Greece’s international ministry stated on Monday pictures exhibiting a band dancing to digital music on the former Orthodox Christian Sumela monastery in Turkey had been “offensive” and “a desecration” of the monument.
The ministry referred to as on Turkish authorities “to do their utmost to stop such acts from being repeated” and to respect the location, a candidate for UNESCO’s checklist of world heritage websites.
“The current pictures that had been displayed on social media, by which a international band appears to be dancing disco within the space ofthe Historic Monastery of Panagia Soumela, are a desecration of this Monument,” it stated.
Turkish officers weren’t instantly accessible for remark.
Based within the 4th century, Sumela is a monastic complicated constructed right into a sheer cliff above the Black Sea forest in jap Turkey. It was way back stripped of its official non secular standing and operates as a museum administered by the Tradition Ministry in Turkey.
Hundreds of vacationers and Orthodox Christian worshippers journey to the monastery yearly.
In 2010, Turkish authorities allowed the primary Orthodox liturgy since ethnic Greeks had been expelled in 1923 as a part of a inhabitants change between Greece and Turkey. In 2015, the Sumela monastery was shut for restoration and reopened to vacationers in 2019.
A liturgy to mark the Feast Day of the Virgin Mary was allowed in 2020 and 2021.
“It’s shocking that the allow was given to the band, because the Monastery of Panagia Soumela opens just for pilgrims,” the Greek international ministry stated. “These pictures are offensive and add to a collection of actions by the Turkish authorities towards World Heritage Websites,” its assertion stated, with out elaborating.
Greece and Turkey disagree on a spread of points from airspace to maritime zones within the jap Mediterranean and ethnically cut up Cyprus.
The 2 nations have previously crossed swords over the conversion of the practically 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia in Istanbul right into a mosque. In July 2020 Islamic prayers had been held on the historical web site for the primary time in 9 many years.
(Reuters)