On March 20, 2021, a live music session took place at the Sourp Magar Monastery located in Halefka in the Pentadaktylos mountain range in Kyrenia, Cyprus. This live session was organised by an event planning organisation, that organises and broadcasts electronic music events at entertainment venues, including historical and cultural locations. The event was recorded and uploaded on YouTube on 7 April 2021.
Office of RTCYPP received a copy of the YouTube on the same day and contacted Archbishop Khoren and the Mufti Atalay immediately. Office of EVQAF stated that they had not given permission for such an event nor were asked. Both religious leaders condemned the act and decided to make public statements. The Religious Leaders of Cyprus issued a statement through the Office of RTCYPP condemning the misuse as an act of disrespect towards a place of worship and called for the authorities to protect all places of worship against misuse, vandalism and desecration.
The Mufti of Cyprus statement of condemnation also urged the authorities to deal with such incidents accordingly. The Archbishop of the Armenian-Orthodox Church a statement in condemning the incident and urged the authorities to take the necessary steps to avoid such disrespectful acts at places of worship in the future.
The Office of RTCYPP posted on its Facebook and Twitter pages, both posts were shared and retweeted by Diplomats and Civil Society movements such as ‘Unite Cyprus Now’ and US Ambassador, Swedish Ambassador and UK High Commissioner all liked the tweet thus giving it further coverage.
The Swedish and US Ambassadors tweeted and deplored & condemned the act. The incident and the statements were picked up by the local media and was widely covered by the GC press that condemned the act as well as some TC press that focussed more on the Mufti’s statement.
Mr. Fotis Fotiou, the Commissioner of the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus issued a statement condemning the misuse of the Monastery and Mr. Costas Mavrides, a member of the European Parliament and the Democratic Party in Cyprus, reported the incident to the European Parliament.
As of now, the Turkish Cypriot leadership did not post or made a public comment on the incident. The Turkish-Cypriot president of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage reacted negatively to the Religious Leaders’ Statement reproaching the language they used as being too harsh and inciting
propaganda.
propaganda.
The Armenian Representative to the House of Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus sent letters to Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission, Charles Michel – President of the European Council, Antonio Guterres – Secretary-General of the United Nations and Jakhongir Khaydarov – Head of Mission UNDP Cyprus.
According to UNDP-PFF Update of 28 May 2020 conservation works on the Monastery which had started in early 2020 are on-going.
Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia
For the full texts concerning the issue click on the link.-
His Holiness Aram I