ARMENIAN CHURCH IS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY RESTORED WITH STATE RESOURCES OF TURKEY, TURKOLOGIST HAKOB CHAKRIAN FIXES
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 30 2007
YEREVAN, MARCH 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Mother See
of Holy Etchmiadzin did not participate in the opening ceremony of
the Akhtamar Surb Khach (Saint Cross) church as it was restored and
re-opened not as a spiritual but as a cultural hearth. Priest Vahram
Mikayelian, the Director of the Information Services of the Mother See
of Holy Etchmiadzin stated about it at the March 30 press conference.
In the priest’s words, when churches were turned into preserves
or clubs during the Soviet years, no clergyman participated in the
latters’ opening, all the more, was not glad on that occasion. So,
in his words, the fact, that the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople
however participated in the opening of the Surb Khach church as a
cultural hearth, was astonishing.
In Turkologist Hakob Chakrian’s words, the RA Minister of Culture was
right sending her Deputy on mission to Turkey. In the Turkologist’s
opinion, the RA authorities’ decision on not participating at all in
the opening ceremony of Surb Khach would be wrong. Commenting upon
the Constantinople Armenian Patriarch’s participation in the Surb
Khach opening, H. Chakrian condemned the latter for accompanying
during the anthem of Turkey. "The Patriarch is a citizen of Turkey,
he is not obliged to sing the anthem of that country: he is not a
football player," the Turkologist said. He also added that restoration
of the Akhtamar Armenian church is a positive phenomenon in any case,
all the more, that an Armenian church was for the first time restored
with state resources of Turkey.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
