The first reconstruction works have been launched at Armen Armenian Summer Camp (also known as the orphanage where Hrant Dink was raised) in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, reported Istanbul’s HyeTert Armenian newspaper.

Earlier, President of the Foundation of the Armenian Protestant Church in Gedikpasha Grigor Aghababoglu had informed that the plan for reconstruction was ready and that the Foundation would be ready to undertake large-scale construction after receiving the signature of the authorities to lift the restrictions on the owner.

The rebuilt camp will serve as a wonderful cultural facility that will keep the memory of Istanbul-Armenian intellectual Hrant Dink alive.

About two years ago, after 175 days of resistance, Armenian activists managed to have the building of the Armenian camp in Tuzla returned to the Armenian community of Istanbul. The building had been at risk of extinction since May 2015.

Back in 1962, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople had purchased the area in the Tuzla district of Istanbul where the future Armenian summer camp was supposed to be built. The construction of the camp was aimed at meeting two key objectives-to help Armenian children interact in an Armenian environment during their summer vacation in order for them to preserve the Armenian language and provide Armenian orphans with shelter during the summer vacation.

However, in 1987, the State took the property away from the Armenian community and blamed the Patriarchate for “raising ASALA fighters at the camp”.

The owners of the camp have changed several times, and in 2015, the owner of the time decided to draft a plan for construction of villas in Tuzla.

On 6 May 2015, young Armenians managed to stop bulldozers that had entered the area of Armen Camp, even though the employees of the construction firm had already managed to destroy the wall of one of the rooms, writes tert.am.