Armenians in Turkey call for protection of shrines throughout the country

February 10, 2012 - 09:57 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Malatya Municipality’s recent demolition of a Final Prayer chapel at an Armenian cemetery has spurred Turkish Armenians into action about other at-risk sites all around the country, Hürriyet Daily News reported.

“[The idea of establishing] a commission could perhaps gain currency, but we first need to take into consideration the situation that Turkey is [embroiled] in. The example of Malatya may not stick well everywhere,” former Malatya Philanthropists Association (HAYDER) head Garo Paylan told the HDN.

“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,” Paylan said.

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.