ISTANBUL (Nor Marmara) – According to a report from Mesopotamia News Agency, TOKI (Housing Development Administration of Turkey) is trying to tear down the last remaining Armenian house in Moush (Muş) and erect a large building in its place. However, the owner, Ercan Cete is opposing this move and attempting to save the house at all costs. He has already complained that the large buildings built by TOKI have destroyed everything left from the Armenians.
The correspondent wrote that a large number of Armenians lived in Moush before the Armenian Genocide. However the municipality is currently tearing down every building that remains from the Armenians one by one. When some complained that these houses should be registered for historical preservation, the mayor famously said, “They are all built of rock and earth. What antiquity are we protecting?”
Ercan Cete points out that the TOKI organization’s huge buildings are not being built in the plain of Moush, but rather in place of old Armenian houses. Cete has opposed the municipality’s attempt to take his house. The house, built of stone walls and wooden windows, has a special beauty and Cete has protected his home at all costs, but complains that he has remained alone in his struggle. He adds that the Ministry of Culture should be the owner of the house, but the authorities are trying everything, including threats, to get him to give up his property.
