Armenians first settled in Jerusalem over 1,600 years ago, with their population expanding in the early twentieth century when Armenians fled genocide in other regions of the Ottoman Empire. However, one hundred years later, the Armenian presence in their quarter has drastically decreased, reports CNN on June 24.
This property issue comes at a time when Christian Armenians have felt limited by Jewish radicals and the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Armenian Quarter is the smallest of the four quarters of Jerusalem's Old City. However, Armenians warn they are confronting an existential dilemma that might spell the end of the Armenian presence in the Old City. And, they claim, it is being carried out by their own religious leadership.
Attorneys attempting to oppose the deal inform that the Armenian Patriarchate has inked a deal that will give up to 25% of the quarter to a commercial organisation for a 99-year lease. According to attorneys and citizens, the claimed plan is to construct a luxury hotel on a portion of the ground that is now a parking lot but is valuable real estate situated close within the Old City walls.
Few people have seen the contract, and those that have don't want to say how much the transaction is worth.
The Armenian community has been pitted against its religious leader, Armenian Patriarch Nourhan Manougian, in the drama. Protests have been organised on a regular basis, with Armenian residents and supporters forming a human chain around the portion of the quarter reportedly included in the agreement.
A delegation of volunteer Armenian attorneys from Armenia and the United States visited earlier this month for a seven-day fact-finding expedition to assist grasp the situation and provide solutions.
The attorneys claimed during a community gathering that the Armenian historical museum and cemetery are also possibly threatened.
Garo Ghazarian, a Los Angeles attorney, told the community forum that the agreement is more than just about the use of commercial purposes.
"The task and challenge for everyone, the Armenian Church, the community, the clubs, and Armenian organisations alike, is to overcome all risks that threaten our community's integrity and indivisibility within the Old City of Jerusalem," he stated.
Along with the community backlash, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, which controls Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, have removed recognition of the patriarch as a result of the real estate transaction.
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