There are more than a year, the Board of Directors of the orphanage the Bird’s Nest (Trchnotz Pooyn) announced in an interview with Voice of Van [Voice of Van] that projects move graves a cemetery of orphans had been permanently suspended. In his interview, Khedeshian Seta, president of the Board, said that His Holiness Catholicos Aram Premier had ordered the suspension of the project “to provide a more understandable explanation to the public and to create a calmer atmosphere more conducive to a broader consideration of the matter. “ This last interview was organized following a public protest and an online campaign that criticized the plan to develop a private resort on 2.5 hectares of land leased by the Nest. The campaign developed several justifications for this objection, stressing the need to exhume the remains of Genocide survivors new body and allocation of Nico Hall (a building of 1921) with its church Sainte Gayaneh in a restaurant. (*)

The decision to stop the destruction of the cemetery was important for two reasons.

First, regardless of the controversial nature of the proposed project, the danger of the destruction of graves was pushed back in time. Second, Caholicossat has shown its willingness to consult the public by opening an opportunity for dialogue between the various stakeholders.

Unfortunately, a year later, no effort was made to give an explanation on the decisions taken by the Governing Council, to organize a public meeting so that the project scope is clearly stated, and to hear the professionals were critical to the project. Instead, documents of the resort architecture folder called “The Diplomatic Club” [The Diplomatic Club circulated in public. In addition, a section of the proposed budget was published in an architectural site of the Internet [1].

Although the developers have not obtained the building permit [2] necessary for the progress of the project, they have recently emptied the church of St. Gayane, removing the altar and exposing the shell of the building. Deliberately placing illegally to Lebanese law, developers have started changing the destination of the building, ending its religious dimension and paving the way for future recreation.

In short, the desirable relationship of dialogue and transparency between the Church and the community have not been established. Moreover, efforts to achieve the proposed resort continues – silently. [3]

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The Bird’s Nest, a testament to survival and humanitarian assistance

The collective Nid D’Oiseau, a group of people working for the conservation of the historic site of the Bird’s Nest, campaigned against the project exclusive resort “The Diplomatic Club”. The site is important for Armenians in general and for the Lebanese, who served as a refuge for survivors of the Armenian Genocide in Lebanon and giving a great example of humanitarian aid. Divert such a place loaded symbol – a tangible testimony Genocide – to turn it into a seaside leisure place would conflict with the history and legacy of the site.

The exhumation and removal of Genocide survivors body are unjustifiable

While in France, the bodies of 130,000 unidentified soldiers dead on the battlefield of Verdun during the First World War individually rest in the ossuary of Douaumont, the Armenian Church is planning to exhume the remains of thirty individual -Three Genocide survivors and move them in a mass grave. Ironically, the idea of mass grave associated with the massacres, a tragedy that thirty-three individuals escaped during the Genocide.

Policymakers need to recognize the significance and importance of mass graves, and the reason [4] of their displacement is unjustifiable.

In addition, the online campaign to stop the destruction of the cemetery has collected more than a thousand signatures in only two weeks. In addition, one of the families has officially filed a complaint against moving the remains of their great grandfather of where it finally rests. “What seems to be an insignificant burial is in fact a unique symbol of the vitality of our national memory, which must be kept in its original place and in its original form,” wrote Mr. Garo Armenian in his article “It’s the Orphans’ Cemetery, People!” [Moving! This is the cemetery Orphan]

Contrary to what the Board of Directors, which denies that a church was in the rented area, St. Gayane church served as a unique place of worship for the Armenian Byblos since the 1920s in fact certificates cadastral property report of its official registration as a church. [7] Moreover, Raffi Gergian book of architect and archaeologist, “The Armenian Churches of Lebanon” [The Lebanese Armenian churches], mentions the church Ste Gayaneh as the only Armenian Apostolic Church in Byblos. Built by Armenian orphans Nicol Hall, which today surrounds the St. Gayane church; is the only historic structure that remains today of the complex Bird’s Nest original. “Is there not a moral gap in the fact that it is the Church – an authority that should embody the ideal in that world that decides the conversion of such a place in restaurant” application architect and urban planner Diran Harmandayan.