ASIA/TURKEY - The dispute regarding the lands of "Kamp Armen" continues

Istanbul (Agenzia Fides) - The dispute regarding the lands of "Kamp Armen" continues, the former Armenian orphanage on the outskirts of Istanbul, expropriated after the military coup in 1980 from the Armenian Protestant community. Last week, the authorities had ordered the restitution of property of Kamp Armen to the Gedikpasa Foundation, linked to the Armenian Protestant Church, but the metropolitan district of Tuzla wants to maintain control of two-fifths of the land. The Protestant Armenian Foundation - Turkish sources consulted by Fides report - claim the full restitution of the property.
Last May (see Fides 07/05/2015), the Turkish authorities had authorized the demolition of the building that housed the orphanage of Kamp Armen. The bulldozers gutted the building, despite the intervention attempted by some political representatives of the opposition parties. The mobilization of the Armenian community had, however, brought the current owners of the land to announce plans to transfer ownership rights to the Foundation linked to the Protestant Armenian community.
The orphanage, built in 1962, has a symbolic value for the Protestant Armenian community in Turkey. In the years of its activity, the institution helped 1,500 children to grow up in an environment shaped by the spirituality and culture of the Armenian Christianity. Among its students there was also Hrant Dink, the Armenian Turkish journalist, founder of the bilingual magazine Agos, who was killed in 2007 after being repeatedly threatened with death for his stance on the Armenian Genocide. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 09/11/2015)

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