Armenian cemetery in Ankara 'damaged by treasure hunters, contractors'

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Garo Paylan has submitted a parliamentary question to Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy about the photos showing the damage on an Armenian cemetery in Sincan, Ankara, the capital.

He noted that the Stanoz Armenian Cemetery was declared a protected area in the 1990s and added, "This area's loot by treasure hunters and contractors deeply upset the Armenian community in Turkey and all our conscious citizens."

He asked the following questions to the minister:

Why don't you protect Ankara Stanoz Armenian Cemetery?

Do you have a plan to protect the numerous Armenian cemeteries in the country?

Have you had an attempt to catch the treasure hunters, who loot the Stanoz Armenian Cemetery?

Stanoz Armenian Cemetery

Located in the Zir Valley in the Sincan district's Yenikent neighborhood, the cemetery has a second-degree protection area status.

A part of the cemetery, which has agricultural lands next to it is also used as a picnic area. The barbed wires put by the Sincan Municipality to protect the cemetery are removed and cemetery's land is added to the land of the vineyard houses in the valley.

The barbed wires around the cemetery pulled by the Sincan Municipality in recent years have been removed and added to the land of the vineyard houses built in the valley.

Photographs of human bones coming out of places dug by treasure hunters in the cemetery have been seen on social media many times. (TP/VK)