ARMENIAN OFFICIAL STOPS SHORT OF PRAISING CHURCH REOPENING IN TURKEY

Arminfo
29 Mar 07

Yerevan, 29 March: The renovation and opening of the Holy Cross
Church on the island of Akhtamar [Turkish: Akdamar] by the Turkish
authorities is apparently a positive thing because it deals with
the revival of the renowned Armenian medieval monument, which was
abandoned after 1915 and has been in bad shape, says a commentary
by acting press secretary Vladimir Karapetyan on the website of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry. The message is posted in connection with
the reopening of the Holy Cross Church on Akhtamar island in Lake Van,
Turkey, scheduled for today [29 March].

However, Karapetyan says, it should be noted that the Turkish
authorities and the media do not mention its cultural and historic
significance and its affiliation with Armenians or the Armenian
Church. "This fact, exploited vehemently with propaganda purposes,
serves the aim of hindering the adoption by the international community
of a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide.

By doing so, the Turkish authorities shun responsibility not only
before history and memory, but also before the Armenian minority in
their own country," Karapetyan says.

He says that when dealing with the historical aspect of the issue,
it is impossible not to mention that the Holy Cross Church is only
one of the many Armenian architectural monuments on the territory
of Turkey. Such renowned monuments as dozens of churches in Ani,
the Tegor church, the St Karapet monastery in Mush, the St Hovhannes
temple in Bagaran and thousands of others have been destroyed and
continue to be destroyed. All these historical monuments have been
destroyed because of neglect and their Armenian heritage, but when
they speak of "Anatolian culture" in Turkey, it is impossible to
imagine it without the Armenian element, Karapetyan says. According
to him, Armenia appreciates Turkey’s initiative to renovate one of
the renowned Armenian historical and cultural monuments, hoping that
this kind of initiative will not remain a single fact.

An official delegation from the Armenian Ministry of Culture, Sport
and Youth Affairs will take part in the ceremony of the opening of the
Holy Cross Church, which is a positive step. But it is regrettable that
many Armenians, whose forefathers took part in building the church,
cannot attend the ceremony due to the closed Armenian-Turkish border.

"Armenia would like to assess this initiative by the
Turkish authorities as a real step towards reconciliation and
rapprochement. However, it is very hard to do so when the Turkish
authorities fail to assess and understand the people and the
civilization that has created that monument, when the word ‘Armenian’
can be hardly seen even in the museum of the ‘Anatolian civilization’
in Ankara. The renovation of the Holy Cross Church is important to us,
but it is equally important to Turkish society."

[Passage omitted: repetition of ideas]

"Armenia believes that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border,
closed down in 1993, would constitute real progress in normalizing
Armenian-Turkish relations," Karapetyan says.