The Pangaltı Armenian Cemetery was located in the

Pangaltı Pangaltı (spelled Pangaaltı or Pancaldi in some older sources) is one of the four neighborhoods (together with Teşvikiye, Maçka, Istanbul, Maçka and Osmanbey) within the Nişantaşı quarter of the Şişli district in Istanbul, Turkey. It is ...

quarter of Istanbul near

Taksim Square Taksim Square (, ), situated in Beyoğlu in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey, is a major tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops, and hotels. It is considered the heart of modern Istanbul, with the central station of th ...

and originally belonged to the Surp Agop Armenian Hospital. In the 1930s, it was demolished and was replaced with the

Taksim Gezi Park Gezi Park is an urban park next to Taksim Square, in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district (historically known as Pera). It is one of the last green spaces in Beyoğlu and one of the smallest parks of Istanbul. In May 2013, plans to replace the park with ...

, Divan Hotel,

Hilton Hotel Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton Worldwide. The original company was founded by Conrad Hi ...

Hyatt Regency Hotel Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vac ...

, and the TRT Radio Buildings. It is considered to have been the largest non-Muslim cemetery in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

's history.

History

The Pangaltı cemetery was founded in 1560 after an epidemic caused the Armenian community of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

to petition

Sultan Suleyman Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the Ottoman sultan between 1520 and his death in 1566. Under his adminis ...

. It was enlarged in 1780 and enclosed by a wall in 1853. The

Pera Pera may refer to: Places * Pera (Beyoğlu), a district in Istanbul formerly called Pera, now called Beyoğlu ** Galata, a neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, often referred to as Pera in the past * Pêra (Caparica), a Portuguese locality in the district o ...

district was very close to the cemetery, so an outbreak of cholera in 1865 led the government to ban burials and allocate them to the

Şişli Armenian Cemetery The Şişli Armenian Cemetery is an Armenian cemetery in the Şişli district of Istanbul, Turkey which is operated and served by the Armenian community of Turkey. Notable burials * Hovhannes Arsharouni – Armenian Patriarch of Constantin ...

instead. The Pangaltı cemetery was demolished in the 1930s, and in 1939 its marble tombstones were sold and used to build the Gezi Park's fountains and stairs. Other parts of the cemetery were used to construct

Eminönü Eminönü, historically known as Pérama, is a predominantly commercial waterfront area of Istanbul within the Fatih district near the confluence of the Golden Horn with the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait and the Sea of Marmara. It is l ...

square which was, along with Gezi Park, designed by city planner

Henri Prost Henri Prost (February 25, 1874 – July 16, 1959) was a French architect and urban planner born in Saint-Denis. He was noted in particularly for his work in Morocco and Turkey, where he created a number of comprehensive city plans for Casab ...

. In 2013, during excavation work for the reconstruction of Taksim square, 16 tombstones from the Armenian cemetery were discovered.

Legal case

In 1932, Mesrob Naroyan, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, filed a lawsuit for the return of the property, but the Istanbul Municipality argued that he had been a legal non-entity in Turkey since 1916 (the position of Armenian Patriarchate had been officially suspended in 1916 as part of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

) and therefore had no title to the land, even though he still functioned at the

Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

Kumkapı Kumkapı (meaning "sand gate" in Turkish) is a quarter in Fatih district of Istanbul. It is located along the northern shore of Marmara Sea. Up to recent times, Kumkapı is the center of the Armenian community of the city, boasting a school and ...

, Istanbul. The Patriarchate acknowledged the lack of title, but argued legitimacy to represent the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

on behalf of both the Armenian Catholic Community and the Surp Agop Armenian Hospital. The commission to investigate land ownership found the Patriarch's claims groundless, so title remained with the Istanbul municipality and the third party owners.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pangalti Armenian Cemetery Armenian cemeteries Cemeteries in Istanbul Demolished buildings and structures in Istanbul

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Armenian Apostolic cemeteries Şişli

History

Legal case

See also

References