![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/armenians-claim-roots-in-diyarbakir-2011-10-23_l.jpg\" "\\"armenians-claim-roots-in-diyarbakir-2011-10-23_l\\"")
<\/p>\nVERC\u0130HAN Z\u0130FL\u0130O\u011eLU<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Surp Giragos Church was blessed on Oct. 22 in accordance with the traditions of the Apostolic Armenian Church. DHA photo<\/p>\n
A group of Armenians, raised as Sunni Muslims, will be baptized today as Armenian Orthodox christians at the historic St. Giragos (Surp Giragos) Armenian Church in Turkey\u2019s southeastern province of Diyarbak\u0131r.<\/p>\n
The church, which was reopened on Oct. 22 following two years of restoration work, will host the baptism ceremony for dozens of Sunni Muslims of Armenian origin, whose ancestors converted to Islam after the 1915 killings in the Ottoman era.<\/p>\n
Among those to be baptized is Gaffur T\u00fcrkay, who also contributed to the restoration of the church. T\u00fcrkay was going through emotional fluctuations, he told the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish this church had always been open,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is unbelievable to be together here with people from all around the world with whom I share the same origins.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been ostracized by both Sunni Muslims and Armenians,\u201d said Beh\u00e7et Avc\u0131, also known as Garod Sasunyan, who will also be baptized. \u201cIt is a very emotional moment for me and I\u2019m a bit upset, because unfortunately we do not belong to either side.\u201d<\/p>\n
The baptism ceremony, which will be closed to the press and outside visitors, will be held today at the St. Giragos Armenian Church and will be led by Deputy Patriarch Archbishop Aram Ate\u015fyan. The names of those to be baptized will not be revealed for security reasons.<\/p>\n
A religious service was held yesterday at the church, one day after it was re-opened following the completion of the restoration work.<\/p>\n
Among the participants in yesterday\u2019s service were guests from Armenia and the United States, including former foreign minister of Armenia and the leader of Armenia\u2019s Heritage Party, Raffi Hovhannesian, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardione and Archbishop Vicken Ayvazian, diocese of the Armenian Orthodox Church of America.<\/p>\n
Other participants at the ceremony included Dositheos Anagnostopulos, spokesperson for the Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, Yusuf \u00c7etin, patriarchal vicar of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Istanbul, Diyarbak\u0131r Mayor Osman Baydemir and Sur Mayor Abdullah Deliba\u015f.<\/p>\n
The St. Giragos Church was blessed on Oct. 22 in accordance with the traditions of the Apostolic Armenian Church.<\/p>\n
The restoration work was funded by donations from Armenians in Istanbul and abroad through an initiative spearheaded by Vartkes Erg\u00fcn Ay\u0131k, a businessman of Armenian origin whose roots lie in Diyarbak\u0131r, and Raffi Bedrosyan, an ex-resident of Istanbul who now lives in Canada.<\/p>\n
The Sur District Governor\u2019s Office in Diyarbak\u0131r lent its support to the project as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to have over 2,600 churches and monasteries across Anatolia in the past. Unfortunately, only a handful of sanctuaries remain. My request from Turkey as a spiritual leader is for churches to be returned to the [Armenian] community, rather than reopening them for religious service as museums,\u201d Archbishop Ayvazian told the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News.<\/p>\n
Ayvazian said he was born in Turkey\u2019s southeastern \u015e\u0131rnak province and speaks very fluent Turkish. \u201cAs with many Armenian-Americans, we also spoke Turkish at home,\u201d he said, adding that his parents could not speak Armenian.<\/p>\n
Responding to a question about why Armenian-Americans keep Turkey at an arm\u2019s length, he said: \u201cThe reason is blatantly obvious. There was a genocide. An apology, a heart-felt step forward, could entirely banish this dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is exceedingly important for the two peoples to engage in dialogue, but without forgetting that great, dark disaster of history, like genocide,\u201d Raffi Hovhannesiyan, leader of Armenia\u2019s Heritage (Jarankutyun) Party, told the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel utterly alone among thousands of people now. Why were my people dispersed to all corners of the world?\u201d said Yervant, a virtuoso who plays the \u201cud,\u201d a traditional stringed musical instrument, speaking to the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News.<\/p>\n
Used as a command center for German officers during the First World War, the church was then used as an apparel depot by the state-owned S\u00fcmerbank until 1950. The church was then handed back to the Armenian community, following a long legal battle.<\/p>\n
via Armenians claim roots in Diyarbak\u0131r – Hurriyet Daily News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
VERC\u0130HAN Z\u0130FL\u0130O\u011eLU The Surp Giragos Church was blessed on Oct. 22 in accordance with the traditions of the Apostolic Armenian Church. DHA photo A group of Armenians, raised as Sunni Muslims, will be baptized today as Armenian Orthodox christians at the historic St. Giragos (Surp Giragos) Armenian Church in Turkey\u2019s southeastern province of Diyarbak\u0131r. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":45868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[4325,3552],"class_list":["post-45866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-armenians-in-turkey","tag-diyarbakir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}