Agence France Presse — English
March 27, 2007 Tuesday 5:24 PM GMT

Armenian church chief snubs Turkish invitation

The head of Armenia’s Apostolic Church has declined an invitation
from Turkey to attend the opening of a restored Armenian church, his
office announced Tuesday.

Catholicos Karekin II would not be attending because the restored
church was being converted into a museum and the ceremony would be a
non-religious one, the church said in a statement.

The Church of the Holy Cross was built on Akhtamar Island in Lake
Van, eastern Turkey, in the 10th century but abandoned after the
World War I killings of Armenians under Ottoman rule.

Restored by the Turkish authorities, it is due to be opened on
Thursday.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia are still strained over the
Ottoman-era killings, which took place between 1915 and 1917.

Yerevan describes the killings as genocide, a label that Turkey, the
Ottoman Empire’s successor, categorically rejects.

The murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who supported
the genocide position, has further strained relations. He was shot
dead in Istanbul on January 19.

Earlier this month, lawyers for his family filed a motion for a
judicial probe into officials they accused of being implicated in the
murder.