ISTANBUL. – On September 6, the Armenian Deputy Patriarch of Constantinople, Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, received at the Patriarchate members of the parish council and restoration assistance group of St. Giragos Armenian church in Diyarbakir. During the meeting, they discussed the restoration activities at the church in the past 15 months and the budget for the restoration, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople informed.

The parish council members noted that 2 million 200 thousand liras ($1,251,286 US) are collected and 1.5 million liras ($853,150) are needed to complete restoration. The official reopening and consecration of St. Giragos church of Diyarbakir will take place on October 22, and the first Holy Mass will be celebrated there on the next day.

The church was left to its fate in 1980, but Diyarbakir-Armenians who now live in Istanbul established the St. Giragos Fund in order to restore the church. This Armenian fund pays 70 percent of the renovation costs, worth $2.5 million dollars, and the Diyarbakir City Hall pays the remaining 30 percent.