The bell tower of Saint Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakir was opened Nov 4 and, after decades of silence, the bell tolled once again for Armenians. Acting Patriarch Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, who is originally from Diyarbakir/Dikranagerd, presided over the opening ceremony, attended by hundreds of Armenians from Turkey and abroad.
The Sourp Giragos Foundation of the Patriarchate had commenced the renovation of the church in 2009, and the church opened for worship in October 2011. Back then, due to lack of funding, the bell tower was not rebuilt.
At the opening ceremony of the bell tower, the head of the Sourp Giragos Foundation Ergun Ayik said, “This church was once a beautiful, living proof of the Armenian population density in this city. Its architecture stands as testament to how advanced Armenian civilization was.”
He added, “Our ancestors bequeathed this church to us, yet for known reason, we weren’t able to claim ownership of this heritage. The renovation marked the beginning of the process of assuming this ownership.”
Indeed, with the moral and financial support of Diyarbakir mayor Osman Baydemir, the renovation of the church was completed, and, once more, after decades of silence, the sound of the church bell was heard in Diyarbakir side by side with the calls to prayer from the city’s mosques.
Built in 1376, Saint Giragos is the largest Armenian church in the Middle East. During the Armenian Genocide, the bell tower was demolished under the pretext that it was higher than the minarets of mosques in the city, and the church itself was used as storage space for confiscated Armenian property. After WWI, Sumerbank (a state-owned bank) used the church as storage space, Armenian Weekly reported.
