The aroma of corek, a spiced bun the Armenian group makes for Easter, is as soon as once more wafting via the streets of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey.
For the primary time in eight years, Armenians had been in a position to rejoice Easter Sunday mass at their church within the metropolis after it was badly broken throughout clashes between the Turkish military and the Kurdistan Staff’ Occasion (PKK) in 2015-16.
The small group was left and not using a place to satisfy — however the Surp Giragos Armenian Church has not too long ago been restored and is now open once more.
“We’ve not had this opportunity for a very long time. Right now we’re comfortable as a group,” stated Gaffur Ohannes Turkay, a member of the inspiration that runs the church.
But it surely was additionally a “bitter celebration”.
“Nothing is similar as earlier than,” he stated.
Nonetheless, earlier restoration of the church in 2011 had helped rebuild town’s Armenian group that many feared misplaced after the massacres of 1915, adopted by discrimination and violence into the Nineteen Eighties that noticed many transfer to Istanbul or migrate to Europe.
Ankara refuses to recognise the 1915-16 killings of greater than 1,000,000 Armenians as genocide.
Named the untrue quarter by Muslims after the as soon as majority Christian inhabitants, Sur was identified for modest means, slender streets and outdated properties constructed of basalt, the black volcanic rock on which a lot of town was constructed.
A lot of Sur too had been left in ruins by the preventing, however was shortly rebuilt. Right now broad avenues run via the district, lined with villas and swanky new retailers, adjoining to the stays of what was as soon as the outdated city.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for years supported the development sector as a pillar of his financial coverage to strengthen Turkey, with gentrification typically sidelining cultural heritage.
As soon as an integral a part of the Ottoman Empire’s multifaceted society, solely 60,000 ethnic Armenians are nonetheless believed to reside in fashionable Turkey.
– Gentrification –
“Right now there are 50 to 60 people who find themselves formally in Diyarbakir’s Armenian group,” stated Turkay.
“However many extra folks come to the festivals and providers as a result of there are plenty of Islamised Armenians on this area.”
He himself is from a household which transformed to Islam to outlive the genocide.
The church has now taken on a brand new function as a uncommon place the place folks can rediscover traces of the outdated Diyarbakir.
Whereas the locals snub the reconstructed areas within the outdated city, the church backyard, which additionally boasts a restaurant, is at all times full.
“On this quarter, I solely come right here. I refuse to go any additional, it is painful to see the place like this,” stated Irfan, an everyday on the backyard cafe.
“We boycott the opposite locations. However right here it is totally different,” added Hikmet, one other cafe-goer.
“The church represents a hyperlink to the misplaced Diyarbakir and that goes for all of the inhabitants, Christians or Muslims,” stated Silva Ozyerli, an Armenian from Diyarbakir who travelled from Istanbul to rejoice Easter.
“We are able to breathe right here,” she stated, admitting: “I keep away from the reconstructed areas as a result of I need to protect the reminiscence of the quarter the place I spent my childhood.”
Few count on that even a change in president on the Could 14 election might result in the quarter present process a renovation true to its cultural heritage.
“Easter means resurrection, rebirth. I need to maintain on to hope, however getting again the outdated quarter appears inconceivable,” stated Ozyerli.
“Right now I thank God for at the very least preserving our church.”
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Initially printed as Bittersweet Easter for Turkish metropolis’s dwindling Armenian group
