Prayers, protests at church opening
March 29 2007
IOL
By Zerin ElciSome Armenians, whispering prayers, placed candles in the church. A few wept with emotion. Officials removed some of the candles, underlining Turkish sensitivities about expressions of religious belief in officially secular buildings.
Akdamar - Turks and Armenians celebrated the re-opening of a 10th century Armenian Christian church restored with Turkish state money on Thursday in a ceremony they hope will herald a thaw in long-frozen ties.
But some Armenians, including the country's top clergyman, spurned the event because the Church of the Holy Cross, on a tiny island in Lake Van in eastern Turkey, is not adorned with a cross and will function as a museum, not as a place of worship.
Armenians also fear the event may be just a public relations exercise aimed at softening international pressure on Turkey to own up to its role in massacres of their countrymen in 1915.
Turkey denies claims the massacres amounted to a genocide. Flanked by Turkish flags, Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan, spiritual head of Turkey's tiny surviving Armenian community, thanked Ankara for the $1,4-million restoration, but asked that Armenians be allowed to pray once a year at the site.
"Praying at such a historic church, a centre of our faith, would have a positive effect on people's memory," he told about 350 people attending the ceremony. They included representatives of the Armenian government and the worldwide Armenian diaspora.
Turkish Culture Minister Attila Koc said Ankara would consider the request. He also said he hoped the church would boost tourism to the remote, mountainous region.
The church, commissioned by an Armenian king and completed in 921, is shaped as a cross, decorated with stone reliefs depicting Biblical scenes and topped by a conical roof. Snow-capped mountains tower above it and the blue lake waters.
Some Armenians, whispering prayers, placed candles in the church. A few wept with emotion. Officials removed some of the candles, underlining Turkish sensitivities about expressions of religious belief in officially secular buildings.
Armenia's Patriarch Garegin II boycotted the ceremony because of the decision to make the site a museum.
"Such actions by the Turkish authorities are directed against the Christian sentiments of the Armenian people and cannot be seen as a positive step on the path to reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish peoples," the patriarchate said.
Muslim but secular Turkey, often criticised in the West for its treatment of its Christian minorities, hopes the re-opening of the church will improve its image, especially as the US Congress considers whether to approve a resolution that would recognise the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide.
Ankara denies Ottoman Turkish forces committed a systematic genocide and says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in inter-ethnic fighting in that period.
The church on Akdamar island (Akhtamar to the Armenians) ceased to be a place of worship during World War One, when many of Turkey's ancient Armenian population suffered death or deportation in a tragedy commemorated on April 24 every year.
The Armenian delegation took 16 hours to reach the site, barely 200 km (120 miles) from Yerevan, because Turkey's border with Armenia is closed and they had to travel via Georgia.
"It would be very nice if the border were open. If the border stays shut, tourism from Armenia cannot really take off," Armenia's Deputy Culture Minister Gagik Gyurjyan said.
Some Armenians dismissed the church project as empty PR.
"(Turkey) is sending a message to the European Union: 'Aren't we civilised, trying to restore good ties with Armenia', while for domestic consumption they tell everyone: 'You do not need to worry, there will be no cross (on the church)," said Armenia's Social Democrat Hunchakian Party in Yerevan. - Reuters
Additional reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan in Yerevan
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
IOL
By Zerin Elci
Some Armenians, whispering prayers, placed candles in the church. A few wept with emotion. Officials removed some of the candles, underlining Turkish sensitivities about expressions of religious belief in officially secular buildings.
The Armenian delegation took 16 hours to reach the site, barely 200 km (120 miles) from Yerevan, because Turkey's border with Armenia is closed and they had to travel via Georgia.
Akdamar - Turks and Armenians celebrated the re-opening of a 10th century Armenian Christian church restored with Turkish state money on Thursday in a ceremony they hope will herald a thaw in long-frozen ties.But some Armenians, including the country's top clergyman, spurned the event because the Church of the Holy Cross, on a tiny island in Lake Van in eastern Turkey, is not adorned with a cross and will function as a museum, not as a place of worship.
Armenians also fear the event may be just a public relations exercise aimed at softening international pressure on Turkey to own up to its role in massacres of their countrymen in 1915.
Turkey denies claims the massacres amounted to a genocide. Flanked by Turkish flags, Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan, spiritual head of Turkey's tiny surviving Armenian community, thanked Ankara for the $1,4-million restoration, but asked that Armenians be allowed to pray once a year at the site.
"Praying at such a historic church, a centre of our faith, would have a positive effect on people's memory," he told about 350 people attending the ceremony. They included representatives of the Armenian government and the worldwide Armenian diaspora.
Turkish Culture Minister Attila Koc said Ankara would consider the request. He also said he hoped the church would boost tourism to the remote, mountainous region.
The church, commissioned by an Armenian king and completed in 921, is shaped as a cross, decorated with stone reliefs depicting Biblical scenes and topped by a conical roof. Snow-capped mountains tower above it and the blue lake waters.
Some Armenians, whispering prayers, placed candles in the church. A few wept with emotion. Officials removed some of the candles, underlining Turkish sensitivities about expressions of religious belief in officially secular buildings.
Armenia's Patriarch Garegin II boycotted the ceremony because of the decision to make the site a museum.
"Such actions by the Turkish authorities are directed against the Christian sentiments of the Armenian people and cannot be seen as a positive step on the path to reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish peoples," the patriarchate said.
Muslim but secular Turkey, often criticised in the West for its treatment of its Christian minorities, hopes the re-opening of the church will improve its image, especially as the US Congress considers whether to approve a resolution that would recognise the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as genocide.
Ankara denies Ottoman Turkish forces committed a systematic genocide and says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in inter-ethnic fighting in that period.
The church on Akdamar island (Akhtamar to the Armenians) ceased to be a place of worship during World War One, when many of Turkey's ancient Armenian population suffered death or deportation in a tragedy commemorated on April 24 every year.
The Armenian delegation took 16 hours to reach the site, barely 200 km (120 miles) from Yerevan, because Turkey's border with Armenia is closed and they had to travel via Georgia.
"It would be very nice if the border were open. If the border stays shut, tourism from Armenia cannot really take off," Armenia's Deputy Culture Minister Gagik Gyurjyan said.
Some Armenians dismissed the church project as empty PR.
"(Turkey) is sending a message to the European Union: 'Aren't we civilised, trying to restore good ties with Armenia', while for domestic consumption they tell everyone: 'You do not need to worry, there will be no cross (on the church)," said Armenia's Social Democrat Hunchakian Party in Yerevan. - Reuters
Additional reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan in Yerevan
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Labels: Armenian Church restoration
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