Kamp Armen donated to Armenians, demolition plan shelved

Delighted Armenians have celebrated victory after a controversial demolition plan for Kamp Armen was shelved, as the land owner of the building donated it to an Armenian foundation.

Kamp Armen, an Armenian orphanage in the Tuzla district of Istanbul where slain journalist Hrant Dink and thousands of Armenian orphans had grown up, will be donated to the Gedikpa?a Armenian Protestant Church and School Foundation by Fatih Ulusoy, the camp's land owner, Alexis Kalk, a spokesman from Nor Zartonk, a non-governmental Armenian initiative, announced on May 24.

Kalk said activists from Nor Zartonk and the Kamp Armen Solidarity Movement had been staging a sit-in for 19 days to stop the demolition of the building, demanding the return of the orphanage to its real owners.
"We will follow up the ownership transition process and our campaign will continue until the formal work is completed," Kalk said.

Efforts to demolish Kamp Armen began May 6 and received widespread attention once the news broke out on social media. Later in the day, the demolition was stopped when many people, including activists and leading figures from the Armenian community, rushed to the area to protest the demolition work.

The protesters, who had been holding vigil for 19 days to stop the demolition of the camp's building along with Armenian community members, welcomed the decision, celebrating the good news by hugging each other.

Activists as well as Armenian orphans who had grown up in the camp voiced their wishes that the camp will again serve orphans who "will bring joy to the camp."

Garabet Orunöz, 55, who had stayed at the orphanage for eight years between 1967 and 1975, said words were not enough to express the meaning of Camp Armen for the...