BREAKING JERUSALEM ARMENIAN COMMUNITY REJECTS NEW, SECRET, ILLEGAL COWS’ GARDEN DEAL; DECLARES ‘NOT FOR SALE’

The Armenian Community and Patriarchate of Jerusalem is facing a grave danger: reports confirm that a second agreement between the Armenian Patriarchate and Xana Gardens, Ltd., without the community’s approval, is underway. This so-called “new deal,” negotiated in secrecy and revealed only in fragments, is even more dangerous than the first illegal contract, and comes with demands that the community withdraw its case, reports Zartonk Media.

The statement, released on August 26, 2025, by the Save the ArQ Movement and all Armenian institutions in Jerusalem, said that “what we know confirms its illegitimacy and shows it to be even more alarming than the first,” highlighting that the issue centers on the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

For the past two years, the Armenian community of Jerusalem has stood united in its struggle to nullify the illegal and treacherous land deal that sought to hand over the historical Armenian Gardens – Goverou Bardez (Cows’ Garden) – for 98 years to Xana Gardens Ltd. In response, both the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Armenian Community initiated separate legal proceedings to annul this shameful agreement, signed in 2021 without authority and in violation of the sacred trust binding our lands to the Armenian Brotherhood and people.

Since 2024, the Patriarchate has engaged in direct mediation with Xana Gardens, drafting terms without consultation from the community. In recent months, the community was brought into two meetings with the mediator, but the Patriarchate withheld the draft of this purported new deal from the community’s legal team. Despite this, community representatives, together with local and international legal teams, voiced strong opposition to any deal that crossed the community’s clearly established red line.

Reports now indicate that the Patriarchate plans to move forward secretly, against community interests. As such, the Save the ArQ Movement and all community institutions, together with their local and international teams, categorically reject this reported agreement concerning approximately 7,200 square meters of the historical Armenian land of Goverou Bardez. The signing of such an agreement would not only validate the original illegal land deal but also set a dangerous precedent for further concessions and unlawful actions by the Patriarchate. For over 600 days, Armenian youth and community members have physically and peacefully safeguarded this property — not in protest, but in service. This land is not theoretical; it is lived, guarded, and maintained by the Armenian community and Church. It is a site of memory, identity, and obligation. In parallel, the community has pursued every lawful path available: – Filing legal action to contest the validity and process behind the original deal. – Joining formal meetings with the mediator in good faith, participating in multiple sessions, and clearly expressing a willingness to engage constructively toward fair and transparent solutions. Despite this, the Patriarchate has once again excluded its people and Brotherhood. No draft was shared. No consultation was held. No opportunity was given to understand its terms or for the community to share its position before moving to finalize it. This silence by the Patriarchate is not procedural — it is substantive. We therefore respectfully and unequivocally call on the Holy Synod and the General Assembly to: – Withhold any ratification of this agreement – Disclose its full terms to the community transparently Engage directly with the community whose trust and future are at stake This moment is not only legal — it is also spiritual. It requires clarity. It requires courage. And above all, it requires honesty.

The Cows’ Garden is not for sale. It is not for lease. It is a sacred trust, held for over 500 years by the Armenian Church and people of Jerusalem. Any Patriarch or Brotherhood member who attempts to dispose of it in secrecy acts against the will of the community, the Brotherhood, the centuries-old Armenian Christian presence in the Holy Land, and the entire Armenian nation. We remain committed to our faith, to the Armenian Patriarchate, and to the principles of lawful stewardship — but we must also be clear: processes that ignore history, erase presence, and sideline the people cannot and will not lead to just outcomes.

Signatories: – Save The ArQ Movement – Armenian Democratic Liberal Party – Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party – Armenian Young Men’s Society Hoyetchmen Club – Homenetmen – Armenian Relief Society – Jerusalem Armenian Benevolent Union