Piano melodies to echo at historic Armenian church
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Canadian pianist Raffi Bedrosyan will give a piano recital at Diyarbakır’s Surp (Holy) Iragos Armenian Church, which was reopened to worship last October.
Some 97 years after being closed, the historical Surp (Holy) Giragos Armenian Church in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır was reopened to worship last October. Now, the church will host a piano recital.
After also working hard in the restoration of the church himself, the Istanbul-born Canadian pianist Raffi Bedrosyan will perform in the concert. In an e-mail interview, Bedrosyan told the Hürriyet Daily News that the concert was “more significant to me than all my previous concerts in north America.”
“With this concert I want to show that this restored church is not only a silent monument, but an active, living center bringing people together for a peaceful future,” said Bedrosyan.
“Besides, the church will become a future religious and cultural center attracting Armenian pilgrims and tourists, enhancing dialogue between Armenians and people of Turkey.”
He said he was in continuous contact with quite a few liberal-minded people in Turkey, who share the same goal of a more democratized government, unafraid of facing past injustices.
First concert since 1915
“I am optimistic that the number of these people is increasing daily. I believe we need to increase opportunities for dialogue, cultural and academic interactions between Armenians and people of Turkey, especially for young people, so that the widespread discrimination and intolerance toward Armenians will be diminished in Turkey,” Bedrosyan said. “I am so excited for this concert.” “It will be the first concert by an Armenian since 1915. The Turkish word ‘çalmak’ has two meanings, ‘to steal,’ or ‘to play a musical instrument,” he added. “The first meaning of the word took place in this church in 1915, when Diyarbakır Governor Reşit, after massacring the entire Diyarbakir Armenian population, brought all the stolen valuable Armenian possessions to Surp Giragos Church, including several pianos.
Now 97 years later, I wish to implement the second meaning of the word, by giving this concert in the same church.”
During the concert Bedrosyan will play pieces from both Armenian and Western classical composers. Among the guests at the concert, there will be a group of 70 Armenians from the Diaspora, led by Archishop Khajag Barsamian of the Eastern Diocese of the United States. Before the concert, the group will first take part in Van Akhtamar Island’s Surp Khac Church-Museum divine liturgy. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is also expected to attend the concert. The concert will take place on Sept. 10 and will be open to public.
September/04/2012
4 Eylül 2012 Salı
Syriacs seek buffer zone for Christians in Syria
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Stockholm-based Syriac Democratic Union demands from international authorities to immediately form a buffer zone for the security of Christians, just like they did during the Gulf War. The vice president says negotiations are ongoing
Syrian firefighters extinguish a fire following at the site of a car bomb that ripped through Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus.
A Syriac lobby is engaging itself in diplomatic traffic with the United States and the European Union in order to promote the idea of a buffer zone for the safety of Christians living in Syria. The Syriac Lobby, headed by the Stockholm-based Syriac Democratic Union (SDU), is also calling on Syriacs in the region to act sensibly, advising them not to interfere with ongoing incidents.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, the SDU’s vice president Fikri Aygur said Christians in the region were in a struggle of life and death, adding that they demanded international authorities to immediately form a buffer zone for the security of Christians, just like they did during the Gulf War. He said their negotiations on the need for a buffer zone with the U.S. House of Representatives and the EU Parliament were ongoing.
“They are starting to abduct Christians in Syria. Christian villages are being evacuated by force, and armed groups are threatening the Christian population in the villages around the city of Homs. Murder cases have begun to be reported around Qamishli and Haseki,” Aygur said.
“If the necessary measures are not immediately taken, a great culture in the Middle East will be destroyed,” Aygur added, underlining that regional Christians were in urgent need of international assurance. A buffer zone was set up during the Gulf War in Iraq, when 1.5 million Iraqi Kurds escaping the attacks of the Saddam Hussein regime sought asylum on the Turkish and Iranian borders in 1991. The buffer zone started to be implemented with the prohibition of the flights on the north of 36th latitude, which is the Iraq border. The zone was then supported by an international military structure called “Poised Hammer,” consisting mostly of U.S. soldiers.
Call for Syriacs to stay calm
The SDU also issued a declaration entitled: “To our people and the world community,” on Sept. 1, and sent it to the U.S. House of Representatives and the EU Parliament.
