Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
July 15 2013

Diyarbakýr’s Surp Giragos Church set to have Armenian museum

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioðlu Vercihan

A part of the Surp Giragos Church will be opened as an Armenian
museum. Officials make a call to the Armenian community to make
contributions

A part of the Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakýr will be
opened as a museum for the history of the Armenians from the
southeastern province.

Ergün Ayýk, head of the Surp Giragos Church Foundation, told the
Hürriyet Daily News that a building within the church’s complex would
be transformed into the Diyarbakýr Armenians History Museum.
Ayýk said that upon his meetings with Diyarbakýr Mayor Osman Baydemir
and the Diyarbakýr Culture and Tourism Directorate, the Armenian
Culture and Arts section of the Diyarbakýr City Museum, which is to
open in a newly renovated historical building, would be opened within
the Surp Giragos Church.

The church was renovated and opened for services two years ago thanks
to donations from the Armenian community and Diyarbakýr Metropolitan
Municipality. Stating that the interior design of the Armenian museum
would be handled by the municipality, Ayýk said the museum’s security
would also be provided by the same office.

“The cleaning, electricity and water costs will be catered by the
municipality, as well as the 24-hour surveillance of the church
complex,” said Ayýk. “Thus, our foundation will be freed of an
important amount of costs.”

Call to Armenians

The foundation president said the museum would be formed from personal
belongings and called for the Armenians, who possessed objects from
their ancestors, to send them to the Surp Giragos Church Foundation.
He added that as the building was going to be constructed according to
the collected objects, potential donors should make haste in shipping
their belongings.

Concerning the objects to be displayed, Ayýk said belongings from
Armenian artistic, cultural and economic life – including old letters,
commercial documents, music pieces, household appliances, clothing,
paintings, carpets and rugs, stalls and craftsmen’s tools – would be
exhibited in the museum.

He said the collected belongings would be transferred to the inventory
of the foundation pending the signing of a protocol for the museum.

Ayýk said that until four years ago, the only remaining trace of
Diyarbakýr’s Armenians was two ruined churches in the city, adding
that Armenians had lived in the region for “thousands of years” and
had built a “big kingdom.”

“I wish with my whole heart that the happiness and positive mood
deriving from invigorating the past that was fading into oblivion and
paying the debt of conscience we owe to our ancestors will be felt by
a greater part of our society,” Ayýk said.

July/15/2013

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress