The eastern part of the current territory of the Republic of Turkey is part of the ancestral homeland of the Armenians. Along with the Armenian population, during and after the Armenian genocide the Armenian cultural heritage was targeted for destruction by the Turkish government. Of the several thousand churches and monasteries in the Ottoman Empire in 1914, today only a few hundred are still standing in some form; most of these are in danger of collapse. Those that continue to function are mainly in Istanbul.

The Cathedral of Kars, also known as the Holy Apostles Church is a former Armenian Apostolic church in Kars, eastern Turkey. Built in the mid-10th century by the Armenian Bagratid King Abas I, it was converted into a mosque in 1579. In the 19th and early 20th century it was converted into a Russian Orthodox and later Armenian cathedral. In 1993 it was again converted into a mosque and is called Kümbet Mosque. It currently comprises part of a larger Islamic complex that includes the Evliya Mosque, the biggest mosque in Kars.