Turkey’s Incirlik military base was built on the territory that belong to the Armenians prior to the Genocide, President of the National Council of Churches Archbishop Vicken Aykazian said at a conference on religious freedom in Washington, DC.

According to him, the Turkish base also hosts American warplanes and personnel.

“We have never been just a minority in the country (Turkey), we are the indigenous people of Constantinople and Asia Minor,” the Voice of America cited Aykazian as saying.

According to him, there were more than 2600 Armenian churches and monasteries in Western Armenia prior to the Genocide, while today only the church in Aghtamar island operates one day each year.

“During the past 10 years, we have tried to get in contact with the Turkish authorities, but to no avail,” said the archbishop.