IHA news agency of Turkey has reflected on the only still-standing Armenian Savior Monastery in Trabzon Province of the country.

İsmail Köse, a lecturer at the International Relations Department of Karadeniz (Black Sea) Technical University, told IHA that a large number of Armenians used to live in Trabzon Province in the past.

“There were 100 to 200 churches and monasteries in the province,” he said. “[But] now many monasteries have ended up in the land plots of some persons.”

The Turkish lecturer stressed that the frescoes inside Armenian Savior Monastery in Ortahisar district in Trabzon Province are very similar to those inside the Hagia Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Trabzon town.

“There are a large number of Armenian cross-stones outside the monastery,” Köse added. “The Savior Monastery was built in 1424 by Stepan Baghdasar. The monastery was quite large; but today, only this building is left.”

IHA, in its turn, highlighted that this building is also on the brink of collapse.