Turkish-Armenian church official sees Türkiye-Armenia normalization as path to ‘stronger friendships’

A senior official of the Armenian church foundation in southeastern Türkiye’s Diyarbakir province has voiced support for the ongoing normalization process between Ankara and Yerevan, saying growing contact between the two sides will deepen friendship.

“We view the ongoing rapprochement between Armenia and Türkiye very positively,” Ohannes Gafur Ohanyan, vice president of the Surp Giragos Armenian Church Foundation, told Anadolu.

Ohanyan spoke during a visit by 7 Turkish and 7 Armenian journalists to Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakir’s historic Sur district as part of an EU-funded media tour aimed at supporting normalization between Türkiye and Armenia.

“We believe that as these kinds of visits and events increase, the friendship between the two countries will grow even stronger,” he said. “Hopefully, the borders will open soon too.”

Türkiye and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations, and their land border has been closed since 1993. The two countries launched a normalization initiative in late 2021, appointing retired Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic and Armenian parliament Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan as special envoys.

Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry said in May that technical and bureaucratic work to reopen the shared border with Armenia was still ongoing, although preparations for direct trade had been completed.

In early May, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz visited Armenia, where officials signed a memorandum on the joint restoration of the historic Ani Bridge, a medieval structure spanning the border between the two countries.

During a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also discussed advancing normalization, strengthening trade and economic ties, and improving regional transport links.

Center of attraction for Armenians worldwide

The local Armenian community in Diyarbakir comprises roughly 60 to 65 people, according to Ohanyan. Despite its compact size, social and community life surrounding the church remains active, with regular religious services organized around major holidays.

“Because we do not have a permanent resident clergyman here, we hold around 8 to 10 services a year during important religious holidays,” Ohanyan said.

Describing Surp Giragos as an 800-year-old church and the largest Armenian church in the Middle East, he said it draws Armenians from Armenia as well as from the diaspora in Europe and the US.

Following decades of disuse, comprehensive restoration initiatives spearheaded by the local foundation and supported in subsequent years by Turkish state institutions including the Culture and Tourism Ministry, allowed the site to formally reopen for worship.

The church was later damaged during 2015 clashes in Sur involving the terrorist group PKK. It was restored with funding from Türkiye’s Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry, under the coordination of the General Directorate of Foundations, and reopened for worship after seven years.

The foundation’s second church, the roughly 500-year-old Surp Sarkis in the Alipasa neighborhood, fell into disrepair over time because it had no congregation and was further damaged in the February 2023 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaras. Restoration work began in 2024 with a grant from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

“Surp Sarkis has been in ruins for nearly a century,” Ohanyan noted. “We have made considerable progress and have largely completed the structural work on the main building.”

Ohanyan also called on businesspeople, philanthropists and the wider public for further support.

“A major church is being saved,” he added.