The declaration condemns the members of the “Syriac Union Party in Syria,” who broke into the Syrian Embassy in Sweden on Aug. 14. The declaration also calls on the Christians in the region to stay calm, underlining that such demonstrations were against the character of the Syriac people. “Syria is the homeland of the Syriac people. The Syrian government opened its doors to the Syriacs who fled from the genocide in Turkey in 1915, and to the Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarchate that was exiled by Turkey at the beginning of the 1930s. As the Syriac Democratic Union (SDU), we do not support the anti-democratic policies of the Baath Party in Syria, however, we are very concerned about the imminent dangers awaiting our people as a result of regime change that would take place by force,” the declaration read.
It also addressed the United Nations and other international authorities to provide protection for Christians, emphasizing that they were under threat in the region.
“The incidents in Syria are like a fireball which the Syriacs should avoid. All regimes might come and go; however, Syria is the homeland of the Syriacs. And this war is not ours,” Aygur said, commenting on the notice.
September/04/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Stockholm-based Syriac Democratic Union demands from international authorities to immediately form a buffer zone for the security of Christians, just like they did during the Gulf War. The vice president says negotiations are ongoing
Syrian firefighters extinguish a fire following at the site of a car bomb that ripped through Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus.
A Syriac lobby is engaging itself in diplomatic traffic with the United States and the European Union in order to promote the idea of a buffer zone for the safety of Christians living in Syria. The Syriac Lobby, headed by the Stockholm-based Syriac Democratic Union (SDU), is also calling on Syriacs in the region to act sensibly, advising them not to interfere with ongoing incidents.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, the SDU’s vice president Fikri Aygur said Christians in the region were in a struggle of life and death, adding that they demanded international authorities to immediately form a buffer zone for the security of Christians, just like they did during the Gulf War. He said their negotiations on the need for a buffer zone with the U.S. House of Representatives and the EU Parliament were ongoing.
“They are starting to abduct Christians in Syria. Christian villages are being evacuated by force, and armed groups are threatening the Christian population in the villages around the city of Homs. Murder cases have begun to be reported around Qamishli and Haseki,” Aygur said.
“If the necessary measures are not immediately taken, a great culture in the Middle East will be destroyed,” Aygur added, underlining that regional Christians were in urgent need of international assurance. A buffer zone was set up during the Gulf War in Iraq, when 1.5 million Iraqi Kurds escaping the attacks of the Saddam Hussein regime sought asylum on the Turkish and Iranian borders in 1991. The buffer zone started to be implemented with the prohibition of the flights on the north of 36th latitude, which is the Iraq border. The zone was then supported by an international military structure called “Poised Hammer,” consisting mostly of U.S. soldiers.
Call for Syriacs to stay calm
The SDU also issued a declaration entitled: “To our people and the world community,” on Sept. 1, and sent it to the U.S. House of Representatives and the EU Parliament.
The declaration condemns the members of the “Syriac Union Party in Syria,” who broke into the Syrian Embassy in Sweden on Aug. 14. The declaration also calls on the Christians in the region to stay calm, underlining that such demonstrations were against the character of the Syriac people. “Syria is the homeland of the Syriac people. The Syrian government opened its doors to the Syriacs who fled from the genocide in Turkey in 1915, and to the Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarchate that was exiled by Turkey at the beginning of the 1930s. As the Syriac Democratic Union (SDU), we do not support the anti-democratic policies of the Baath Party in Syria, however, we are very concerned about the imminent dangers awaiting our people as a result of regime change that would take place by force,” the declaration read.
It also addressed the United Nations and other international authorities to provide protection for Christians, emphasizing that they were under threat in the region.
“The incidents in Syria are like a fireball which the Syriacs should avoid. All regimes might come and go; however, Syria is the homeland of the Syriacs. And this war is not ours,” Aygur said, commenting on the notice.
September/04/2012
2 Eylül 2012 Pazar
Zirve trial judges lose their post
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Two judges and two prosecutors presiding over the Malatya Zirve publishing house massacre case have been removed from duty two days before one of the most critical hearings in the case on Sept. 3.
In the last hearing, the connection between the Zirve Publishing House Massacre and Ergenekon case was revealed. Gen. Hurşit Tolon, who has been charged as part of the Ergenekon probe, is set to appear before the judge on Sept. 3.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, one of the lawyers in the case, Erdal Doğan, said the dismissal of judges and prosecutors had caused a great surprise and would affect the process in a negative way.
