Selamet Han rented for boutique hotel

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Bedros Şirinoğlu says the historical Selamet Han has been rented.

After being returned to the Armenian community, a historic building in Istanbul was rented out to be used as a hotel. 

Yedikule Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital-Foundation, which regained the historical Selamet Han in Istanbul’s Sirkeci district in February 2011, decided to rent the building. 

Yedikule Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital-Foundation Chairman Bedros Şirinoğlu declared the historical han has been rented and added, “The han will serve as a boutique hotel and restaurant. We will use our income for the hospital and nursing home.” 

Şirinoğlu thanked to the government for the return of the foundation.

The Selamet Han, located in the Eminönü district of Istanbul, was built by architect Hovsep Aznavur and donated in 1954 to the Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital by businessman Calouste Gülbenkyan, the founder of the Gülbenkyan Museum in Lisbon. The property was confiscated in 1974. 

A historic decree of revisions signed by the Turkish government in 2011 paved the way for the return of assets and property previously seized by the state from non-Muslim foundations.

Minority foundations have thus far applied for the return of 410 assets, of which 96 have been given back.