Turkey obliged to restore Armenian historical monuments

“The Mass in the Surb Khach Church in Turkey became a perfect publicity for that country from point of view of development of economy and particularly, tourism. By restoring the Surb Khach Church Turkey wants to demonstrate that it has changed its policy towards national minorities,” research officer at the Institute of Oriental Studies Department of Turkey at the National Academy of Sciences, Christine Melkonyan told a news conference commenting upon the intention of the Turkish authorities to restore the St. Kirakos church in Diarbekir.

According to the expert, the Patriarchate of Constantinople reported that there were more than two thousand Armenian historic-cultural monuments between 1912 and 1913 in Turkey. However, most of them were destroyed during the Genocide. In 1974 UNESCO published condition of 913 Armenian monuments in Turkey since 1923. Now, according to the historian, 464 out of these monuments do not exist, 252 were destroyed, over 197 need reconstruction.

“Turkey is obliged to restore our historical monuments and seems to be taking these steps lately. There are a number of reasons for it, particularly, European Union’s pressure, Turkey’s wish to achieve economic growth through tourism development,” Melkonyan said adding that not only Armenian but also other cultural monuments are being reconstructed in Turkey.