Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
March 29, 2007 Thursday 10:32 AM EST

Turkey marks restoration of Armenian church

DPA CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT Turkey Religion Armenians Turkey marks
restoration of Armenian church Ankara
A ceremony was held in eastern Turkey on Thursday
to mark the restoration of an Armenian church in a move by Ankara to
improve ties with its neighbour Armenia and its own Armenian
minority.

Among those in attendance at the opening of the Akdamar church on
an island in Lake Van were Patriarch Mesrob II, head of the Armenian
Orthodox minority in Turkey, Armenian Deputy Culture Minister Gagik
Gyurjyan and Turkish Culture Minister Atilla Koc.

Restoration of the 1,000-year-old church, which will now open as a
museum, took two years.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mesrob said he hoped that the
Armenian community would be able to use the museum as a place of
prayer during a once-a-year festival.

Despite having no diplomatic ties with Armenia and with the two
countries still arguing over events during the First World War when
hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces in
what Armenia describes as a genocide, Turkish officials decided to
invite Armenian government ministers to the opening as a goodwill
gesture.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress