‘Cross crisis' between Turkey, Armenia escalates

‘Cross crisis' between Turkey, Armenia escalates

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Tours are being canceled one after another due to the ‘cross’ crisis between Turkey and Armenia. A cross has yet to be remounted atop the Surp Haç Church in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, but officials say they have launched work to place a cross on the church’s dome


Tour trips to the province of Van organized by the Armenian diaspora and Armenia for this week are being canceled one after another due to a delay in placing a cross atop the Surp Haç Church ahead of Sunday’s long-anticipated liturgy.

Work to place a cross on the dome, however, started early Tuesday, officials said. Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said in a statement to the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review two weeks ago that during the Divine Liturgy on Sunday the cross would be on the dome. Günay said the placing of the cross was delayed so the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, would not be the target of criticism ahead of the Sept. 12 referendum on a constitutional amendments package.

The crisis comes after disappointing governmental initiatives including the Kurdish initiative, which has stalled after initially high hopes, and the Turkish-Armenian dialogue that was launched with football diplomacy in 2008, which came to a halt after the AKP found itself in a difficult political position.

Lack of cross reason for cancellations

Earlier this year tour operators in Armenia started accepting reservations for the service to be held in the church and the number of reservations increased into the thousands in the spring. Itineraries included bus tours starting Sept. 13 from Armenia to Turkey via Georgia. Armenian tourists were to visit Armenian cultural heritage sites in Turkey’s eastern provinces during a weeklong tour.

The Armenian Apostolic Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin announced, however, it would not send two members of the priesthood as representatives to the Divine Liturgy as planned. Another key center of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Jerusalem Patriarchate, has protested the event from the beginning.

“Turkey is being political about the cross. If it is to be mounted, why did they wait so long? This is disrespect to us and our religion,” said Narekavank Tour Manager Ashot Soghomonian from Yerevan in a phone interview.

“Etchmiadzin is boycotting the mass, so how could we forget everything and attend the ceremony?” said Ani Tour owner Volodya Anushian. “We decided to cancel our reservations because we have self-respect. No one has pressured us to cancel them. “Why have they waited for so long?

“This could’ve been a chance to resume Turkish-Armenian dialogue, but we have lost it,” Arushanyan said. “Not only Armenians in Armenia and in the diaspora, but also Armenians in Istanbul should boycott this.”

Over 50,000 tourists were expected from around the world, with some 500 coming via Narekavank and Ani tour operators. The price of Narekavank’s weeklong tour was $450-$500. Ani Tour offered a five-day package at $395. Both operators are preparing to reimburse their customers.

The Surp Haç Church is one of the best examples of Armenian cultural heritage in Anatolia. The church was restored by the Turkish state in 2007 and turned into a museum. Armenian experts restored the structure in accordance with the original. Although construction work has been completed, the cross has not been mounted yet.