'' Taraf '' reported in September 2012 that the monastery is owned by the Turkish journalist and media executive Fatih Altaylı . In an interview , Altaylı told the newspaper that the monastery belonged to his grandfather and he inherited it from his father . The monastery was confiscated during the Armenian Genocide . A group of Armenians in Turkey , led by the activist Nadya Uygun , started a petition asking him to " Apply to the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey and transfer the title deed of the church to the concerned Armenian community foundation . " Altayli told '' Agos '' that he is ready to give it to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople , but no government authority has approached him to respond to his offer to give back the church to its owners , and that they displayed no interest in cooperating . Revolutionary Socialist Workers ' Party ( DSİP ) activists demonstrated in early October 2012 before the Habertürk headquarters in Beyoğlu , Istanbul demanding the return of the monastery land to the Armenians . As of September 2014 , there was no progress . In 2017 it was documented that the Turkish government actively tried to tear the stones of what remains from the monastery to construct a mosque , houses and other developments in the area
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Varagavank