Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan said that Surb Khach Armenian church of Akhtamar island has become Ankara’s basic propagandistic weapon.

Surb Khach church is registered in Turkey as a museum-monument, what excludes the possibility of setting a cross on it, Melkonyan told a press conference in Yerevan.

“Turkey displays its peacefulness to the world, through destroying thousands of Armenian churches, temples and cultural monuments and restoring only one church. This policy fits in the propagandistic arsenal of the Turkish diplomacy. They want to gain certain concessions from Armenia through it,” concluded the expert.