DIYARBAKIR. – Restoration at the Armenian Catholic church in Diyarbakir, Turkey, which had commenced 3 years ago, is not completed and the church is left to its fate.    

Aziz Tohumcu, the owner of a booth nearby the church and the person who assumed the care of the 16th-Century church, said already 1 year has passed since any construction was carried out in the church. “This scene disturbs my conscience, and that’s why I voluntarily supervise the church during the day, so that no one would damage it. If I don’t supervise, the drug addicts and prostitutes would gather here while the robbers would clean up, in one day, the construction tools in the church and its planks,” Tohumcu said, noting that it is the construction tools in the church yard that actually welcome the church’s visitors, Diyarbakirhaber news agency informs.

In his turn, manager of the company that was restoring the church noted that the project was not completed between 2008 and 2009, and therefore the restoration was postponed.