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The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) Ankara Branch applied to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Ankara Cultural Heritage Preservation Board for the cemetery to be registered to the cultural protection list. However the board rejected the application on the grounds that ‘human bones in the cemetery were “damaged”.
“The board, which approved the unlawful destruction of the Armenian Catholic graves in Ulus now rejected to register the cemetery,” said Tezcan Karakuş Candan, of TMMOB Architects Chamber-Ankara reacting to the decision.
“They approve of the pillage of the cemetery and now they say that the cemetery cannot qualify as a cemetery because it was harmed. We are living through days of forgotten humanitarian values,” Candan said.
“The preservation board should preserve its multiculturalism and the historical texture of the the country”, Candan further noted, “If the board approves the destruction of graves and then rejects applications to register these graves to be preserved as cultural heritage, then to whom are our cultural assets and values to be entrusted to in this country?” she asked.
Candan stated that the TMMOB will continue their legal struggle and open a lawsuit for the historical Armenian graveyard to be registered as cultural heritage and to be added in the cultural preservation list.
