Turkey to Restore Armenian Church with 508-Year History

The Saint Sarkis Armenian church located in the Ali Pasha neighborhood of the Sur district in Turkey's eastern Diyarbakır province will be restored, reports Ermenihaber.

On June 28, the restoration work for the 508-year-old church began under the auspices of the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate. The Turkish Ministry of Culture has allocated only 5 million lira for this purpose, despite estimates indicating that a much larger sum is needed for the restoration.

The restoration work commenced after a prayer led by Patriarch Sahak II Mashalyan of the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate. It is noteworthy that the church served as a vocational school during the Ottoman Empire. After the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide, the church has not been used for religious or any other purposes and is currently in a state of disrepair.