“They were following the case in detail for five years and had important knowledge about it. Their dismissal provokes some thoughts. I have concerns for the proceedings of the case,” Doğan said.
Three missionaries, German citizen Tillman Geske and two Turks, Necati Aydın and Uğur Yüksel, were tied up and tortured before having their throats slit at the Zirve Publishing House in 2007.
September/01/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Two judges and two prosecutors presiding over the Malatya Zirve publishing house massacre case have been removed from duty two days before one of the most critical hearings in the case on Sept. 3.
In the last hearing, the connection between the Zirve Publishing House Massacre and Ergenekon case was revealed. Gen. Hurşit Tolon, who has been charged as part of the Ergenekon probe, is set to appear before the judge on Sept. 3.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, one of the lawyers in the case, Erdal Doğan, said the dismissal of judges and prosecutors had caused a great surprise and would affect the process in a negative way.
“They were following the case in detail for five years and had important knowledge about it. Their dismissal provokes some thoughts. I have concerns for the proceedings of the case,” Doğan said.
Three missionaries, German citizen Tillman Geske and two Turks, Necati Aydın and Uğur Yüksel, were tied up and tortured before having their throats slit at the Zirve Publishing House in 2007.
September/01/2012
31 Ağustos 2012 Cuma
Minority foundations demand extra time for property return
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/VERCIHAN ZIFLIOĞLU
Minority foundations are request extra time for the return of their properties, saying that the one year period given to minorities to demand the return of their property is not long enough due to bureaucratic obstacles
Sveti Stefan Church is located in the historic Balat neighborhood of Istanbul is one of the returned properties.
The one year period given to minority foundations for the return of their property has expired, but complaints are still ongoing. The council members of various minority foundations have underlined that the process has gone well for a year, but that a one year period is not enough for them to receive back their property and extra time is needed.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Harutyun Şanlı, a member of the coordination committee of the Armenian Foundations Solidarity Platform, or VADIP, said they had met Foundations General Director Adnan Ertem in early August.
“Adnan Ertem said we had 600 properties, but were not working hard enough to take them back.
Foundation heads are all amateurs. A serious examination is required to reveal properties. Some of our lands are occupied, some had highways constructed on them. Such cases must be detected,” Şanlı said. “However, bureaucratic procedures and the indifference of some foundation heads make it difficult. We have neither sufficient data nor the 1936 declaration.”
Following the Lausanne Treaty, a law was passed in 1936 that suggested the recording of all minority foundations. Apart from the property recorded in the declaration, the foundations were prevented from obtaining new properties. With the Foundations Law enacted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2008, it became possible for properties belonging to minorities to be returned to them.
“Extra time should be given, and the elections [of foundation heads] should be open to the whole of Istanbul. New legislation should be introduced to prevent the misuse of authority, so that foundation heads will not just act as they wish,” Şanlı said.
Within the one-year period, Armenian Foundations received some of their most important foundations back in Istanbul, including the historic Surp Haç Tıbrevank High School in the Üsküdar district, the Selamet Han in Eminönü, which belongs to the Yedikule Surp Pırgiç Hospital-Foundation in Zeytinburnu.
Controversial Mor Gabriel case
Meanwhile, the Mor Gabriel Monastery in the Midyat district of the southeastern province of Mardin - one of the most important monasteries in the Syriac world - has been engaged in a lawsuit since 2008.
The head of the Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation Kuryakos Ergün said the time limit was too short and that during the one year period given none of the properties belonging to foundations in the southeastern region had been re-possessed.
“The southeastern region was declared an emergency region because of terrorism. In 2008, the Land Registry Cadastre Office registered all of our property under their name and they also sued us. For trivial reasons, the Supreme Court of Appeals considered us squatters on our own property, and our appeal to take back one of our lands was suspended for three months,” Ergün said.
Hagia Dimitrios Church Foundation Head Dimitri Zotos said they experienced great difficulty in obtaining the land title records, and were trapped in the obstacles of bureaucracy. “We could not receive back even one of our foundations. We had taken this for granted, but each foundation has a different condition,” Zotos said.
August/31/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/VERCIHAN ZIFLIOĞLU
Minority foundations are request extra time for the return of their properties, saying that the one year period given to minorities to demand the return of their property is not long enough due to bureaucratic obstacles
Sveti Stefan Church is located in the historic Balat neighborhood of Istanbul is one of the returned properties.
