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MALATYA MUNICIPALITY IN TURKEY AGREES TO REBUILD DEMOLISHED ARMENIAN SHRINE
PanARMENIAN.Net
February 7, 2012 - 10:19 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The municipality in the eastern Turkish province
of Malatya has agreed to rebuild a complex involving a chapel, a
guard house and an annex for washing the dead inside a historical
Armenian cemetery after municipal workers demolished it on Feb 3,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.
"The folk in the street cried when they saw that our 'Last Prayer'
[complex] was demolished. I don't think it to be 'neighborhood
pressure.' There is some pressure, but it emanates from sources unknown
to us," Hosrof Köletavitoglu, the head of the Malatya Philanthropists'
Association (HAYDER), said.
Malatya Municipality said that the guard house had been brought down
due to complaints issued by the local populace and that the chapel
had been mistakenly demolished.
"They had said the guard box wasn't suitable here and decided to
demolish [it.] Now they are taking over the construction of the
entire complex by themselves," Köletavitoglu said on behalf of a
group of Malatya Armenians residing in Istanbul who met with officials
regarding the matter on Feb 6 morning.
The municipality promised to push forward with the project without
making any additional changes, Köletavitoglu said, adding they were
also going to certify that promise in the governor's office through
a notary.
"We are going to purse this to the end," he said. "We had just
built the complex with money we collected from Armenians of Malatya
[residing] in Istanbul and the diaspora. The demolition came about
just as we were finishing it."
The project had originally been drawn up by the Patriarchate of
Turkish-Armenians.
The cemetery which measures thousands of acres in size also contains
the burial grounds of the family members of Hrant Dink, the chief
editor of the weekly Agos, who was gunned down in front of his office
in Istanbul on Jan 19, 2007.
"We were going to hold a mass by organizing a tour on June 30 to
bring Armenians originating from Malatya here. It will be a little
difficult to hold the mass under these circumstances," he said.
The Turkish authorities nationalized the cemetery in the late 1940s,
while only some two acres are still owned by the Armenian community.
PanARMENIAN.Net
February 7, 2012 - 10:19 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The municipality in the eastern Turkish province
of Malatya has agreed to rebuild a complex involving a chapel, a
guard house and an annex for washing the dead inside a historical
Armenian cemetery after municipal workers demolished it on Feb 3,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.
"The folk in the street cried when they saw that our 'Last Prayer'
[complex] was demolished. I don't think it to be 'neighborhood
pressure.' There is some pressure, but it emanates from sources unknown
to us," Hosrof Köletavitoglu, the head of the Malatya Philanthropists'
Association (HAYDER), said.
Malatya Municipality said that the guard house had been brought down
due to complaints issued by the local populace and that the chapel
had been mistakenly demolished.
"They had said the guard box wasn't suitable here and decided to
demolish [it.] Now they are taking over the construction of the
entire complex by themselves," Köletavitoglu said on behalf of a
group of Malatya Armenians residing in Istanbul who met with officials
regarding the matter on Feb 6 morning.
The municipality promised to push forward with the project without
making any additional changes, Köletavitoglu said, adding they were
also going to certify that promise in the governor's office through
a notary.
"We are going to purse this to the end," he said. "We had just
built the complex with money we collected from Armenians of Malatya
[residing] in Istanbul and the diaspora. The demolition came about
just as we were finishing it."
The project had originally been drawn up by the Patriarchate of
Turkish-Armenians.
The cemetery which measures thousands of acres in size also contains
the burial grounds of the family members of Hrant Dink, the chief
editor of the weekly Agos, who was gunned down in front of his office
in Istanbul on Jan 19, 2007.
"We were going to hold a mass by organizing a tour on June 30 to
bring Armenians originating from Malatya here. It will be a little
difficult to hold the mass under these circumstances," he said.
The Turkish authorities nationalized the cemetery in the late 1940s,
while only some two acres are still owned by the Armenian community.