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HULIQ.com, SC
Sept 17 2010
Open Letter to Turkish PM on Denying A Cross Atop Armenian Church
by Hovhannes Nikoghosyan
In two days, on September 19, a historic church service will be held
in Holy Cross Armenian Church, located in Eastern Turkish province of
Van. After being closed for 100 years Turkey renovated it and turned
into a museum, similar to Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Two weeks before
the service and 5000 reservations for attendance Turkey said it will
not be possible to put the cross on the top of the dome of the
Armenian Church.
The overwhelming majority of the reservations are canceled as a
response to Turkish denial of religious rights of its Christian
minorities. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office had sent
personal invitations to some Armenian analysts in Armenia and Diaspora
inviting to participate in this historic event. One of the recipients
of those invitations Mr. Hovhannes Nikoghosyan from the Yerevan-based
Public Policy Institute sends this open letter to PM Erdogan
explaining why he will not travel to Turkey and why he declines the
invitation.
H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Prime-Minister
Republic of Turkey
Ankara
Your Excellency,
Accept my most sincere congratulations to You and Your political party
over the successful outcome of the Constitutional Referendum, which in
the course of its implementation, I hope, will bring new democratic
achievements to the Republic of Turkey and more freedoms to its fellow
citizens.
I am in receipt of your invitation to attend the liturgy at the
Armenian church of Surp Khach (Holy Cross) at the Akhtamar Island of
Van province. Indeed, this was meant to be a welcomed effort, resting
on the grounds of recent democratic openings of Your Government.
However, as hundreds of other intellectuals and public opinion leaders
of the Armenian Nation, I regret to share this disclaimer on Your much
appreciated invitation. This is in no way an ignorance of Your
courtesy, but unfortunately a well-grounded rejection of the policy
that Your Government has adopted against its ethnic Armenian minority,
the heirs of Armenian Genocide and the Republic of Armenia.
Honorable Prime-Minister,
It's a direct impiety towards Armenians to deny installing the cross
on dome of the church and, moreover, holding it away from under the
direct auspices of the Istanbul Patriarchy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church as in the cases of other religious monuments of the Armenians
on those holy lands. A religious ceremony in an uncrossed, unhallowed
church, which Your Government has re-opened solely as a museum in
2007, will not complete its anticipated aim of bridging our different
perspectives over joint past under the Ottoman years.
In order to serve its true mission, instead of trying to mislead the
international public opinion, half-steps and show-offs should be
excluded. The restart of the broken and de facto frozen
Armenian-Turkish rapprochement is the right way of the traffic, which
shall lead to the fulfillment of the obligations negotiated under the
Zurich Protocols.
Armenians - being those from Armenia or elsewhere in the world, or
whatever person as a tourist, should not be deprived of their natural
rights of visiting and praying in the lands that hold the treasures of
world architecture and art. Unfortunately, in the XXI century we still
face obvious breaches to the international humanitarian custom and law
when Armenian children experience the rude and crude attitude of the
Turkish policemen, impeding them to pray and light a candle at the
same church of Surp Khach, exactly where the liturgy is to take place
soon.
This is obviously not the present and the future we deserve. I wish to
hope that sometime soon the sanctified church of Surp Hach will
shelter Christian pilgrims from all around the world.
Please accept the assurances of our highest consideration.
Mr. Nikoghosyan is a research fellow at Yerevan-based Public Policy Institute.
http://www.huliq.com/1/917-open-letter-turkish-pm-denying-cross-atop-armenian-church
From: A. Papazian
Sept 17 2010
Open Letter to Turkish PM on Denying A Cross Atop Armenian Church
by Hovhannes Nikoghosyan
In two days, on September 19, a historic church service will be held
in Holy Cross Armenian Church, located in Eastern Turkish province of
Van. After being closed for 100 years Turkey renovated it and turned
into a museum, similar to Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Two weeks before
the service and 5000 reservations for attendance Turkey said it will
not be possible to put the cross on the top of the dome of the
Armenian Church.
The overwhelming majority of the reservations are canceled as a
response to Turkish denial of religious rights of its Christian
minorities. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office had sent
personal invitations to some Armenian analysts in Armenia and Diaspora
inviting to participate in this historic event. One of the recipients
of those invitations Mr. Hovhannes Nikoghosyan from the Yerevan-based
Public Policy Institute sends this open letter to PM Erdogan
explaining why he will not travel to Turkey and why he declines the
invitation.
H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Prime-Minister
Republic of Turkey
Ankara
Your Excellency,
Accept my most sincere congratulations to You and Your political party
over the successful outcome of the Constitutional Referendum, which in
the course of its implementation, I hope, will bring new democratic
achievements to the Republic of Turkey and more freedoms to its fellow
citizens.
I am in receipt of your invitation to attend the liturgy at the
Armenian church of Surp Khach (Holy Cross) at the Akhtamar Island of
Van province. Indeed, this was meant to be a welcomed effort, resting
on the grounds of recent democratic openings of Your Government.
However, as hundreds of other intellectuals and public opinion leaders
of the Armenian Nation, I regret to share this disclaimer on Your much
appreciated invitation. This is in no way an ignorance of Your
courtesy, but unfortunately a well-grounded rejection of the policy
that Your Government has adopted against its ethnic Armenian minority,
the heirs of Armenian Genocide and the Republic of Armenia.
Honorable Prime-Minister,
It's a direct impiety towards Armenians to deny installing the cross
on dome of the church and, moreover, holding it away from under the
direct auspices of the Istanbul Patriarchy of the Armenian Apostolic
Church as in the cases of other religious monuments of the Armenians
on those holy lands. A religious ceremony in an uncrossed, unhallowed
church, which Your Government has re-opened solely as a museum in
2007, will not complete its anticipated aim of bridging our different
perspectives over joint past under the Ottoman years.
In order to serve its true mission, instead of trying to mislead the
international public opinion, half-steps and show-offs should be
excluded. The restart of the broken and de facto frozen
Armenian-Turkish rapprochement is the right way of the traffic, which
shall lead to the fulfillment of the obligations negotiated under the
Zurich Protocols.
Armenians - being those from Armenia or elsewhere in the world, or
whatever person as a tourist, should not be deprived of their natural
rights of visiting and praying in the lands that hold the treasures of
world architecture and art. Unfortunately, in the XXI century we still
face obvious breaches to the international humanitarian custom and law
when Armenian children experience the rude and crude attitude of the
Turkish policemen, impeding them to pray and light a candle at the
same church of Surp Khach, exactly where the liturgy is to take place
soon.
This is obviously not the present and the future we deserve. I wish to
hope that sometime soon the sanctified church of Surp Hach will
shelter Christian pilgrims from all around the world.
Please accept the assurances of our highest consideration.
Mr. Nikoghosyan is a research fellow at Yerevan-based Public Policy Institute.
http://www.huliq.com/1/917-open-letter-turkish-pm-denying-cross-atop-armenian-church
From: A. Papazian