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IndyPosted
Sept 19 2010
Rare Mass Held in Historic Armenian Church in Turkey
Posted in International by Rudi Stettner with View Comments
A Mass was held at the historic Armenian Church of Surp Khach in
Turkey, a house of worship that was inaugurated in the year 921 CE, AP
has reported. This marked the first time that services were held in
the church since 95 years ago,during the Armenian genocide.
Although the church had been restored by the Turkish government, it
was opened until now only as a museum. Now, the Turkish government has
allowed services once a year as a goodwill gesture to Turkey's tiny
community of Armenian Christians.
Armenians from Turkey, Armenia and Georgia flocked to the historic
event at the sandstone church that had survived for almost 1100 years.
The gesture of conciliation by the Turkish government was not without
its limits. A large, cast iron cross that was once at the top of the
heavily scarred church was not in place for the services, a fact that
sparked a boycott of the services by many Armenians. One such
individual, Hovhannes Nikoghosyan, of the Yerevan-based Public Policy
Institute, noted as follows in his letter to Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan as follows.
`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.'
The Turkish government, eager to forge closer ties to and possibly
even join the EU, has been trying to show its tolerance towards its
ethnic and religious minorities. The opening of the Church of Surp
Khach, as well as other gestures towards Turkey's minorities are best
s seen in this context.
The smallest gesture or expression in Turkey can be fraught with
political implications. Even referring to the murder of 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide is hotly contested by secular and religious
Turks, who contend that the deaths were a byproduct of a civil war.
In a related development, the Turks have announced their intention to
allow the reopening of the Halki Greek Orthodox seminary, which was
closed in 1971 because of tensions with Greece. A sticking point that
has stalled the reopining of the Halki seminary has been the
insistence of the Turkish government that only Turkish citizens be
allowed to study there, effectively excluding the vast majority of
Greek Orthodox believers from attending the school.
Whether it is a true change of heart or political expediency, a slow
thaw seems to be coming to the relationship between Greece and its
Christian minorities. Though glacially slow by western standards,
change seems to be coming to Turkey.
http://www.indyposted.com/111430/rare-mass-held-in-historic-armenian-church-in-turkey/
From: A. Papazian
Sept 19 2010
Rare Mass Held in Historic Armenian Church in Turkey
Posted in International by Rudi Stettner with View Comments
A Mass was held at the historic Armenian Church of Surp Khach in
Turkey, a house of worship that was inaugurated in the year 921 CE, AP
has reported. This marked the first time that services were held in
the church since 95 years ago,during the Armenian genocide.
Although the church had been restored by the Turkish government, it
was opened until now only as a museum. Now, the Turkish government has
allowed services once a year as a goodwill gesture to Turkey's tiny
community of Armenian Christians.
Armenians from Turkey, Armenia and Georgia flocked to the historic
event at the sandstone church that had survived for almost 1100 years.
The gesture of conciliation by the Turkish government was not without
its limits. A large, cast iron cross that was once at the top of the
heavily scarred church was not in place for the services, a fact that
sparked a boycott of the services by many Armenians. One such
individual, Hovhannes Nikoghosyan, of the Yerevan-based Public Policy
Institute, noted as follows in his letter to Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan as follows.
`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.'
The Turkish government, eager to forge closer ties to and possibly
even join the EU, has been trying to show its tolerance towards its
ethnic and religious minorities. The opening of the Church of Surp
Khach, as well as other gestures towards Turkey's minorities are best
s seen in this context.
The smallest gesture or expression in Turkey can be fraught with
political implications. Even referring to the murder of 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide is hotly contested by secular and religious
Turks, who contend that the deaths were a byproduct of a civil war.
In a related development, the Turks have announced their intention to
allow the reopening of the Halki Greek Orthodox seminary, which was
closed in 1971 because of tensions with Greece. A sticking point that
has stalled the reopining of the Halki seminary has been the
insistence of the Turkish government that only Turkish citizens be
allowed to study there, effectively excluding the vast majority of
Greek Orthodox believers from attending the school.
Whether it is a true change of heart or political expediency, a slow
thaw seems to be coming to the relationship between Greece and its
Christian minorities. Though glacially slow by western standards,
change seems to be coming to Turkey.
http://www.indyposted.com/111430/rare-mass-held-in-historic-armenian-church-in-turkey/
From: A. Papazian