The one year period given to minority foundations for the return of their property has expired, but complaints are still ongoing. The council members of various minority foundations have underlined that the process has gone well for a year, but that a one year period is not enough for them to receive back their property and extra time is needed.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Harutyun Şanlı, a member of the coordination committee of the Armenian Foundations Solidarity Platform, or VADIP, said they had met Foundations General Director Adnan Ertem in early August.
“Adnan Ertem said we had 600 properties, but were not working hard enough to take them back.
Foundation heads are all amateurs. A serious examination is required to reveal properties. Some of our lands are occupied, some had highways constructed on them. Such cases must be detected,” Şanlı said. “However, bureaucratic procedures and the indifference of some foundation heads make it difficult. We have neither sufficient data nor the 1936 declaration.”
Following the Lausanne Treaty, a law was passed in 1936 that suggested the recording of all minority foundations. Apart from the property recorded in the declaration, the foundations were prevented from obtaining new properties. With the Foundations Law enacted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2008, it became possible for properties belonging to minorities to be returned to them.
“Extra time should be given, and the elections [of foundation heads] should be open to the whole of Istanbul. New legislation should be introduced to prevent the misuse of authority, so that foundation heads will not just act as they wish,” Şanlı said.
Within the one-year period, Armenian Foundations received some of their most important foundations back in Istanbul, including the historic Surp Haç Tıbrevank High School in the Üsküdar district, the Selamet Han in Eminönü, which belongs to the Yedikule Surp Pırgiç Hospital-Foundation in Zeytinburnu.
Controversial Mor Gabriel case
Meanwhile, the Mor Gabriel Monastery in the Midyat district of the southeastern province of Mardin - one of the most important monasteries in the Syriac world - has been engaged in a lawsuit since 2008.
The head of the Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation Kuryakos Ergün said the time limit was too short and that during the one year period given none of the properties belonging to foundations in the southeastern region had been re-possessed.
“The southeastern region was declared an emergency region because of terrorism. In 2008, the Land Registry Cadastre Office registered all of our property under their name and they also sued us. For trivial reasons, the Supreme Court of Appeals considered us squatters on our own property, and our appeal to take back one of our lands was suspended for three months,” Ergün said.
Hagia Dimitrios Church Foundation Head Dimitri Zotos said they experienced great difficulty in obtaining the land title records, and were trapped in the obstacles of bureaucracy. “We could not receive back even one of our foundations. We had taken this for granted, but each foundation has a different condition,” Zotos said.
August/31/2012
30 Ağustos 2012 Perşembe
Church asks Christians in fear to stay in Syria
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News / VERCIHAN ZIFLIOGLU
Syriac clerics call on Christians in Middle East, especially those in Syria, to avoid leaving their homelands amid harsh violence. Justice in Syria can only be achieved by meaningful dialogue between all belligerent elements, they say
Pope Benedict XVI waves at the end of his weekly audience from his summer residence in Rome. Pope will attend a meeting in Lebanon on September in which all the Christian spiritual leaders in the Middle East are expected to attend.
The Syriac Orthodox Kadim Patriarchate Synod in Damascus called on Christians not to leave the Middle East after a meeting the on escalating tensions in the region ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s critical visit to Lebanon.
The Syriac Orthodox Kadim Patriarchate Synod met Aug. 24 to discuss current high tensions in the Middle East and the condition of Christian communities within the region.
“We refuse all kind of immigration as a response to the recent crisis in the Middle East and strongly condemn all propagators, instigators and provocateurs who call to Middle Eastern Christians to migrate,” the second provision of a seven-provision declaration read. The declaration, which was issued with the signature of H.E. Mor Gregorios Yuhanna Ibrahim, metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, will be presented to Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Lebanon in September.
The Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches in Turkey also backed the call for Christians to stay put. Heybeliada Halki Seminary Archpriest and Metropolitan of Bursa Elpidophoros Lambriniadis said the Fener Greek Patriarchate also announced a similar declaration on their official website though it does not clearly mention the Middle East. Lambriniadis said they supported the declaration and added that it was very important for Christians to remain in the region.
