BY GARO MIRIGIAN AND SONIA KOUJAKIAN
Lucy Mirigian, an active member of the San Francisco Bay Area Armenian community, including in organizations such as the Armenian Relief Society, passed away on February 12. She was 114.
Lucy was born in Armenia on August 15, 1906, the youngest of five children of Kevork and Altoon Sarkisian. While still very young, she contracted small pox. The “pox” completely destroyed her right eye, requiring Lucy to spend the rest of her life with one artificial eye. From even that young age, Lucy never considered herself disabled or let this tragedy get her down. Instead, she led a “limitless” life, attending college, learning to drive, working for years for the U.S. Treasury Department, being an active community member, becoming a voracious reader, a lover of handicrafts, and a world traveler and organizer.
Dec 31 2020 03:42 Gmt+3
Last Updated On: Dec 31 2020 04:04 Gmt+3
Turkey has decided to turn the recently renovated Holy Trinity Armenian Church in the south-central Konya province into a cultural centre, the Armenian weekly newspaper Agos reported.
The 19th-century building, which has been closed to worship and visitors even after restoration project ended in 2017, will be re-opened as the World Masters of Humour Art House at an unannounced date, Agos said.
The project was carried out by the Akşehir municipality and the Konya Plain Project Regional Development Administration (KOP), at a total cost of 3.5 million Turkish liras ($475,000), it said.
The church is the latest historical Christian house of worship that Turkey has repurposed as either a mosque or religious tourism site this year. The sites include the Byzantine Chora Church and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
Turkey will Convert Armenian Church into Cultural Center
12/30/2020 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Agos reports that Turkey has decided to turn Konya’s Holy Trinity Armenian Church into a cultural center. Turkey has finished restoring it to a cost of 3.5 million TL but it is not clear when the church will reopen in its new capacity.
The 1915 genocide nearly eliminated the Armenian Christian population from Turkey. Since then, Turkey has taken control over most of the abandoned churches and other Armenian cultural sites. Turkey does not acknowledge the genocide, and has not made any attempts to restore these churches back to their original Christian community. Instead, Turkey either converts these churches into mosques or restores their buildings into faith tourism sites. When pursuing the later option, Turkey uses it as an example to the international arena about how they care for religious freedom. However, it is a point which confuses religious freedom with faith