Erdogan: The Turk is not capable of Genocide...rv

[Z'areh]

But obviously very capable of destroying everything in its path.

Julfa Armenian cemetery destruction is not an isolated MO, this is a pathological behavior.

This behaviour certainly underlines the fact that Azeris and Turks are indeed "one nation with two states".

 

Below is not an Armenian accusation against the Turks, and it is printed in one of the most

pro-Turkish newspapers in the US.

 

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REPORT WARNS ABOUT HEAVY LOSS OF RELIGIOUS ARTIFACTS IN CYPRUS

Julia Duin

 

Washington Times

July 21 2009

DC

 

Religious artifacts on the divided island of Cyprus are in great peril,

according to a U.S. Helsinki Commission document to be releasedTuesday

afternoon.

 

Thousands of Orthodox icons, manuscripts, frescoes and mosaics

have been looted from churches, chapels and monasteries in northern

Cyprus, ending up on international auction blocks, says the document,

theresult of a lengthy investigation by the Helsinki Commission and

titled Destruction of Cultural Property in the Northern Part of Cyprus

and Violations of International Law.

 

A copy of the 50-page document was provided to The Washington Times

in advance of a Tuesday press briefing and panel discussion on

Capitol Hill.

 

The panelists will include Charalampos Chotzakoglou, professor of

Byzantine art and archaeology at Hellenic Open University in Patras,

Greece; German art historian Klaus Gallas, who is a specialist on

theinternational smuggling of art artifacts; and Michael Jansen,

authorof War and Cultural Heritage: Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish

Invasion.

 

Most of the ruined property belongs to the Orthodox Church of Cyprus,

one of the world's oldest national Orthodox churches, with the rest

belonging to Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Maronite and Jewish groups.

 

Thirty-five years of occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkish forces

have ruined a plethora of archeological and religious sites, says the

report, which adds that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been documenting the destruction

since 1984.

 

According to the report:

 

* 500 Orthodox churches or chapels have been pillaged, demolished

or vandalized.

 

* 133 churches, chapels and monasteries have been desecrated.

 

* 15,000 paintings have disappeared.

 

* 77 churches have been turned into mosques, 28 are being used by

the Turkish military as hospitals or camps, and 13 have been turned

into barns.

 

A staff member for the Helsinki Commission said a copy of the

report had been sent to the Turkish Embassy in Washington, but an

embassyspokesman said it had not been received.

 

It sounds like a one-sided presentation, said the embassy spokesman,

who asked to remain unidentified because he was not authorized to

comment on the record.

 

There's no input from the Turkish side. There is no coincidence the

report is coming out this week because it's the 35th anniversary

ofthe intervention by Turkey. Turkey respects all cultural heritages,

the spokesman said.

 

The Turkish Embassy spokesman pointed out a Nov. 28, 2001, letter

from Tahsin Ertugruloglu, foreign affairs minister for the self-styled

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, that said Greek Cypriots destroyed

Muslim shrines and mosques in 103 villages between 1963 and 1974.

 

(Curiously the Azeris say the same thing, same accusations againt the Armenians about Azeri mosques in Armenian and Artsakh)

 

The report by the U.S. Helsinki Commission, which monitors compliance

with agreements among members of the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe, included this claim by Turkey. But the report

also added that Cyprus, which exercises effective control over the

southern two-thirds of the island, has spent about $600,000 since

2000 to renovate 17 historic mosques.

 

According to the report, the 77 churches converted into mosques have

texts from the Koran inscribed where icons and paintings used to

be; the St. Anastasia monastery is now a hotel with a swimming pool

and casino; and the Byzantine-era monastery of Antiphonetes has had

itsicons and murals removed and sold to art dealers.

 

Jerome Bowers, a Northern Illinois University associate history

professor who recently returned from studying in Cyprus, said in an

e-mail that while Greek Orthodox artifacts in Northern Cyprus have

been damaged, the stolen goods have been smuggled out of Cyprus mostly

through the southern part of the island.

 

There can be no denying the fact that the destruction of

religiouscultural artifacts in the south has also taken place, he

wrote. In Paphos, for example, the Camii Cedit was not only destroyed

but replaced with a parking lot, and the square surrounding the

location is nowcalled March 9th Square, named for the date of the

mosque's destruction.

 

The Christian church has ancient roots in Cyprus. Visited in A.D. 45

by the apostle Paul along with his co-workers Barnabas and Mark (as

recorded in Acts 13:4-12), it was ruled by Byzantine emperors for

hundreds of years. It was during this time that the vast majority of

churches were built in the region and decorated with brightly colored

frescoes and tiled mosaics.

 

In 1571, the island fell under the control of the Ottoman Turks, and

in 1878, the British took over. The native Cypriots are divided into

two camps: 80 percent Greek speakers and 18 percent ethnic Turks,

with the remaining 2 percent divided among Armenians, Maronites and

Latin-rite Catholics.

 

According to the report, the Greek government, with the help of Cypriot

armed forces, forced out Archbishop Makarios, the first democratically

elected president of the island, on July 15, 1974.

 

Turkey invaded five days later, taking over the northern 37 percent

of Cyprus, ostensibly to protect Turkish-speaking inhabitants. Several

years later, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was established,

though no country in the world besides Turkey recognizes it. TheGreek

Cypriot-led Republic of Cyprus claims to be the sole legitimate

government of the whole island, a claim every country in the world

except Turkey accepts.

 

The report says there are 660,000 Greek Cypriots living on the island's

southern part, 89,000 Turkish speakers in the north and 43,000 Turkish

soldiers serving as an occupying force. (About two Turkish Soldiers for each Turkish Cypriot)

 

Hilmi Akil, the Washington representative for the Turkish Republicof

Northern Cyprus, dismissed the Helsinki Commission report as a

propaganda exercise, adding that Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot

leaders recently agreed to set up a joint committee on cultural

heritage matters.

 

The theft of cultural artifacts takes place everywhere, including

South Cyprus, he said. What we're objecting to is destruction,

which has happened on both sides of the island, is being portrayed

as something that only Turkish Cypriots have done.

 

[Yervant1]

The theft of cultural artifacts takes place everywhere, including

South Cyprus, he said. What we're objecting to is destruction,

which has happened on both sides of the island, is being portrayed

as something that only Turkish Cypriots have done.

Both sides just like their popular lie, "People died on both sides during the war, why talk about the Armenians only".