Turkish initiatives to restore Armenian churches game for superpowers
07.11.2009 17:11 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey and Azerbaijan are alike, since both built
their countries on historical Armenian lands, said Samvel Karapetyan,
director of Research on Armenian Architecture NGO.
`Reconstruction of Armenian churches in Turkey is a game played for
superpowers. While Turkish workers were reconstructing Holy Cross
Church on Akhtamar island, a Turkish bulldozer razed to the ground an
Armenian domical church 5 km away,’ he said.
Asked by a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter whether Turkish authorities will
hamper reconstruction of St. Kirakos Church in Diarbekir by the
Armenian community and whether they can be involved in the
organization of the recent fire in the church, he said, `You can’t
imagine how irritated the Turkish authorities are about the presence
of an Armenian church in Van or Mush. Armenians are prevented from
building a hotel, not to speak of churches.
For his part, expert Artak Shakaryan emphasized that reconstruction of
Armenian churches is nothing but a PR campaign. `An Armenian church
was lately consecrated in Kesaria, where 3 Armenians live. Anyway,
even such a game may help preserve Armenian architecture and culture
in Turkey,’ he said.