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VirtualAni
Posted Feb 26, 2006 3:10 AM
Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
Feb 24 2006
Turks deny plan to return Armenian monastery
By Simon Bahceli
RUMOURS the Turkish Cypriot authorities are about to return the Sourp
Magar monastery in the north to its Armenian owners were refuted
yesterday by Turkish Cypriot `foreign ministry' advisor Kudret Akay.
`We have contacts with the Armenian community in Cyprus and are
considering allowing them to use the monastery on religious days,'
Akay told the Cyprus Mail. He denied that the building would be
handed over to the Armenian community, but said they would likely be
consulted over repairs due to take place on the building on the
northern sloped of the Pentadaktylos mountains.
Rumours of the handover first appeared in Istanbul-based Armenian
weekly Agos, which reported earlier this week that Turkish
businessman Ulus Sonmezler was planning to sue the Turkish Cypriot
authorities because it had annulled a 49-year lease he signed on the
building in 1997.
Sonmezler said he believed his contract was annulled because the
Sourp Magar monastery was included in a list of historical buildings
the north was planning to hand over to the Republic of Cyprus. Akay,
however, denied the existence of such a list.
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