“Above all, it should not be forgotten that the Middle East is the place where Christianity was born. So it has a great spiritual importance,” Lambriniadis said. Likewise, acting Patriarch Archbishop Aram Ateşyan, the religious leader of Turkish Armenians, outlined the importance of Christians staying in the Middle East. “If they presented the declaration to us, we would also support it without hesitation,” Ateşyan said.
Accepting the other
Pope Benedict XVI will attend a meeting called the “Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops” in early September as part of a program that was arranged last year. All the Christian spiritual leaders in the Middle East are expected to attend the meeting and discuss the situation Christians in the region are currently facing, especially in Syria.
“We reiterate our convection and belief that the only path to achieving justice, peace and the rebuilding of our homeland is through the love, co-operation and accepting of the other,” the declaration read. “This can only be achieved by constructive and meaningful dialogue between all belligerent elements of our country,” the sixth provision of the declaration read. Christians constitute 10 percent of the population in Syria. However, Armenians, Syriacs, Chaldeans, Arameans and Greeks are leaving Syria due to the high tension prevailing in the country. Members of Syria’s Armenian community who have fled to Armenia due to the ongoing violence in Syria fear the possibility that the Muslim Brotherhood may seize power there if the regime falls. “If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over in Syria all Christians will have to leave the country,” said Narbey N., a Syrian Armenian who recently fled to Armenia.
Refrain from violence
The fifth provision of the declaration addresses all people in Syria and the Middle East. “We call on all people with conscience to refrain from all types of violence against their fellow human beings. We also call for meaningful reform and to stand by and enable law and order, justice and peace,” the provision read. The seventh provision calls on peace advocates and humanitarian organizations from all over the world.
“We urge all peace lovers and humanitarian organizations to seriously endeavor to provide all possible means of humanitarian and medical relief to those innocent Syrians who were caught in the vicious spiral of violence, badly affected, displaced by the current conflict and underwent internal and external relocation and emigrations. They are currently suffering an unprecedented harsh summer temperature and expected to endure severe winter conditions,” the provision read. Before the patriarchate’s declaration Syriac, Assyrian and Chaldean intellectuals from all over the world also issued a statement in July about the Christians latest situation in the region.
August/30/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News / VERCIHAN ZIFLIOGLU
Syriac clerics call on Christians in Middle East, especially those in Syria, to avoid leaving their homelands amid harsh violence. Justice in Syria can only be achieved by meaningful dialogue between all belligerent elements, they say
Pope Benedict XVI waves at the end of his weekly audience from his summer residence in Rome. Pope will attend a meeting in Lebanon on September in which all the Christian spiritual leaders in the Middle East are expected to attend.
The Syriac Orthodox Kadim Patriarchate Synod in Damascus called on Christians not to leave the Middle East after a meeting the on escalating tensions in the region ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s critical visit to Lebanon.
The Syriac Orthodox Kadim Patriarchate Synod met Aug. 24 to discuss current high tensions in the Middle East and the condition of Christian communities within the region.
“We refuse all kind of immigration as a response to the recent crisis in the Middle East and strongly condemn all propagators, instigators and provocateurs who call to Middle Eastern Christians to migrate,” the second provision of a seven-provision declaration read. The declaration, which was issued with the signature of H.E. Mor Gregorios Yuhanna Ibrahim, metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, will be presented to Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Lebanon in September.
The Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches in Turkey also backed the call for Christians to stay put. Heybeliada Halki Seminary Archpriest and Metropolitan of Bursa Elpidophoros Lambriniadis said the Fener Greek Patriarchate also announced a similar declaration on their official website though it does not clearly mention the Middle East. Lambriniadis said they supported the declaration and added that it was very important for Christians to remain in the region.
“Above all, it should not be forgotten that the Middle East is the place where Christianity was born. So it has a great spiritual importance,” Lambriniadis said. Likewise, acting Patriarch Archbishop Aram Ateşyan, the religious leader of Turkish Armenians, outlined the importance of Christians staying in the Middle East. “If they presented the declaration to us, we would also support it without hesitation,” Ateşyan said.
Accepting the other
Pope Benedict XVI will attend a meeting called the “Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops” in early September as part of a program that was arranged last year. All the Christian spiritual leaders in the Middle East are expected to attend the meeting and discuss the situation Christians in the region are currently facing, especially in Syria.
