According to the agency named Armenianhaber, the 605-year-old Çarhapan Surb Astvatsatsin Armenian monastery, located in Armaş-Akmeşe in what is now Turkey’s Izmit district, is abandoned and in ruins.

Built in 1889 near the brick-built monastery, the school is now half-ruined and completely covered with grass. Also, the locals turned the entire area of ​​​​the monastery into garbage.

Despite this, residents want to restore the monastery complex and turn it into a tourist center. They applied to Kocaeli municipality with this issue. According to the village headman of Armaş-Akmeşe, Armaş’s school is one of the oldest schools in Turkey.

With the sponsorship of the Akmesheli businessman, restoration work was started around the monastery, but it was stopped for some reasons.

It should be noted that the Armenian monastery of Charhapan Surb Astvatsatsin in Armash was founded in 1416. Before the establishment of Armaş village, Greeks lived in the settlement. In 1416, the Greeks set fire to this place, and the Armenians, who migrated from Maraş and took shelter near it, settled here. The name Armaş is the changed name of “Maraş”. The Charhapan Surb Astvatsatsin Monastery in Armash was also the manuscript centre.