SOME 479 FOREIGN TOURISTS VISIT HOLY CROSS ARMENIAN CHURCH IN TURKEY IN TWO MONTHS

ARMENPRESS
Jun 01 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS: In the last two months since the official
opening of the restored Armenian Holy Cross Church on Akhtamar Island
in Lake Van in eastern Turkey only 479 foreign tourists visited the
site which acts as a museum.

An official of the tourism department of the town of Van told Net
Internet newspaper that their hopes connected with the Church did
not justify.

"The island is visited mainly by local people, who made about 6,000
people in the last two months. We hope that many Armenians from abroad
will visit the site," he said.

The newspaper said also that a petition by Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian,
the religious leader of Turkish Armenians, to the government of
Turkey requesting a permission for holding a service once a year in
the Church and placing a cross on it has not been answered so far.