"1,000-year-old church is being restored
04:37 PM CDT on Friday, August 19, 2005
By SELCAN HACAOGLU / Associated Press
AKDAMAR ISLAND, Turkey – Rainwater seeps through the conical dome of Akhtamar's thousand-year-old church, washing away biblical frescoes from one of the finest surviving monuments of ancient Armenian culture. Bullet holes pock the sandstone walls.
After a century of neglect and decades of political wrangling, Turkey has begun to restore the church. The renovation comes as Turkish leaders face pressure from the European Union to improve their treatment of minorities.
The $1.5 million restoration, ordered and paid for by the Turkish government, began in May. It is raising hopes that a small, cautious thaw in relations between Turkey and neighboring Armenia could expand."
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