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Turkish army to return Armenian church located on base

Posted by Marcello (Guest) - Thursday, December 12 2013, 16:32:57 (UTC)
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Turkish army to return Armenian church located on base
The Turkish army is making an important contribution to the decision to return the property of minority foundations.
Author Erhan OzturkPosted December 10, 2013
Translator(s)Timur Goksel
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2013/12/turkey-army-return-church-armenian-military-base.html#

Surp Kevork Armenian church, which is located inside the Sivas-Temeltepe 5th Infantry Training Brigade's base, will be restored and handed over to the Friends of Armenians Association of Sivas. Sebuk Kocak, the president of the Friends of Armenians Association of Sivas expressed his pleasure in a statement to Sabah. "The church has been inside that military zone since 1940. For many years, we were not allowed to go near it. This summer we went to the brigade with our friends. The commander allowed us in and we were able to see our church after so many years. Frankly, we were not expecting to be given permission [to enter]. We were all happy. We didn’t have a church where we could worship and pay respect to our dead," he said.

Before 1915, the Armenians had 198 churches and 21 monasteries in the Sivas region. The only one still standing is the Surp Kevork Church. There is an Armenian cemetery near it. Turkish Minister of Defense Ismet Yilmaz, who hails from Sivas, was personally involved in the work to return the church. Association officials visited the minister in October and asked him to restore and return the church. Yilmaz told them that the government had made serious efforts to return the properties of minorities. He promised them that he would try to expedite the return of the property after restoration was completed.

Yilmaz later went to Sivas and instructed the governor of Sivas, Zubeyir Kemelek, and his deputy, Salih Ayhan, to start the work.

The church has been inside a military zone for 73 years, thus saving it from treasure hunters. The church has little damage and should be restored quickly.

Gov. Kemelek also spoke to Sabah. "It is the only structure that is standing with its walls and roof intact. The minister responded to the request made to him by coming and inspecting it. It is good fortune that the church was inside a military zone. As soon as formalities are competed we will ask for bids for restoration, which will not deviate from the original. I have asked our Armenian citizens to bring photographs of it," he said.

Deputy Gov. Ayhan, who is coordinating the restoration work, said the church will be removed from the guarded military zone. He added, "That military base has been the largest military training base in the region since the 1940s. It is also a training center for our border units. The church occupies an area of about five acres in the military zone. We asked for its return from the Treasury and they wrote their approval to the Ministry of Defense. As soon the Defense Ministry agrees, that land will be handed over to us. Then the restoration will commence.”

Architect Zakarya Mildanoglu, who was in the delegation that visited Yilmaz, said, "Our people don’t have a place of worship and somewhere that they can pay their respects to their dead in Sivas. There is one cemetery. After the Armenian deportation, churches were destroyed in many parts of Anatolia. Similar places exist in other military zones. I hope the procedures will be completed quickly."

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2013/12/turkey-army-return-church-armenian-military-base.html##ixzz2nHM9lKzK

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