YEREVAN (A.W.)—Yerkir Media, the Armenian Weekly’s sister media organization in Yerevan, recently aired a report on the Diyarbakir Sourp Giragos Church renovation. The report (in Armenian), was prepared after a recent visit by the Yerkir Media TV crew to Diyarbakir, Turkey.
The Weekly earlier reported that the mayor of the greater Diyarbakir municipality Osman Baydemir—speaking at a reception marking the renovation of the dome of the Sourp Giragos Church—told the Armenians gathered there: “This city is yours as much as it is mine. You have as much a claim to this city as I do.”
The ongoing renovation of the church in the heavily Kurdish populated area is being performed by the Armenian Patriarchate and the municipality of Diyarbakir.
The reception on Oct. 23 was attended by Archbishop Aram Atesyan of the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, local leaders, and members of the Istanbul Armenian community.
Unlike the Holy Cross Church in Van, which the Turkish government turned into a museum and did not transfer to the Armenian Patriarchate, the Sourp Giragos Church is being renovated jointly by the patriarchate and the Diyarbakir municipality, and will be run by the patriarchate.
The reconstruction of the church, an architectural marvel and the largest church in the entire Middle East, is expected to cost more than $2.5 million and be completed by next year.
The Turkish press has thus far failed to provide appropriate (if any) coverage of the reception, although it was quick to glorify every step of the renovation and “museum-ization” of the Sourp Khatch Church in Akthamar, Van. Reports about the reception are available, however, on Kurdish news sites.
One commentator told the Weekly that the relative silence of the Turkish press is “because the language used in this entire exchange between Atesyan and Baydemir [during the reception] runs counter to the dominant discourse” in Turkey regarding the Armenians.
Click here to watch the video of the exchange between Atesyan and Baydemir.
Thank you for this wonderful news dear Editors. How different the renovation of this Church is compared with the Sourp Khach Church in Van. Every Armenian Christian and all Christians alike in the area or abroad will be able to pray at St. Giragos’ Church with a Cross above it. It would be nice to visit Dikranagerd next year to attend the official opening of the Church and say a prayer!!!!
Absolutely one of the greatest news… Very happy about this news..
Thank you for sharing..
Gayane
This renovation is supposed to make me think that Turkey is now benevolent toward Armenians?
Sometimes I wonder about naive Armenians. I really do. It is easy to fool Armenians. Throw them a little bone, and they bark “Thank You.”