Develi is a town and district in Kayseri Province in Central Anatolia Region, Turkey.

Develi
Develi
Coordinates: 38°23′19″N 35°29′33″E
Country	Turkey
Province	Kayseri
Government
• Mayor	Mehmet Cabbar (AKP)
• Kaymakam	Murat Duru
Area [1]
• District	1,897.94 km2 (732.80 sq mi)
Population  (2012)[2]
• Urban	37,875
• District	64,381
• District density	34/km2 (88/sq mi)
Website	www.develi.bel.tr www.develi.gov.tr/

History

Develi's 200-year-old Armenian church in Everek quarter is making local news in recent years, since the decaying building had been first transformed into a mosque in 1978 and, when routine maintenance works were initiated in 1998, it was discovered that the interior decoration was still very much present, simply covered with plaster as they were during the 1978 transformation. The discovery led to an ongoing divergence of opinions between the national authority for foundations, responsible for maintenance of mosques in Turkey, which is in favor of covering the cross and Virgin Mary figures again, and Kayseri Governorship's cultural protection unit which advocates a restoration to their state of origin, a move that would put an end to the edifice's use as a mosque, this use currently being restrained to a part of the building until an official decision is made. In 2004, in order to protect the cultural heritage, the works were ordered to be stopped by the then mayor of Develi, Ali Ağca, while an intermediate solution was found in between.[3]

See also

• Develi Chamber of Commerce
• Havadan Külliye

References

External sources

• Develi web portal
• Krikorian, Aleksan. Evereg-Fenesse: Its Armenian History and Traditions. Detroit, MI: Evereg-Fenesse Mesrobian-Roupinian Educational Society, 1990. 186 pp.
• Evereg Fenesse Educational Society
• Der-Sarkissian, Jack. “A Tale of Twin Towns: Everek and Fenesse.” Armenian Kesaria/Kayseri and Cappadocia . Ed. Richard G. Hovannisian. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2013. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260676697_A_Tale_of_Twin_Towns_Everek_and_Fenesse