“We reiterate our convection and belief that the only path to achieving justice, peace and the rebuilding of our homeland is through the love, co-operation and accepting of the other,” the declaration read. “This can only be achieved by constructive and meaningful dialogue between all belligerent elements of our country,” the sixth provision of the declaration read. Christians constitute 10 percent of the population in Syria. However, Armenians, Syriacs, Chaldeans, Arameans and Greeks are leaving Syria due to the high tension prevailing in the country. Members of Syria’s Armenian community who have fled to Armenia due to the ongoing violence in Syria fear the possibility that the Muslim Brotherhood may seize power there if the regime falls. “If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over in Syria all Christians will have to leave the country,” said Narbey N., a Syrian Armenian who recently fled to Armenia.
Refrain from violence
The fifth provision of the declaration addresses all people in Syria and the Middle East. “We call on all people with conscience to refrain from all types of violence against their fellow human beings. We also call for meaningful reform and to stand by and enable law and order, justice and peace,” the provision read. The seventh provision calls on peace advocates and humanitarian organizations from all over the world.
“We urge all peace lovers and humanitarian organizations to seriously endeavor to provide all possible means of humanitarian and medical relief to those innocent Syrians who were caught in the vicious spiral of violence, badly affected, displaced by the current conflict and underwent internal and external relocation and emigrations. They are currently suffering an unprecedented harsh summer temperature and expected to endure severe winter conditions,” the provision read. Before the patriarchate’s declaration Syriac, Assyrian and Chaldean intellectuals from all over the world also issued a statement in July about the Christians latest situation in the region.
August/30/2012
29 Ağustos 2012 Çarşamba
Armenians in Syria fear likely Muslim Brothers’ rule
YEREVAN - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Syrian Armenians who fled to Armenia says they fear that the Muslim Brotherhood could seize power in Syria. ‘If the Brotherhood takes over in Syria, all Christians will have to leave the country’ says a member
Members of Syrian Armenian community who fled from violence in Syria gathered for a Sunday service in the garden of the Armenian Mother See’s Holy Echmiadzin Cathedral, 20 kilometers from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, on Aug 19.
Members of Syria’s Armenian community who have fled to Armenia due to the ongoing violence in Syria fear the possibility that the Muslim Brotherhood may seize power there, if Bashar al-Assad’s regime falls.
“If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over in Syria, all Christians will have to leave the country,” Narbey N., a Syrian Armenian who recently fled to Armenia, told the Hürriyet Daily News. He also said that rebels in Syria shouted slogans such as: “Alawites [members of the Muslim sect to which al-Assad belongs] to coffins, Armenians to Beirut.”
The Daily News spoke to a group of Syrian Armenians gathered for a Sunday service in the garden of the Armenian Mother See’s Holy Echmiadzin Cathedral, 20 kilometers from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, on Aug. 19. They did not want to give their surnames to protect their safety.
The migrants are anxious about the future of Syria, but say they have left behind their family members and property, and insist that they will return to the country despite the dangers awaiting them. Armenians regard Syria as their second homeland after Anatolia, and their greatest anxiety stems from the possibility of the al-Assad regime falling and the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power.
“I hope the al-Assad regime does not fall, and that the country will not be taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood. Currently there are no attacks aimed at the Christian population, but their coming to power would be a catastrophe for Christians. In that case, all the Christian communities, including Armenians, would have to leave Syria. The U.S. and other Western states have already lost their Christian values and do not care about us, in the face of such political issues,” Narbey N. said. He believes the Armenian community is experiencing a second catastrophe that could possibly equal the 1915 tragedy, when hundreds of thousands were massacred or forced to migrate by the Ottoman Empire.
‘Alevites in Syria also under threat’
Not only Christians, but also Alawites, are under threat, said Harutyun S. “An inevitable Sunni-Alawit conflict is impending. Turkey supports al-Assad’s fall, but also does not want an independent Kurdish state. But al-Assad’s fall will make the founding of a Kurdish state inevitable. The Armenian community does not want Syria to be divided,” he said.
Narbey N. said he and his family had arrived in Yerevan via Turkey and Georgia, after a difficult journey lasting 40 hours, using a car with an Armenian license plate. Many Syrian Armenians have been fleeing Syria using similar vehicles, he said.
