Pailan to Turkish Minister: Why Aren't You Preserving Ankara's Armenian Cemetery?

The Armenian MP of Turkey's opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP), Garo Paylan, has brought the issue of the destruction of Ankara's Armenian cemetery to the agenda of the Turkish Parliament (Meclis). The Armenian cemetery belonging to the Holy Savior and St. Forty Martyrs churches located in the Şincan district of Ankara continues to be a target for treasure hunters and is continuously being destroyed.

Paylan reminded that the cemetery area is part of Ankara's historical and cultural heritage and added that it was declared a specially protected area in the 1990s. According to him, the plundering carried out by treasure hunters and contractors has deeply offended the Armenian community of Turkey.

The MP has submitted an inquiry expecting a response from Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Nuri Ersoy. He posed the following questions to the minister:

• Why aren’t you preserving Ankara's Stanozi Armenian cemetery?
• Do you have any programs to preserve numerous abandoned Armenian cemeteries across the country?
• Have you taken any steps to identify the treasure hunters who have plundered the Stanozi Armenian cemetery?

It should be noted that the cemetery, located 30 km from the center of Ankara and declared a 2nd degree protected area by the state, has not been plundered and destroyed for the first time. Part of the area is also used by locals for picnics. Years ago, the barbed wires erected by the Şincan Municipality to protect the cemetery were torn down by the owners of houses built in the valley, who seized "their share" of the land from the cemetery.

Images of the vandalized graves have been circulated numerous times on social media, and the incidents have been reported in the media, yet nothing has been done to protect them. As a result, only a few gravestones with Armenian inscriptions and cross carvings remain on site.