Gülistan Azak

 

MALATYA - The historical Taş Horon (Surp Yerrotutyun) Church, located in the neighborhood, where Hrant Dink was born and spent his childhood, has left to destroy after the restoration work started in 2012 left uncompleted. Stating that other Armenian structures in the city have been also destroyed or used for different purposes, Beyaz Adıyaman said, "They are trying to remove our memories by destroying the history of the Armenians. We will never accept this."

 

The historical Taş Horon Armenian Church (Surp Yerrortutyun), built by the Armenians in the second half of the 18th century, is now facing the dilapidation. The church, whose property has been shared by Malatya Metropolitan Municipality, General Directorate of Foundations and General Directorate of National Real Estate, has left to destroy as a result of restoration work started in 2012 has been left uncompleted. Despite the reactions of people, the rest of the restoration work hasn’t been restarted because there is not enough funding for the company of the restoration work.

 

Why has the historic Armenian Church been left to destroy?

 

An Armenian citizen Beyaz Adıyaman (43) stated that they haven’t received any feedback although they wrote many petition to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism about the restoration issue. Beyaz asked, “Why was the restoration of the historic Stone Horon Church in Malatya stopped? When will the restoration works restart?"

 

"The number of tourists visiting Malatya city is quite little. The authorities should restart the uncompleted restoration soon in order to develop Malatya's culture and tourism,” said Beyaz.

 

‘They want to remove the memory of the society’

 

Noting that property of many Armenian churches have been given to state-owned institutes, Beyaz underlined that many historical structures have been converted in different places. Beyaz said that the building of Armenian Catholic Missionary is being used as health center and Surp Harutyun Church is used as a house of prayer called ‘Çınarlı Mosque’.

 

Stating that 95 percent of the Armenian cemeteries have been destroyed, Beyaz said, "If you want to destroy the memories and name of a society, you start to destroy its history. They are trying to remove the memory of the Armenians by destroying our history. We will never accept that. By destroying history, they also destroy the civilization and the ties between people in the country. This should be prevented as soon as possible"