“When the insurgents ask for passports, we show them Armenian passports. Everyone does. After passing the Turkish border, [they] head to Georgia without trouble, and arrive in Yerevan that way,” he said, adding that the conflict in Syria had grown more intense in the last 15 days, with explosions generally taking place during the evening hours, despite everything seeming normal during the daytime.
Despite the dilemma of the Syrian Armenians, Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry does not have a clear-cut policy on those fleeing Syria, and has not announced an official number of the amount of people who have arrived in the country. Despite this, Syrian Armenians have not experienced problems obtaining residence permits.
August/29/2012
YEREVAN - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Syrian Armenians who fled to Armenia says they fear that the Muslim Brotherhood could seize power in Syria. ‘If the Brotherhood takes over in Syria, all Christians will have to leave the country’ says a member
Members of Syrian Armenian community who fled from violence in Syria gathered for a Sunday service in the garden of the Armenian Mother See’s Holy Echmiadzin Cathedral, 20 kilometers from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, on Aug 19.
Members of Syria’s Armenian community who have fled to Armenia due to the ongoing violence in Syria fear the possibility that the Muslim Brotherhood may seize power there, if Bashar al-Assad’s regime falls.
“If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over in Syria, all Christians will have to leave the country,” Narbey N., a Syrian Armenian who recently fled to Armenia, told the Hürriyet Daily News. He also said that rebels in Syria shouted slogans such as: “Alawites [members of the Muslim sect to which al-Assad belongs] to coffins, Armenians to Beirut.”
The Daily News spoke to a group of Syrian Armenians gathered for a Sunday service in the garden of the Armenian Mother See’s Holy Echmiadzin Cathedral, 20 kilometers from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, on Aug. 19. They did not want to give their surnames to protect their safety.
The migrants are anxious about the future of Syria, but say they have left behind their family members and property, and insist that they will return to the country despite the dangers awaiting them. Armenians regard Syria as their second homeland after Anatolia, and their greatest anxiety stems from the possibility of the al-Assad regime falling and the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power.
“I hope the al-Assad regime does not fall, and that the country will not be taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood. Currently there are no attacks aimed at the Christian population, but their coming to power would be a catastrophe for Christians. In that case, all the Christian communities, including Armenians, would have to leave Syria. The U.S. and other Western states have already lost their Christian values and do not care about us, in the face of such political issues,” Narbey N. said. He believes the Armenian community is experiencing a second catastrophe that could possibly equal the 1915 tragedy, when hundreds of thousands were massacred or forced to migrate by the Ottoman Empire.
‘Alevites in Syria also under threat’
Not only Christians, but also Alawites, are under threat, said Harutyun S. “An inevitable Sunni-Alawit conflict is impending. Turkey supports al-Assad’s fall, but also does not want an independent Kurdish state. But al-Assad’s fall will make the founding of a Kurdish state inevitable. The Armenian community does not want Syria to be divided,” he said.
Narbey N. said he and his family had arrived in Yerevan via Turkey and Georgia, after a difficult journey lasting 40 hours, using a car with an Armenian license plate. Many Syrian Armenians have been fleeing Syria using similar vehicles, he said.
“When the insurgents ask for passports, we show them Armenian passports. Everyone does. After passing the Turkish border, [they] head to Georgia without trouble, and arrive in Yerevan that way,” he said, adding that the conflict in Syria had grown more intense in the last 15 days, with explosions generally taking place during the evening hours, despite everything seeming normal during the daytime.
Despite the dilemma of the Syrian Armenians, Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry does not have a clear-cut policy on those fleeing Syria, and has not announced an official number of the amount of people who have arrived in the country. Despite this, Syrian Armenians have not experienced problems obtaining residence permits.
August/29/2012
2 Ağustos 2012 Perşembe
Syriacs get land title after 25-year-old legal struggle
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The General Directorate of Foundations has agreed on the return of the patriarchate building in Gümüşsuyu to the Syriac Catholic community, the community learned during a meeting with President Abdullah Gül.
The Syriac community had taken the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), but said the directorate’s move was a “nice gesture,” and that they would consider withdrawing the compensation case from the ECHR if no obstacles occurred.
A lawsuit has been in process for 25 years between the Syriac Catholic Community and Turkey, and after exhausting domestic remedies the community took the case to the ECHR four years ago.
