YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenia strongly condemns the policy of consistent destruction and misappropriation of Armenian cultural heritage by the Turkish authorities that gained new momentum, and urges Turkey to strictly adhere to its obligations under the international agreements, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said in response to the question of news agencies.

Question: Recently, Turkish media again reported on the sale and destruction of the Armenian churches in Turkey. There are numerous facts about the destruction of Christian churches and graves, which receive no response from the relevant bodies of Turkey. And the second question: during the provincial congress of the “Justice and Development Party” in Antalya the Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in his remarks once again referred to Armenia “advising to learn lessons.” How would you comment on those issues?

Answer: We are familiar with the reports in Turkish media about the sale of Armenian churches in Turkey. In particular, the Armenian Catholic Church in Sebtash district of Bursa was put up for sale for 6 million Turkish lira, while another Armenian church in Bursa was put for sale for 6,3 million Turkish lira. Moreover, the Armenian St. Toros Church in the western Turkish province of Kutahya was destroyed.

We strongly condemn the policy of consistent destruction and misappropriation of Armenian cultural heritage by the Turkish authorities that gained new momentum, and urge Turkey to strictly adhere to its obligations under the international agreements.

Calls on cooperation for regional peace and stability by a state which demonstrates such attitude towards historical-cultural monuments at least cannot be credible.

As for the "advice to learn lessons from history": no one has the right to speak disrespectfully with the language of threat and give lessons of history to the nation who survived genocide.

Turkey’s authorities must clearly realize that a relevant environment of trust is needed for a dialogue, and the destruction of the Armenian historical-cultural heritage definitely does not contribute to the establishment of such an environment.