News from the Orient – April 26, 2024

This week's Oriental News:

Destruction of Armenian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh

The destruction of Armenian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh continues. Satellite images from April 4 show the total destruction of St. John the Baptist Church, known as the Kanatch Jam of Shushi.

In March, images revealed the destruction of the Parliament building in Stepanakert.

Last September, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh fled en masse from the region invaded by the Azerbaijani army. Today, they fear a global policy that could erase all Armenian presence in an area they have inhabited for 3,000 years.

109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide

Thousands of people marched on April 24 through the streets of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to commemorate the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

Some carried torches and other flowers, remembering the 1.5 million Armenians murdered in the Ottoman Empire. The commemorations continued the next day near the genocide memorial.

Also killed were several hundred thousand Assyro-Chaldeans, a community present at the commemoration.

Renovation of the old Saint-Georges church in Bartella

In Bartella, Iraq, restoration work on the ancient church of Mar Guorguis has been completed. Archbishop Hano, Syrian-Catholic ordinary of Mosul, inaugurated it on April 23, St. George's Day.

The so-called Islamic State spared the church, but its condition deteriorated significantly. Father Benham Benoka led the restoration efforts to return it to its 1850 condition.

The new Mar Guorguis Church, built next door in 1934, was renovated in 2019, after ISIS burned it down.