Turkey to open church doors to Armenian believers
Turkey intends to take another step toward normalizing its strained
relatons with Armenia by opening the Armenian Akdamar church for
prayers in the fall of 2010, says the governor of the southeastern
Van province where the shrine is located.
Munir Karaloglu said Armenians will also be invited for prayers as a sign of hospitality of the local residents. "Inshallah, we are expecting all our [ethnic] Armenian citizens for a service at the Akdamar church on September 12."
The 9th century sculptural monument, restored by the Turkish government for around $1.7 million, was inaugurated in April 2007. The issue of whether the church, opened by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, should be open for prayers, has been a subject of heated debate.*
Munir Karaloglu said Armenians will also be invited for prayers as a sign of hospitality of the local residents. "Inshallah, we are expecting all our [ethnic] Armenian citizens for a service at the Akdamar church on September 12."
The 9th century sculptural monument, restored by the Turkish government for around $1.7 million, was inaugurated in April 2007. The issue of whether the church, opened by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, should be open for prayers, has been a subject of heated debate.*
Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.
Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.
By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.
Subscribe
You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper
Thank you!