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Armenian Artsvaber Monastery in Van on the verge of disappearance

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The Armenian Artsvaber Monastery in Van’s Ercis (Archesh) region is on the verge of disappearance. Treasure hunters have dug deep holes in the monastery, while local residents throw the garbage there, Akunq.net reports, quoting Turkish Gazetekarinca.com website.

Artsvaber was built in the 7-8th centuries and was one of the three important monasteries of the region. There were 60 students at the church school in 1393. The monastery was renovated between 1409 and 1414.

The dome of the monastery was partially destroyed and rebuilt in the 19th century. In 1986 and 1995 the church survived attacks by Kurds or Turks.

Artsvaber Monastery was invaded by Turks immediately after the First World War and the Armenian Genocide. The walls and cross-stones of the monastery have been completely destroyed, the ruins are on the verge of disappearance.

Top Armenian tourist sites in focus of digital preservation project

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A new project of digital preservation has launched in Tumo aimed at scanning and processing Armenia’s Noravank monastery and Areni-1 cave.

A 13th-century Armenian monastery, Noravank is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, whereas the Areni-1 cave complex is a multicomponent site where the earliest known shoe and the earliest known winery in the world were announced to have been found in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Experts from CyArk, a nonprofit organization in California, have already arrived in the country and started the 3D scanning process.

CyArk’s official mission statement is “digitally preserving cultural heritage sites through collecting, archiving and providing open access to data created by laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art technologies.”

The project in the framework of MyArmenia campaign, financed by the USAID and implemented by the Smithsonian Institute and Tumo, launched on October 23.

The group will visit Noravank and the cave nearby on October 25 to carry out three-dimensional filming and process the collected materials later on.

3D scanning is a popular technique for analyzing a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance.

Armenian monastery in Turkey is privatized

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Armenian monastery in Turkey is privatizedThe Armenian monastery of Holy Trdat in Tortan village of Turkey’s Erzincan (Yerznka) Province was privatized in name of 16 Muslim residents of this village, News.am reports.

Aziz Dagcı, the head of one of the Armenian associations in Turkey, stated that it is impermissible for the church to be handed over to residents, according to the Turkish news website Aktif Haber.

“It turns out that if the Armenian community wants to perform a Divine Liturgy or other ceremony, it must get permission from these 16 residents of the village,” Dagcı said.

He stressed that by this the Treaty of Lausanne’s provisions on religion and the rights of national minorities are violated.

To note, the remnants of nine saints were kept in the churches located in the area of the Holy Trdat monastic complex.

Turkey 300-year-old Armenian monastery stands in ruins

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KAYSERİ – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photos

DHA Photos

The 300-year-old Armenian monastery of Surp Astvatsatsin (Tomarza Monastery) has completely deteriorated in the Tomarza district of Turkey’s central Anatolian Kayseri province, with merely a few ruined walls remaining.
The monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is situated in Kayseri’s Cumhuriyet neighborhood.
An important location for pilgrimage, the monastery also hosted famous British traveler and archaeologist Gertrude Bell in 1909.
Unfortunately, the monastery was looted and abandoned in 1915.

A group of Armenian priests tried to use the monastery after the end of World War I, despite the severe damage the building had endured. However, they later had to abandon the monastery to its fate.

In the monastery’s ruins lie the Gregorian Armenian School, which had previously hosted the annual Festival of the Assumption with the attendance of central Anatolian and Lycian Armenians.

Armenian Church Sues Turkey for Return of Seized Monastery

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Dorian Jones

May 27, 2015 2:41 PM

ISTANBUL, TURKEY—71FEF994-E13B-432A-AECA-6D638CC3BCED_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy4_cw0The Armenian Apostolic Church has filed a case in Turkey’s Constitutional Court for the return of land and the iconic Kozan monastery in Adana. The monastery once was the largest belonging to the Armenian Church in Turkey, and it is one of thousands of properties seized by the Turkish state. Report Voice of America

This is widely seen as a groundbreaking legal case for the prospect of reclaiming the Catholicosate of Cilicia, which dates back to 1293, was taken over a century ago by Turkish authorities, during the mass killings of Armenians. Ankara has strongly denied the killings by Ottoman Turks was genocide.

Church spokesperson Teni Pirri-Simonian said the timing of the suit is deliberate.

