CYPRUS ARMENIANS ALLOWED TO RETURN TO MONASTERY AFTER 33 YEARS

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
May 6, 2007 Sunday 6:18 PM EST

Nicosia

Two hundred Armenians returned to the abandoned medieval monastery of
Saint Magar in the Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus Sunday,
where prayers were said for the first time in 33 years.

The pilgrims, most of whom used to spend holidays at the monastery
until the Turkish invasion in 1974, travelled in a convoy of five
buses escorted by a United Nations patrol and Turkish Cypriot police.

But despite the anticipation of return, the enthusiasm of many was
dashed by the poor state of the church and the destruction of all
inscriptions by prospective developers who had earlier set their
sights on transforming the monastery to a casino.

The looting of the site since the war that divided the island, had
also taken its toll on the buildings, many of which had no roof and
could fall within a few years, some bystanders said.

Archbishop Varoujan Hergelian led those present in a prayer of grace,
Hayr Mer in Armenian, while some had brought candles with them

to mark the holy day of the monastery’s saint, a Coptic recluse who
had lived in the caves below the present site of the monastery in
the 12th century.

"I held service and performed my last christening here in 1973,"
added Hergelian, who had travelled in civilian clothes so as not to
incite any reaction from Islamists or Turkish nationalists living in
nearby villages.

"It is in a tragic condition," he said, adding that the baptismal was
totally defaced from his last visit to the derelict monastery three
years ago.

But reconstruction of the monastery dating back to 1642 is highly
unlikely. The UN must ask the Turkish forces for permission since the

buildings and the 9,000-acre estate of olive, citrus and carob trees
that leads down to the northern sea shore, lies within a military
zone and near a Turkish Army camp in the Kyrenia mountain range.

"We only managed to halt the plans for development by the
intervention of the Vatican," said the Armenian deputy in the House
of Representatives, Vartkes Mahdessian, who had organized the trip.

Previous members of the Cypriot parliament had sought the intervention
of the Council of Europe when Turkish Cypriot developers

allegedly won the privatization license for the land and advertised
plans for a casino, hotel and leisure cafeterias.

"I will try to organise a similar pilgrimage next year as well, as
we must remind ourselves of our heritage before the older generations
start to disappear, the MP said.