Calendar of destroyed Armenian monuments in Turkey to be printed ahead of Genocide centenary

Aida Avetisyan
Hasmik Martirosyan
Public Radio of Armenia

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide the Pan-Armenian Association of Architects and Engineers is planning to print a calendar of destroyed monuments of Western Armenia. Ten thousand copies of the calendar will be printed in different languages.

The Association intends to deliver the calendar to diplomatic representations and submit a complaint to international structures connected with the genocide of the Armenian historical-cultural heritage.

Between 1912 and 1913 upon the instruction of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Ottoman Empire the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople compiled the list of Armenian Churches on the territory of Turkey and presented it to the government. According to the data of the Patriarchate, there were 2,549 churched in Turkey in 1913.

“In 1923 only 913 Armenian Churches remained standing in Turkey, 464 churches had been completely demolished, another 252 were partially destroyed because of technical reasons, particularly as a result of military exercises of the Turkish army,” said Telemak Ananyan, member of the  Pan-Armenian Association of Architects and Engineers.

He added, however, that the Turkish authorities have started the reconstruction of two or three well-known religious complexes. According to him, Turkey has signed a number of conventions, under which it is obliged to preserve historical-cultural values. Moreover, on July 17, 1987, the Council of Europe adopted a Resolution, which notes that the Turkish government should pay special attention to the peculiarities of the Armenian people, their religion, language and culture. “Today’s developments show, however, that Ankara violates the documents it has signed,” Telemak Ananyan said.