Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

Moscow, January 23, Interfax - President of Cyprus Tassos Papandopoulos accused Turkey of destroying churches in the northern part of the island.

‘I consider it my duty to remind of the destruction of Christian churches and desecration of the holy sanctuaries in the part of our homeland occupied by the Turkish army’, Papandopoulos said at the ceremony for the presentation of the award of the International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Nations held in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow on Saturday

According to the head of the State of Cyprus, ‘the criminal Turkish occupation’ of the last thirty years has led to the ‘organized pillage of the Christian holy sites and systematic plundering’ of the Orthodox cultural heritage in the northern part of the Cyprus.

Earlier that same day Papandopoulos met Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia and told him that during the years of occupation about 350 Orthodox churches had been destroyed or used as entertainment facilities or even stalls for cattle.

The President of Cyprus expressed his gratitude to Alexy II for ‘unremitting attention to the destiny of the Cypriots and profound knowledge of the problems of Cyprus.’ He also noted the ‘strong stance of Russia’ on the problem of Cyprus, a participant in the meeting reported Interfax.

[Piratis]

While we are restoring the Muslim monuments in the free areas, like the Hala Sultan Tekke, unfortunately the Turkish invaders still show no signs of civility and they are trying in all possible ways to destroy and hide from the occupied Cyprus everything that reveals that this is a land that Greeks and Christians have been the majority for 1000s of years.

Ethnically cleansing the majority of the population, and replacing them with illegal Turkish settlers was apparently not enough for them. Changing the names of all our villages was not enough either. They will do everything possible in a vain attempt to make occupied Cyprus a Turkish land.

Sooner or later they will learn, like it was the case of their predecessors the Ottomans, that no matter how much they try to do this, and no matter of the amount of vandalism they perform, that this island belongs to Cypriots, the large majority of which are Greek and Christians.

[pumpernickle]

Dont mean to rain on your parade,

but I had a sneaky look round a Turk cemetary in larnaca recently, and found to was proper done over. Nice use of the bulldozer.

so, I think you the score

[Piratis]

Have you seen our cemeteries in the occupied areas? If a bulldozer had been used as you say then you wouldn't know it is a cemetery. They might indeed be neglected by the TC community, but the state did nothing in order to destroy any cemeteries or Mosques, and on the the contrary has helped to maintain several of them.

The Turks on the other hand stole the icons from our churches and sold them abroad, turned churches into mosques and other things (like houses for soldiers), and they wouldn't even let us to go and maintain them.

[pumpernickle]

true

they did invade, which is a pretty backward thing to do even by the standards of conduct in the 1970s.

but to be fair, look at what you are dealing with. They arent exactly the most civilised people on earth are they?

[bg_turk]

I condemn any desecration of graves and churches in the TRNC and appeal to the authorities of the TRNC to take action. It completely against the principles of islam to desecrate what other people hold as holy.

[sadik]

All the churches should be returned to their owners immediately, even without a solution. However, I doubt if this can be done by the TC governent. The nationalist mentality in Turkey sees every little thing as a bargaining chip, even on humaniterian issues.

On the other hand it's very interesting that the most civilized nation of all, the Brits, and their civilized Anglo partners support the most uncivilized nation on Earth on the Cyprus issue. I'm sure Pumpy will make us lough on this one as well.

Turkish Foreign minister will make a new proposal on the issue of opening of the Turkish ports to the GCs, resumption of negotiations and lifting of ambargos today with full support of the British and American governments.

[Viewpoint]

The religious places of worship should not be used for poltical gain and they should all be restored to high standards and open to the public. I recently visted a restored church in Kyrenia high up in the mountains, its now in pristeen condition I only wish the same could be said for all religious buildings on both sides of the border.