“We are doing this 100 years after the genocide, for the youth. It is the center of our faith, it is the center of our identity. Therefore the church, by having its headquarters, is also giving life to all these symbols,” said Pirri-Simonian. “Now if it would have its ripple effect, of course it will have it. The church left more than 1,000 churches in different parishes, in different towns that our people were living in before the genocide.”

Pressuring Ankara

The case is not expected to be the last faced by Turkish authorities. Analysts say Yerevan and the wider Armenian Diaspora see the opening of the case as a means of adding pressure on Ankara to recognize the genocide claims.

Political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul’s Suleyman Sah University said the Armenian Diaspora and its supporters are investing heavily in the project.

“There is now a worldwide effort to develop more and more claims at all levels. There are two big groups, and one is based in the United States and the other in France, who come with extensive records of properties confiscated or taken by force, illegal action,” said Aktar.

Estimates of the value of the properties being sought could run into tens of billions of dollars. The Armenian Church in Istanbul, however, has remained silent about the case.

Journalist Fatih Gokhan Diler of Agos, Turkey’s bilingual Turkish Armenian newspaper, said the silence likely is a combination of rivalry and fear.

“There is [a] certain rivalry between the Church in Armenia and the Church in Istanbul. So they [are] not always on the same side on these kind of cases,” said Diler. “And they do not want to speak much about Armenian genocide, confiscated Armenian properties and all hard issue. They cannot say openly their views, because they might be some problems coming from the government.”

Turkey’s Constitutional Court

The ruling AK Party, which is in the midst of a general election, has not commented on the case. It did introduce a limited program of returning some confiscated properties taken from Turkey’s Christian minorities, but that program has ended.

Turkey’s Constitutional Court has not yet decided whether to accept this latest case filed by the Armenian Church.

The Armenian Church has said if it fails, it will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights; but in January, the Strasbourg court ruled in Turkey’s favor in the case of a local Armenian foundation seeking the return of a building in Istanbul.

Former European Court judge Riza Turmen warned it is far from certain the Armenian Church will be successful.

“These [are] very difficult cases because of the past history. When [going] to court, because of the time that has elapsed, there are many legal obstacles for these cases to become successful,” said Turmen.

With potentially hundreds of cases by individual members of the Armenians Diaspora, as well the Armenian Church, observers warn that Ankara could be facing a wave of litigation, both nationally and internationally.

Isis militants ‘seize Iraq monastery and expel monks’

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BBC

The Mar Behnam monastery is a place of Christian pilgrimage

Mosul-monastery_iraqIslamist militants in Iraq are reported to have seized an ancient monastery near Mosul and expelled the monks.

Local residents said monks at the Mar Behnam monastery were allowed to take only the clothes they were wearing.

The monastery, which dates from the 4th Century, is a major Christian landmark and a place of pilgrimage.

Christians have fled Mosul after the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) told them to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death.

Isis has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq and said last month it was creating an Islamic caliphate.

Mosul itself is now said to be empty of Christians.

The Mar Behnam monastery is run by the Syriac Catholic Church and is near the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh, to the south-east of Mosul.

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Analysis by BBC Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher

Ancient landmarks like Mar Behnam show how deeply embedded Christianity is in the culture and history of Iraq. Just as in many other Arab countries, churches and monasteries are a timeless part of the landscape.

For years, though, Christians have been warning that their hold in parts of the Middle East is weakening. In Iraq, the lightning seizure of large parts of the country by Isis has been a frightening new threat. Thousands have fled Mosul, leaving it for the first time without a Christian community, after Isis gave them an ultimatum to submit to its authority or face death.

But if Iraqi Christians face penalties and discrimination under Isis, other religious sects are faring even worse. Yazidis and Shia Muslims risk being taken out and killed on the spot for their beliefs.

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A member of the Syriac clergy quoted the militants as telling the monastery’s residents: “You have no place here any more, you have to leave immediately.”

He said the monks asked to be allowed to save some of the monastery’s relics but the fighters refused.

Local Christian residents told AFP news agency that the monks walked for several miles before they were picked up by Kurdish fighters.

Earlier this month, Isis issued an ultimatum in Mosul, citing a historic contract known as “dhimma,” under which non-Muslims in Islamic societies who refuse to convert are offered protection if they pay a fee, called a “jizya”.

“We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract – involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword,” the Isis statement said.

Isis issued a similar ultimatum in the Syrian city of Raqqa in February, calling on Christians to pay about half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in exchange for their safety.

Iraq is home to one of the world’s most ancient Christian communities but its population has dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.