O'HARA WELCOMES THE OPENING OF RESTORED ARMENIAN CHURCH
Support A1+!Strasbourg, 21.03.2007 - Eddie O'Hara (United Kingdom, SOC), rapporteur on the cultural heritage in the South Caucasus for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has welcomed the announcement of the opening on 29 March of the Armenian Akhtamar Church on Lake Van in Turkey, following extensive restoration funded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture.
"The involvement of the Turkish Government, the Armenian Church authorities, experts from Turkish and international universities and local contractors is an outstanding example of how co-operation can help save the rich cultural heritage of this region," said Mr O'Hara. "It now remains to work on access to the site, on its landscape surroundings and on the uses to which the restored site as a whole can be put."
Mr O'Hara is due to make a study visit to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to find ways of taking cultural heritage out of the conflict and to identify common strategies for its protection. "The Akhmatar Church restoration shows precisely what we should hope to achieve throughout the region", said Mr O'Hara. "We hope the Armenian authorities will be able to participate in the opening
