TURKEY TO RESTORE ARMENIAN CHURCH IN WESTERN PROVINCE

People’s Daily Online
April 7 2010
China

Turkey is going to restore a 129- year-old Armenian church in the
Sivrihisar town of the western Eskisehir province, the semi-official
Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday.

Mayor of Sivrihisar Fikret Arslan was quoted as saying that they
wanted to restore many historical buildings in the town, including
the Surp Yerortutyun Church, constructed in 1881, and an Armenian bath.

The restoration of the church will be sponsored by the Turkish
Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the church will be turned into
a home of culture.

Turkey and Armenia have seen tensions rise after a U.S. congressional
panel and the Swedish parliament passed in March nonbinding resolutions
which recognize the killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces during
the World War I as genocide, drawing ire from Ankara.

On Tuesday, Turkish ambassador to the United States Namik Tan, who had
come back home following the row, left for the United States, saying,
"our interlocutors understood the message we wanted to give. We have
received satisfactory answers. It is time to return to my office."