$1.4 million allocated for restoration of Armenian church in Turkey

Restoration work has begun on the Armenian Church of St. Sarkis, which dates back about 500 years, in the Sur district of Diyarbakır province. Renovation started in 2024, reports Dialogorg. ru citing Turkish media.

This is already the second Armenian heritage site in the city to undergo restoration: earlier, the Church of Saint Kirakos was renovated. The reconstruction project, approved by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, includes not only repair work but also the creation of workshops, conference halls, and exhibition spaces. A budget of 60 million lira (approximately $1.4 million) has been allocated for its implementation. Funding was provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Saint Kirakos Church Foundation, and the Diyarbakır municipality.

The governor of the province, Murat Zorluoglu, emphasized that the restoration of the Armenian church will be an important contribution to the region’s cultural diversity.

Diyarbakır is considered one of the centers of residence for crypto-Armenians. In recent years, many of them have begun to openly declare their origins and attend local Armenian churches. According to records from the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople for 1913–1914, more than 106,000 Armenians lived in the Diyarbekir vilayet, mainly in the northern and northeastern areas, across 249 settlements.