YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS: The famous Turkish Taraf Periodical touched upon the destruction activities of the Armenian buildings and structures located in different Turkish territories. As reported by Armenpress, Taraf wrote about the decision of the Turkish authorities to demolish the Armenian houses in one of the districts in Muş Province and build new apartment buildings. The Periodical quoted the words of the Muş Mayor Necmettin Dede that the houses do not belong to the Armenians. Dede announced that by now no Armenian has submitted a property certificate to prove that the property belongs to an Armenian.

Taraf also touched upon the destruction and plunder of other Armenian properties, besides Muş. Particularly the Periodical noted about the Tekirdağ Malkara’s Armenian cemetery, where human bones were found during the construction works. Some of them were thrown to the garbage. Another part was buried in the ground. The same destiny had the Armenian cemetery in Sivas (Armenian Sebastia), where only one tombstone has remained.

Taraf highlighted the Siirt Eruh’s St. Hovhannes Church as well, which was sold to a Turkish building company by the Turkish authorities with a very low price. 

The Periodical writes about the Sanasaryan Han building located in Istanbul, which was put on auction for lease, though a legal trial is in process to return the structure to the Armenian Patriarchate.

At the end of the article Taraf Periodical noted that before 1915 there were 299 churches, 94 temples, 53 sacred places, 135 Armenian schools and a cemetery in Muş. In 339 villages nearby Muş about 75,000 Armenians lived. “According to the information found in the documents of Talaat Pasha, the architect of the Armenian Genocide, at that time 114,704 Armenians were “deported” from Muş and the neighboring areas and sentenced to death. During the population census of 1917 it was registered that 99% of the Armenians of the region have been lost”, - concludes the Turkish Taraf Periodical.