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YEREVAN, JULY 30, ARMENPRESS: The destruction process of the Armenian houses in the Kale District of Muş Province has been partially suspended. As reported by Armenpress, quoting the Turkish Radikal Periodical, this was published by the Van Protection Committee.
Garo Paylyan, implementing works related to the Armenian heritage in Anatolia, touched upon the destruction of the Armenian houses in the Kale District of Muş Province, stating in particular: “The members of the Van Protection Committee have registered one house. For the preservation of the original architecture it is necessary to recognize that territory as a special protection area by the Protection Committee”. Garo Paylyan noted that the Armenian traces in the Muş Province are being preserved, though the 80% of the district has already been demolished.
“The history of not only Armenians but also Muş Province is being ruined. There were times when there were 299 churches, 94 temples, 53 sanctuaries and 135 schools, where 5,699 pupils were studying. They were demolished one by one. We have started an initiative to protect the remaining 3 streets. The Armenian structures of Anatolia are being rapidly demolished”, - said Garo Paylyan.
In the framework of the urban renewal project the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKI) intends to build 864 residential houses and 107 offices in the place of the Armenian houses in the Kale District of Muş. The TOKI has agreed with the 85% of the local population to carry out the reconstruction works on the territory of about 60,000 square meters.
Many of the local population, living in the Kale District of Muş Province, refuse to take the money suggested by the Housing Development Administration of Turkey and leave their houses. The TOKI representatives announced that in any case they will demolish the houses and if the population does not leave voluntarily, their goods as well will remain under ruins.
An electronic signature collection has been organized against the demolition of the historical Armenian houses in the Muş Province, the initiators of which appealed to join them and prohibit the devastation of the last Armenian historical tracks in Muş. “Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians are being subjected to genocide. The process, launched by the genocide in 1915, is currently continuing as a cultural and economic genocide. To kill a culture means to kill the mankind. It is a historical genocide”, - says the statement.
The confiscation of properties of minority foundations dates back to the early days of the Turkish Republic. The 1936 Law on Foundations, known as the 1936 Declaration, ordered all foundations to submit a property declaration listing immovable and other properties owned by each and every foundation. Following the death of the nation's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, those property declarations were forgotten. When the Cyprus problem escalated in the 1970s, the General Directorate of Foundations asked non-Muslim foundations to resubmit their regulations. Yet those foundations did not have such regulations because of a practice during the Ottoman Empire where such foundations could only be established by individual decrees of the sultan of the day. After receiving a negative response from these foundations, the General Directorate of Foundations made a ruling that the declarations of 1936 would be considered their regulation. Unless these declarations did not carry a special provision entitling the foundation to acquire immovable property, the General Directorate expropriated all immovable property acquired after 1936.These expropriation acts were in violation of both the Lausanne agreement and property rights.