ARMENIAN CHURCH IN SLAIN JOURNALIST’S HOMETOWN TO BE RESTORED

Today’s Zaman
March 24 2010
Turkey

An old Armenian church, located in the neighborhood where slain
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was born, will be restored.

A mosque foundation carrying out activities in Carmuzu-Kaynarca
district of the eastern province of Malatya has recently applied to
the Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism for the restoration of the
"Armenian Tashoron Church" constructed in the province’s CavuÅ~_oglu
neighborhood nearly 300 years ago.

CavuÅ~_oglu neigborhood is also the birthplace of journalist Hrant
Dink, the editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos, who was shot dead outside his newspaper’s offices in Ä°stanbul
in 2007.

During a visit to his hometown in 2002, Dink had also expressed his
desire for the restoration of the church.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on the project, the mosque
foundation’s president Latif Yıldırım said Tuesday that Tashoron
Church was constructed in the 18th century, during the reign of the
Ottoman Empire.

Yıldırım said his foundation, together with several NGOs and the
non-Muslim population living in Malatya, had been displaying efforts
for the restoration of the old building since the beginning of 2009.

Expressing the importance of freedom of faith, Yıldırım said
religions should act with tolerance towards each other and seek
for dialogue.

"The historical Armenian church in CavuÅ~_oglu neighborhood is about to
collapse. It was constructed during the Ottoman period and this shows
us how a tolerant and libertarian culture we are coming from. People
lived all together and practised their religious beliefs freely at
those times. This happens and should happen today as well," he said.

Yıldırım also said the restoration process of the historical temple
would be carried out with the support of Malatya municipality.