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ARMENIAN DELEGATION IN TURKEY TO ATTEND CEREMONY TO MARK RESTORATION OF ARMENIAN CHURCH
International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
March 29 2007
ANKARA, Turkey: The spiritual leader of Turkey's Armenian Orthodox
community on Thursday called on Turkey to open up a newly restored
ancient Armenian church for worship at least once a year, saying the
move would help reconciliation between Turks and Armenians.
Patriarch Mesrob II was speaking at a ceremony marking the restoration
of the Akdamar church, perched on a rocky island in Lake Van, a
vast body of water in eastern Turkey. Turkish authorities restored
the church as a gesture to its neighbor and its own ethnic Armenian
minority, but opened it up as a museum - not a place of worship.
Mesrob expressed gratitude for the restoration of the sandstone
church but added: "Our request from our government is for a religious
and cultural service to be held at the church every year and for a
festival to be organized."
"If our government approves, it will contribute to peace between
two communities who have not been able to come together for years,"
Mesrob said.
Akdamar's restoration - at a cost of US$1.5 million ([email protected] million)
- has been showcased as a step by Turkey to help overcome historical
animosity between Turkey and Armenia, who are locked in a bitter
dispute over mass killings of Armenians in Turkey around the time of
World War I.
Turkey has no diplomatic ties with Armenia but still invited Armenian
officials to the ceremony. Armenia's Deputy Culture Minister Gagik
Gyurjyan, accompanied by a 20-member delegation, including officials,
historians and other experts, traveled to Turkey for the ceremony.
One of the finest surviving monuments of Armenian culture 1,000 years
ago, the church had deteriorated over the past century, neglected in
the years following the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of
Ottoman Turks. Rainwater seeped through the collapsed, conical dome.
Its basalt floors were dug up by treasure-hunters, its facade riddled
with bullet holes.
On Thursday, police detained five trade-union representatives who
staged a demonstration on a jetty on Lake Van to protest the church's
restoration. The protesters carried Turkish flags, pictures of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey's founder, and a banner that read:
"The Turkish people are noble. They would never commit genocide,"
the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.
Akdamar, called the Church of Surp Khach, or Holy Cross, was
inaugurated in A.D. 921. Written records say the church was near a
harbor and a palace on the island on Lake Van, but only the church
survived.
Armenia has welcomed the restoration, but said a better move toward
improved ties would be the opening up of the border with Armenia and
the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during a war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, a Muslim ally of Ankara. Landlocked Armenia's
economy suffered as a result.
Turkey is lobbying hard against a proposed U.S. congressional
resolution that would recognize the killings of Armenians in the last
century as genocide.
Some of Turkey's 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians complain of
harassment in Turkey, which has an overwhelmingly Muslim population.
Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist murdered in Istanbul in
January, was apparently targeted by nationalists for his commentaries
on minority rights and free expression.
__
Associated Press writer Selcan Hacaoglu contributed to this report
International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
March 29 2007
ANKARA, Turkey: The spiritual leader of Turkey's Armenian Orthodox
community on Thursday called on Turkey to open up a newly restored
ancient Armenian church for worship at least once a year, saying the
move would help reconciliation between Turks and Armenians.
Patriarch Mesrob II was speaking at a ceremony marking the restoration
of the Akdamar church, perched on a rocky island in Lake Van, a
vast body of water in eastern Turkey. Turkish authorities restored
the church as a gesture to its neighbor and its own ethnic Armenian
minority, but opened it up as a museum - not a place of worship.
Mesrob expressed gratitude for the restoration of the sandstone
church but added: "Our request from our government is for a religious
and cultural service to be held at the church every year and for a
festival to be organized."
"If our government approves, it will contribute to peace between
two communities who have not been able to come together for years,"
Mesrob said.
Akdamar's restoration - at a cost of US$1.5 million ([email protected] million)
- has been showcased as a step by Turkey to help overcome historical
animosity between Turkey and Armenia, who are locked in a bitter
dispute over mass killings of Armenians in Turkey around the time of
World War I.
Turkey has no diplomatic ties with Armenia but still invited Armenian
officials to the ceremony. Armenia's Deputy Culture Minister Gagik
Gyurjyan, accompanied by a 20-member delegation, including officials,
historians and other experts, traveled to Turkey for the ceremony.
One of the finest surviving monuments of Armenian culture 1,000 years
ago, the church had deteriorated over the past century, neglected in
the years following the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of
Ottoman Turks. Rainwater seeped through the collapsed, conical dome.
Its basalt floors were dug up by treasure-hunters, its facade riddled
with bullet holes.
On Thursday, police detained five trade-union representatives who
staged a demonstration on a jetty on Lake Van to protest the church's
restoration. The protesters carried Turkish flags, pictures of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey's founder, and a banner that read:
"The Turkish people are noble. They would never commit genocide,"
the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.
Akdamar, called the Church of Surp Khach, or Holy Cross, was
inaugurated in A.D. 921. Written records say the church was near a
harbor and a palace on the island on Lake Van, but only the church
survived.
Armenia has welcomed the restoration, but said a better move toward
improved ties would be the opening up of the border with Armenia and
the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during a war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, a Muslim ally of Ankara. Landlocked Armenia's
economy suffered as a result.
Turkey is lobbying hard against a proposed U.S. congressional
resolution that would recognize the killings of Armenians in the last
century as genocide.
Some of Turkey's 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians complain of
harassment in Turkey, which has an overwhelmingly Muslim population.
Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist murdered in Istanbul in
January, was apparently targeted by nationalists for his commentaries
on minority rights and free expression.
__
Associated Press writer Selcan Hacaoglu contributed to this report