On October 23, 2011 in the city of Diyarbakir, Turkey a Holy Litury was held in the restored Armenian church “Surp Giragos”.

AGBU Plovdiv dispatched representatives directly on the spot. The managing editor of AGBU Voice met with the architect of the restored church. The mayor, Osman Baydemir, held a speech in front of nearly 3,000 Armenians from Turkey, Canada, USA, Lebanon, Syria, Holland, Germany and others.

“This is a truly special day not only for you, but also for us. We all know about past events and our desire is that one day our children will celebrate together our joint achievements.” He personally received the latest AGBU Voice issue from Hripsime Erniasyan.

On Sunday, October 23, a group of Armenians raised as Sunni Muslims, were baptized. During the Ottoman era their ancestors had accepted Islam after involuntary homicide in 1915.

The baptism ceremony was carried out by Archbishop Ateshian, Deputy Patriarch of Istanbul, but was closed to the press and foreign visitors and the names of the baptized won’t be disclosed for security reasons. Among the officials attending the event were U.S.

Consul in Istanbul, Scott Kilner; U.S. Consul in Adana, Daria Darnell; Mayor of Diyarbakir, Osman Baydemir; Abdullah Demirbas mayor Sur ICI, Scott Avedisian, Warwick Mayor (Rhode Island, USA).