TURKEY TO OPEN ARMENIAN CHURCH TO WORSHIP IN EASTERN CITY, GOVERNOR SAYS
Today’s Zaman
Dec 24 2009
Turkey
A regional governor said on Thursday that Turkey would open an Armenian
church in an eastern city to worship in 2010.
Munir Karaloglu, the governor of the eastern province of Van, said
they would open the Akdamar Church to worship in September 2010.
“We expect all Armenian citizens to a prayer at the Akdamar Church
on September 12, 2010,” Karaloglu told the Anatolia news agency.
The Akdamar Church on Akdamar Island on Lake Van was opened in 2007
as a museum after it was restored by the Turkish government between
May 2005 and October 2006. The restoration costed 1.7 million USD
(2.6 million Turkish liras).
Karaloglu said he had contacted the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for
opening of the church to worship, and they would invite all Armenians
to the prayer in 2010.
Then Turkish Culture & Tourism Minister Atilla Koc, then Armenian
Deputy Minister of Culture Gagik Gyurjan, and Mesrob II, the patriarch
of Turkish Armenians, participated in the inauguration ceremony on
March 29, 2007.
The Akdamar Church was constructed by architect bishop Manuel between
915 and 921 A.D. under the supervision of King Gagik I.
Among the important pieces of Armenian architecture, the church draws
attraction with its stone workmanship and the relieves on its walls.