DiasporaStatements
Armenian Bar Association urges U.S. State Department to reject agreement with Turkey
The Armenian Bar Association has prepared and submitted a comprehensive public comment to the U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC), urging CPAC to deny the proposed renewal of the United States-Turkey Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cultural property. The CPAC will convene from September 15 to 17, to review Turkey’s renewal request as well as the effectiveness of other cultural property agreements, pursuant to the Cultural Property Implementation Act (C
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The Armenian Genocide not only eliminated Armenians in Western Armenia and reduced them to Istanbul and to the last Armenian village of Vakifli in Hatay Province, +99% of all Armenian churches, all Armenian monasteries, all Armenian cemeteries (not counting Istanbul and Vakifli), have been thoroughly and systematically destroyed. Except for the individual Armenian churches in Akhtamar, Diyarbakır, Kayseri, Kars and Gaziantep, which have been converted into mosques or museums (except for the functional church in Diyarbakir), there are hardly even recognizable and half standing Armenian ruins left in the whole of Western Armenia, except for the ruins of Ani.
Many of my friends who visited Western Armenia came back very depressed and in tears. They told me that visiting Western Armenia was like visiting a gigantic Armenian graveyard, except that there are no visible Armenian graves to be found.
Since Turkey destroyed Armenian tangible heritage so thoroughly (not even the Nazis came remotely close to destroying Jewish tangible heritage in the lands they occupied), is treating what little Armenian heritage is left just like the Taliban and ISIS, and that no Armenian artifacts are displayed in Turkish museums, should have rung alarm bells a long time ago.