Exact date of Sacred Cross Church opening not known yet

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what many are viewing as a surprise response to the Armenian Diaspora efforts to get the Armenian Genocide bill passed in the U.S. Congress, has announced plans to personally open up the Armenian Sacred Cross Church on Van Lake's Akhtamar Island. The church, which has been carefully restored in a Ministry of Culture and Tourism project, will be re-opened on March 29, a date which some speculate has been chosen to proceed the April date when the Armenian Genocide bill is to be debated in the U.S. Congress, reports Hurriyet newspaper. Erdogan is reportedly planning to attend the opening ceremony for the Sacred Cross Church with a crowded delegation of ruling AKP cabinet and MP members. High ranking members of the Armenian Diaspora are reportedly also to be invited to the opening, including Armenia's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Hasmik Poghosyan.



Meanwhile, debate as to whether or not a cross is to be put on the top of the Sacred Cross Church's steeple rages on. Atilla Koc, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, has noted "If it turns out the original had one, then this one will too," the newspaper says. The church, which sits on the Akhtamar Island in Van Lake, was originally built by Vaspurakan King Gagik I between the years of 915-921 AD.



The terms of the opening ceremony have been changed many times. At first it was scheduled for April 24, then under the pressure of the Armenian Diaspora the ceremony was postponed to April 15, then to April 11. As ARI Movement International Relations Coordinator Erkut Emcioglu told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the exact date is not known yet and it's conditioned by a number of reasons. "Turkey is awaiting presidential election in May. In April the U.S. Congress will launch debates on the Armenian Genocide bill. The opening ceremony is most likely to take place in March," he said.