Turkey will Convert Armenian Church into Cultural Center
12/30/2020 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Agos reports that Turkey has decided to turn Konya’s Holy Trinity Armenian Church into a cultural center. Turkey has finished restoring it to a cost of 3.5 million TL but it is not clear when the church will reopen in its new capacity.
The 1915 genocide nearly eliminated the Armenian Christian population from Turkey. Since then, Turkey has taken control over most of the abandoned churches and other Armenian cultural sites. Turkey does not acknowledge the genocide, and has not made any attempts to restore these churches back to their original Christian community. Instead, Turkey either converts these churches into mosques or restores their buildings into faith tourism sites. When pursuing the later option, Turkey uses it as an example to the international arena about how they care for religious freedom. However, it is a point which confuses religious freedom with faith
Press and Religious Freedom Entangled in Nagorno-Karabakh
12/19/2020 Nagorno-Karabakh (International Christian Concern) – Azerbaijani media outlets have published a number of articles reporting that over 12,000 Azerbaijanis will be resettled in Stepanakert. This city is located in Nagorno-Karabakh (
Armenian: Artsakh), a territory recently captured by Azerbaijan and Turkey as part of their attempt to accomplish pan-Islamic Turkism by eliminating the local Armenian Christian population. The Spokesperson for the President of Artsakh has claimed that these Azerbaijani media reports are false and part of a disinformation campaign intended to disorient and divide the Armenian community.
These types of tactics are documented by ICC’s joint report
Turkey’s Genocide Comments Underscore Broken Ceasefire Agreement
12/13/2020 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on December 11, 2020, Azerbaijan broke its ceasefire agreement by launching an attack in Nagorno-Karabakh’s
(Armenian: Artsakh’s) Hadrut district. Azerbaijani President Aliyev blamed Armenia for the attacks, threatening to
“break its head with an iron fist” and saying,
“This time, we will destroy them completely.”
This incident was reported by the Russian forces deployed as peacekeepers to monitor the ceasefire. It occurred just one day after Azerbaijan and Turkey hosted a joint military parade to celebrate their victory over Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey is jointly serving with Russia in a peacekeeper role, but has supported Azerbaijan’s aggressive military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh. This location is ethnically Armenian and religiously Christian. Turkey and Azerbaijan share
Turkish-Backed Militants Target Assyrian Towns in Syria aina.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aina.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.