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The Istanbul Court of Cassation has made a ruling to return Sanasaryan Han building to the Armenian Patriarchate, Ermenihaber reports citing Istanbul-based Zhamanak newspaper.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople has been fighting a legal battle for its return from the state since 2011. In 2014, the Istanbul 13th Court of First Instance rejected the Patriarchate’s claim to return Sanasaryan Han building, which was confiscated by the Turkish state and handed over to Turkey's Foundations Directorate General. Afterwards the Armenian Patriarchate appealed the court’s ruling to the Court of Cassation.

After years of trial, the Turkish court ruled to recognize the right of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople to own the building.

The historic building was built in 1881 thanks to Mkrtich Agha Sanasaryan in order to support the Sanasaryan School in Erzurum. Sanasaryan Han building was seized first by the Ottoman and then the Turkish Republic governments and converted into the General Security and Police Headquarters of Istanbul.