Turkish Armenians concerned over fate of ancestral sites
10.02.12
In Malatya, Turkey, the recent demolition of a “Final Prayer” chapel at an Armenian cemetery has spurred Armenian-Turks into action about other at-risk sites all around the country.
“We used to have graves that are thousands of years old across Anatolia, but they were either paved over with roads or new buildings were erected on top of them. It is no longer possible to retrieve most of them, but we at least need to claim the remainder,” former Malatya Philanthropists Association (HAYDER) head Garo Paylan told the Hürriyet Daily News.
HAYDER, which first brought the matter of Armenian sites before the public’s attention, continues receiving sporadic phone calls about the status of Armenian remnants elsewhere in the country.
“We are progressively evaluating the requests,” Paylan said but added that they were hesitant in taking any further steps at the moment. Denouncing as insincere the interest shown by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Malatya Municipality in the chapel’s demolition, Paylan also said they had made a retreat for fear of public reaction.
“If they are truly sincere, then they ought to give the 300-year-old Church of Surp Yerortutyun [Holy Trinity] in Malatya, which they call ‘Taşhoran,’ back to us, rather than converting it into a cultural center,” Paylan said, adding that they were also going to appeal to the Malatya Governor’s Office with respect to the matter in the coming days.
Workers from the Malatya Municipality demolished a complex located over a centuries-old Armenian cemetery and which involved the “Final Prayer” Chapel, an annex for the ritual washing of the dead and a guard box Feb. 3. Following a public outcry, however, Malatya Municipality soon agreed to rebuild the complex through its own funds.
The cemetery, which is quite large, also contains the burial grounds of the family members of Hrant Dink, the chief editor of the bilingual weekly Agos who was gunned down in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.
