PanARMENIAN.Net
Exact date of Sacred Cross Church opening not known yet
03.03.2007 14:42 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what many
are viewing as a surprise response to the Armenian Diaspora efforts to
get the Armenian Genocide bill passed in the U.S. Congress, has
announced plans to personally open up the Armenian Sacred Cross Church
on Van Lake’s Akhtamar Island. The church, which has been carefully
restored in a Ministry of Culture and Tourism project, will be
re-opened on March 29, a date which some speculate has been chosen to
proceed the April date when the Armenian Genocide bill is to be
debated in the U.S. Congress, reports Hurriyet newspaper. Erdogan is
reportedly planning to attend the opening ceremony for the Sacred
Cross Church with a crowded delegation of ruling AKP cabinet and MP
members. High ranking members of the Armenian Diaspora are reportedly
also to be invited to the opening, including Armenia’s Minister of
Culture and Tourism, Hasmik Poghosyan.
Meanwhile, debate as to whether or not a cross is to be put on the top
of the Sacred Cross Church’s steeple rages on. Atilla Koc, the
Minister of Culture and Tourism, has noted "If it turns out the
original had one, then this one will too," the newspaper says. The
church, which sits on the Akhtamar Island in Van Lake, was originally
built by Vaspurakan King Gagik I between the years of 915-921 AD.
The terms of the opening ceremony have been changed many times. At
first it was scheduled for April 24, then under the pressure of the
Armenian Diaspora the ceremony was postponed to April 15, then to
April 11. As ARI Movement International Relations Coordinator Erkut
Emcioglu told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the exact date is not known
yet and it’s conditioned by a number of reasons. `Turkey is awaiting
presidential election in May. In April the U.S. Congress will launch
debates on the Armenian Genocide bill. The opening ceremony is most
likely to take place in March,’ he said.
