prayers." The demolished
chapel was being built through money raised by Armenians who live in
Istanbul but are originally from Malatya.
"We consulted the office of the governor and the municipality to
build us a small chapel in place of the tent. We asked them to build
it for us. When they said they could not build it, we said, 'Then
allow us to build it.' We started the construction as soon as we got
the building permit; we were about to finish it," Köletavitoglu said.
"Heavy construction equipment is going over the graves of my
ancestors," Köletavitoglu said, adding that this situation pained him.
"We are not building this tiny chapel for the 50 Armenians living
here. It is our fathers, our ancestors that are buried here."
Meanwhile, officials from Malatya Municipality told the Daily News that
several complaints and reports had been lodged with the municipality
and that they had determined that a guard's cabin was also being
built separately to the chapel, leading them to order the demolition
of the cabin.
"Our target was only to knock down the guard's house, but a
misunderstanding caused the whole construction to be knocked down,"
an official said.
However, Köletavitoglu said they had earlier declared that they were
going to build a building for the guard and that a misunderstanding
was impossible.
Former HAYDER head Garo Paylan agreed with Köletavitoglu and said
he was also very sad that earthmovers were operating on top of his
family's graves.
"The demolished chapel was over my grandfather's grave," Paylan said.
"I think it was because of the 'genocide denial motion' in France.
Because when the motion was in question, the municipality first asked
us to lower the roof of the chapel even though the project had been
approved before."
Last year the Malatya Governor's Office had discussed plans to restore
a historic Armenian Church in Malatya located in the neighborhood
where Dink was born, Köletavitoglu said.
"On one hand, a tiny chapel is being knocked down; on the other
hand talks on a historic church being restored are continuing. These
contrasts confuse us," he said.