Turkish Daily News
Dec 24 2006

The Corridor
Sunday, December 24, 2006

Friendship wins from time to time:

Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk has been at the center of the Armenian
issue in Turkey for some time. Pamuk is being exploited in politics
to gain support. Columnists are clashing on newspaper pages to make
a point. Well, isn’t there anything nice happening on the issue?

This week, Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc said they would
be renovating the Armenian Akdamar Church in the Ani region of Kars
with cooperation of the Armenian Church. He said Armenian consultants
and experts were involved in the planning stages of the project.

According to Koc the opening ceremony of the renovated church will
happen on April 24 in the presence of leading artists, scholars
and historians. This is seen as a cultural and religious message
of conciliation.

"I was happy about Orhan Pamuk winning the Nobel Prize. The culture
and tourism minister can only be proud of a person who has dedicated
his life to literature and won a Nobel Prize. I am proud of Pamuk."

The friendly initiative launched by Turkey against the incitement by
the Armenian diaspora shows there are nice things happening from time
to time despite the animosity.