The Syriac Catholic community received the good news during a meeting in which President Abdullah Gül hosted the leaders of minority foundations at the Huber Köşk in Tarabya on July 27. Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Syriac Catholic Foundations head Zeki Basademir said the director general of foundations, Adnan Ertem, announced during the meeting that the land title of the disputed building would be delivered to the Syriac Catholic community.
Basademir said the building used to belong to Latin Catholics, but that with a government initiative in 1986 the Syriac community had signed a contract to rent the ruined building for 99 years. “Despite this, the General Directorate of Foundations opened a legal case against us in 1988. They said the building belonged to them. When we understood that the problem could not be solved through national legal procedures, we took the case to the European Court of Human Rights four years ago,” Ertem said.
‘Nice gesture’
Basademir said they expected the decision of the ECHR soon. “I welcome the decision as a nice gesture, if an obstacle does not come up at the last moment we are planning to withdraw the compensation case. Turkey is our homeland; we don’t want to demand compensation from our homeland.”
The director general of foundations has requested the files, including the contract made in 1986, in order to initiate procedures. “Actually, we didn’t expect such a result from the meeting with the president. What is more, we will have the land title,” Basademir said.
Basademir said the building was almost ruined when they bought it from the Latin Catholics, and that the Syriacs had restored it with the community’s limited means.
“It is offensive to feel like a parasite in a building we have used all of our means to restore,” he said.
The church in the patriarchate building has a 200-person capacity and the population of the Syriac Catholic community living in Istanbul is 2,000, Basademir said.
“We don’t have any other requests for now, maybe we will in the future. We are currently holding our crowded wedding ceremonies in Latin Catholic churches,” Basademir said after being asked whether they would appeal for another church in the near future, as the Syriac Kadim community had done. The Syriac Kadim community currently has no church, although their population in Istanbul is around 15,000, so they conduct religious ceremonies in other churches that they rent. The community demanded land from the state to build a new church, but procedures have continued for two years.
August/02/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The General Directorate of Foundations has agreed on the return of the patriarchate building in Gümüşsuyu to the Syriac Catholic community, the community learned during a meeting with President Abdullah Gül.
The Syriac community had taken the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), but said the directorate’s move was a “nice gesture,” and that they would consider withdrawing the compensation case from the ECHR if no obstacles occurred.
A lawsuit has been in process for 25 years between the Syriac Catholic Community and Turkey, and after exhausting domestic remedies the community took the case to the ECHR four years ago.
The Syriac Catholic community received the good news during a meeting in which President Abdullah Gül hosted the leaders of minority foundations at the Huber Köşk in Tarabya on July 27. Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, Syriac Catholic Foundations head Zeki Basademir said the director general of foundations, Adnan Ertem, announced during the meeting that the land title of the disputed building would be delivered to the Syriac Catholic community.
Basademir said the building used to belong to Latin Catholics, but that with a government initiative in 1986 the Syriac community had signed a contract to rent the ruined building for 99 years. “Despite this, the General Directorate of Foundations opened a legal case against us in 1988. They said the building belonged to them. When we understood that the problem could not be solved through national legal procedures, we took the case to the European Court of Human Rights four years ago,” Ertem said.
‘Nice gesture’
Basademir said they expected the decision of the ECHR soon. “I welcome the decision as a nice gesture, if an obstacle does not come up at the last moment we are planning to withdraw the compensation case. Turkey is our homeland; we don’t want to demand compensation from our homeland.”
The director general of foundations has requested the files, including the contract made in 1986, in order to initiate procedures. “Actually, we didn’t expect such a result from the meeting with the president. What is more, we will have the land title,” Basademir said.
Basademir said the building was almost ruined when they bought it from the Latin Catholics, and that the Syriacs had restored it with the community’s limited means.
“It is offensive to feel like a parasite in a building we have used all of our means to restore,” he said.
The church in the patriarchate building has a 200-person capacity and the population of the Syriac Catholic community living in Istanbul is 2,000, Basademir said.
“We don’t have any other requests for now, maybe we will in the future. We are currently holding our crowded wedding ceremonies in Latin Catholic churches,” Basademir said after being asked whether they would appeal for another church in the near future, as the Syriac Kadim community had done. The Syriac Kadim community currently has no church, although their population in Istanbul is around 15,000, so they conduct religious ceremonies in other churches that they rent. The community demanded land from the state to build a new church, but procedures have continued for two years.
August/02/2012
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