AZG Armenian Daily #040, 03/03/2007

Armenia-Turkey Relations

AKHTAMAR’S SURB KHACH (THE HOLY CROSS) CHURCH TO BE OPENED BY PRIME
MINISTER ERDOGAN ON MARCH 29

Akhtamar’s Surb Khach (The Holy Cross) church to be opened by Prime
Minister of Turkey Erdogan on March 29, reports "Hurriet"
newspaper. The opening ceremony was planed on April 15, but due to
Ergodan’s official visit to Hanover, Germany, it was moved on March
29. The newspaper also referred to other possible reasons of opening
the church sooner than it was planned, which are spoken about in the
backstage of official Ankara. Three main causes are pointed out –
first, in April 2007 the Turkish "Justice and Prosperity" party is
expected to announce the name of its candidate for president’s office,
and second, the discussion of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the
US Congress and aiming to have positive impression on the Senators on
the eve of voting for the resolution.

"Hurriet " says due to the aforementioned reasons a large delegation
is to arrive to the ceremony, consisting of "Justice and Prosperity"
party members, representatives of the Turkish Governmen and the
Armenian Diaspora, outstanding politicians and intellectuals. It is
also reported that Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Koc is to send
a special invitation to Ms. Hasmik Pogosian, the Ministry of Culture
of Armenia.

It is noteworthy that an important detail, the church’s cross, was not
was not preserved in its place after the reconstruction. In connection
with that Mr. Koc said that it was not made on any evil purpose. If
the church had a cross in origin, it will be placed back on its
place. Turkish Culture Ministry historical monuments restoration
expert Yakub Hazan explained that the Akhtamar church has had a cross
(as any church should), but the restoration commission decided to omit
that detail due to lack of information about its authentic look. "We
had only one photograph of the church, which was made from afar and
the cross can hardly be seen."

H. Chaqrian