VAN (RFE/RL) — Thousands of Armenians attended on Sunday a mass held in a medieval Armenian cathedral in southeastern Turkey for the second time since its government-funded renovation in 2007.
News reports citing Turkish television said boat shuttles ferried the pilgrims, most of them from Turkey but some from Armenia and Europe, to the Akhtamar Island on Lake Van, which is home to the church of Surp Khach (Holy Cross). They said a new lakeside pier was built this year to accommodate the faithful.
The Turkish government allowed the first mass in nearly a century there in September 2010 after spending $1.5 million on the renovation and turning the church into a museum.
The AFP news agency reported that Archbishop Aram Ateshian, the interim spiritual leader of Turkey’s Armenian community, chaired the ceremony this year. The Anatolia news agency quoted Ateshian as saying that only 60 percent of around 3,000 people who arrived on the island were able to enter the church. The others heard the mass outside through loudspeakers.
According to the Turkish Tourism Ministry, nearly 30,000 tourists flocked to the Akhtamar church last year.
The Mother See of the Armenian Apostolic Church boycotted the 2010 ceremony, saying that the Turkish authorities broke their pledge to restore a cross on the Surp Khach dome in time for the mass. The cross was placed there later in 2010.
