Armenian elementary school in Turkey is facing a risk to be closed. Levon Vartuhyan school in Topkap block, Istanbul is 200 years old, the school challenges some financial shortcomings that put it at risk.
“Ermenihaber.am” says the school where some 100 children are studying is in extremely critical conditions.
“We don’t want the school to be closed. Schools should not be closed, more schools should be open,” Monik Ergan, president of St Nikoghayos Armenian Church fund said.
It’s said that Turkish organization “Kizilai” promised to provide food and clothes to the school.
Source: Panorama.am
via Armenian school in Istanbul at closing risk – Society – Panorama | Armenian news.
According to a news report in today’s Hurriyet, Pastor Krikor Ağabaloğlu of the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church has filed a formal application with Turkey’s Foundations General Directorate for the return of an Armenian orphanage in Istanbul’s Tuzla district that had been expropriated in the wake of Turkey’s 1980 military coup.
Murdered journalist and human rights activist Hrant Dink also received an education at the Tuzla orphanage and contributed to its construction with his brothers.
No formal reasons were ever provided as to why the orphanage lands had been expropriated, Ağabaloğlu said. “The state wants us to prove the title deeds of properties it expropriated. The state already knows why and what it expropriated. All the documents and title deeds are in their possession,” he said.
via Istanbul Armenian Church Seeks Return of Tuzla Orphanage | Hetq online.
Once home to the most elegants ball of the times, Atatürk’s favorite Hotel, Tokatlıyan, is now facing an unknown future. Considered as a great piece of architecture, the hotel has been waiting for a restoration for the last 30 years.
The 117-year old Tokatlıyan Hotel stands in the middle of Istanbul’s most crowded Istiklal Street, in Beyoğlu district. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIŞIK
Once a favorite haunt of modern Turkey’s founder, Istanbul’s legendary Tokatlıyan-Pera Hotel continues to face an uncertain future due to a lack of plans to renovate the severely dilapidated building.
“[Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk not only organized balls but also hosted his guests at a rich table during tea hours. It is so unfortunate that the hotel is now in a ruined state,” Professor Afife Batur, a scholar on architectural history at Istanbul Technical University, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News. “The hotel was a pioneer as a building in many ways. The first known hotel posters in Turkey belonged to the Tokatlıyan-Pera.”
Considered by scholars to be a significant architectural achievement, the Tokatlıyan-Pera is one of the best examples of fin-de-siècle architecture in Turkey.
The hotel belongs to the Üç Horan Armenian Church Foundation, one of the richest foundations of Turkey’s Armenian community.
The foundation’s administration, which has remained unchanged for 30 years, has chosen not to adopt any of the numerous renovation proposals that have been submitted over the years.
The hotel was built by Mıgırdiç Tokatlıyan, an Ottoman citizen of Armenian origin who migrated from the northern province of Tokat and adopted the last name Tokatlıyan. The hotel was opened in 1897 with 160 rooms and hosted a number of celebrities, later becoming a favorite of Atatürk.
Emphasizing the significance of the Tokatlıyan-Pera in regard to architecture, Batur said: “It was such a popular building that the Orient Express would transport all of Europe’s high society and the elite to this hotel and elegant balls were held there. These balls would generate several stories for the world tabloid press as well as the Turkish press.”
Another branch of the Tokatlıyan-Pera called the Tokatlıyan-Therabia was situated on the Bosphorus at the exact location of the present-day Tarabya Hotel, Batur said.
Architectural history specialist Dr. Fatma Sedes said the Tokatlıyan-Pera was the apple of the eye of Istanbul and European elites, as well as other political figures. “It was a unique building that left its mark on Istanbul’s architecture,” she added.
via Atatürk’s favorite hotel still doomed – Hurriyet Daily News.
In an attempt to find the “treasures” of an Armenian woman who runs a jewelry store at Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, four people have dug a 20-meter hole underneath a 4-storey residential building at the city’s Fatih district.
Three months prior to this event, the treasure hunters had rented the basement apartment of the building where, according to them, the Armenian woman’s “treasures” were to have been hidden. Afterwards, they began digging and filling the unearthed soil into bags. No having found anything, however, the hunters vacated the apartment, claiming that living on the basement floor was hazardous for their health. But several days later, on August 29, sounds are again heard from the basement. The police who arrive at the scene come across, in the hole that was dug at the basement, the 4 Turkish treasure hunters whom they immediately arrest, the Turkish Hurriyet daily reports.
Attorney of the building’s residents informed that years ago an Armenian woman had lived in the building, and she had told her neighbors that she had buried a fortune underneath the building. “And this turned into a calamity for the residents. They [the treasure hunters] have dug a hole, but have not considered that there are 8 apartments above and the residents’ lives are put at risk. The residents live in their homes in fear. They had dug such deep hole, yet no noise was heard; they were definitely professionals,” the attorney noted.
via Armenian “treasure” hunters in Istanbul dig 20 meters deep, but find themselves at police precinct | Armenia News – NEWS.am.
