NEWS: Turkey's Armenians suprised by Etchmiadzin Akdamar no-show

Turkey's Armenians suprised by Etchmiadzin Akdamar no-show

Monday, September 6, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul is surprised that the spiritual center of the Armenian Apostolic Church has rejected an invitation to attend a historic service on Van’s Akdamar Island on Sept. 19, Istanbul’s deputy patriarch said Monday.

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church, changed its decision after learning that no cross had been affixed to the top of the Surp Haç (Holy Cross) Church in the eastern province ahead of the service.

“I still believe that they will participate,” said Istanbul Deputy Patriarch and Archbishop Aram Ateşyan, adding that he had not yet received any official information from Etchmiadzin.

“But if they retreat [from their earlier decision to attend], there is nothing I can do but respect their decision. In this service I would like to mark our church’s unity,” he said.

“We had decided to send two spiritual leaders to the service because we were told that the cross would be put over the top of the church’s dome for the ceremony. But Turkey did not honor its word and we learned that the cross would not be placed,” Bishop Sebouh Chouldjian, primate of the Church's Diocese of Gougark, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Monday.

“It is claimed that the cross will not be placed on the dome. However, a promise has been made to the Patriarchate. If it does not happen for the service, it would absolutely be placed just after it,” Ateşyan said, criticizing debates in Armenia and the diaspora over the lack of a cross.

Turkish Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay told the Daily News last Sunday that despite the possibility of delays due to work on the country’s constitutional referendum on Sept. 12, the cross would be placed on the dome.

Journalist Levon Barseghyan, the head of the Journalist Club Asbarez in Gyumri, Armenia, criticized the decision of the Etchmiadzin, saying he found the move extremely political.

“Unfortunately the Etchmiadzin deals more with political matters than fulfilling its spiritual duty. Etchmiadzin has long been a place for politics rather than being a religious center,” he said.

People have not given credit to calls in Armenia to boycott the service, said Barseghyan. “If I weren’t in another country for work, I would attend the service, no doubt.”

Political scientist and author Manvel Sargsyan also criticized Etchmiadzin for dealing with politics, criticizing the calls for people to avoid the service.

“They should leave people to their own will. Etchmiadzin should take care of its own business and remain away from politics,” he said.

The Surp Haç Church in the eastern province of Van has been a subject of debate in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora because it was opened as a museum and no cross was placed on its dome. Turkish and Armenian experts restored the church in 2007 at the initiative of Atilla Koç, the culture minister at that time. The church then opened as a museum.