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Al-Arabiya, UAE
Oct 2 2010
Muslim prayer at cathedral seen as political provocation
Armenia church slams Turks' prayer at holy site
YEREVAN/ ISTANBUL (Agencies)
Armenia's Apostolic Church on Saturday condemned a ceremony where
hundreds of Turkish nationalists held prayers at the ruins of an
ancient Armenian cathedral in eastern Turkey.
The ceremony on Friday, organized by the Nationalist Action Party
(MHP), Turkey's second largest opposition force, was widely seen as a
response to a landmark service that Armenians held last month in the
same region.
"We learned with indignation that, with permission from Turkish
authorities, members of the Nationalist Action Party organized Muslim
prayers at the Armenian Christian church in Ani," the Holy See of
Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian church, said in a statement.
"This step was a political provocation that bears no relation to
spiritual feelings or to religious freedom or rights," it said.
"The Holy Etchmiadzin condemns such actions, which sow intolerance and
hatred towards Armenians."
Tensions between Turkey and Armenia have risen after a landmark deal
signed last year to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border
fell apart amid lingering mistrust. Armenia announced in April it had
halted the ratification process of the deal.
Friday's ceremony was held at the decaying 11th-century cathedral at
Ani, an uninhabited archaeological site, which was once the capital of
a medieval Armenian kingdom, in the province of Kars, at the Armenian
border.
The ceremony followed a landmark September 19 service at a historic
Armenian church in Van province, which Ankara opened to prayers in a
gesture of good will, hoping to defuse tensions in the troubled peace
efforts with Armenia.
The government had hailed that service as a sign of growing religious
tolerance in the predominantly Muslim country as it seeks membership
of the European Union.
The Armenian church also boycotted that ceremony after Turkey's
failure to install a cross on the church dome sparked Armenian
criticism that the mass was a Turkish publicity stunt.
It was the first service at the edifice since Armenians were effaced
from the region under the Ottoman Empire during World War I, falling
victim to mass killings and deportations, which they describe as
genocide.
Following the church service, the opposition Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP) obtained permission from the Culture Ministry to hold
prayers in the Cathedral converted into a mosque by Seljuk Sultan Alp
Arslan when he conquered the region in 1064.
"I think it is important to at least remember the mosque where Sultan
Alp Arslan prayed when he entered these lands," MHP Kars deputy Gurcan
Dagdas told a Turkish broadcaster this week.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/10/02/120998.html
From: A. Papazian
Oct 2 2010
Muslim prayer at cathedral seen as political provocation
Armenia church slams Turks' prayer at holy site
YEREVAN/ ISTANBUL (Agencies)
Armenia's Apostolic Church on Saturday condemned a ceremony where
hundreds of Turkish nationalists held prayers at the ruins of an
ancient Armenian cathedral in eastern Turkey.
The ceremony on Friday, organized by the Nationalist Action Party
(MHP), Turkey's second largest opposition force, was widely seen as a
response to a landmark service that Armenians held last month in the
same region.
"We learned with indignation that, with permission from Turkish
authorities, members of the Nationalist Action Party organized Muslim
prayers at the Armenian Christian church in Ani," the Holy See of
Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian church, said in a statement.
"This step was a political provocation that bears no relation to
spiritual feelings or to religious freedom or rights," it said.
"The Holy Etchmiadzin condemns such actions, which sow intolerance and
hatred towards Armenians."
Tensions between Turkey and Armenia have risen after a landmark deal
signed last year to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border
fell apart amid lingering mistrust. Armenia announced in April it had
halted the ratification process of the deal.
Friday's ceremony was held at the decaying 11th-century cathedral at
Ani, an uninhabited archaeological site, which was once the capital of
a medieval Armenian kingdom, in the province of Kars, at the Armenian
border.
The ceremony followed a landmark September 19 service at a historic
Armenian church in Van province, which Ankara opened to prayers in a
gesture of good will, hoping to defuse tensions in the troubled peace
efforts with Armenia.
The government had hailed that service as a sign of growing religious
tolerance in the predominantly Muslim country as it seeks membership
of the European Union.
The Armenian church also boycotted that ceremony after Turkey's
failure to install a cross on the church dome sparked Armenian
criticism that the mass was a Turkish publicity stunt.
It was the first service at the edifice since Armenians were effaced
from the region under the Ottoman Empire during World War I, falling
victim to mass killings and deportations, which they describe as
genocide.
Following the church service, the opposition Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP) obtained permission from the Culture Ministry to hold
prayers in the Cathedral converted into a mosque by Seljuk Sultan Alp
Arslan when he conquered the region in 1064.
"I think it is important to at least remember the mosque where Sultan
Alp Arslan prayed when he entered these lands," MHP Kars deputy Gurcan
Dagdas told a Turkish broadcaster this week.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/10/02/120998.html
From: A. Papazian