“The Muslim prayer in the Cathedral of Ani was not conditioned by refusal of Holy See of Etchmiadzin to participate in the liturgy at the Surb Khach church (Holy Cross) in Akhtamar island. The prayer was intended for domestic policy,” His Grace Bishop Arshak Khachatrian of Holy See of Etchmiadzin told the reporters on October 5.

According to him, it was not a mere prayer but a ceremony with political implications.

The radical Islamists avoid attending ceremonies at Christian Churches. It was a message sent to the Armenian people, that Christian monuments belong to Turkey. It was an attempt to obliterate the traces of the monuments’ owners,” he said.

In conclusion, His Grace Bishop Arshak Khachatrian said Turks uttered a prayer in the Cathedral of Ani, as they had understood it is a better place to pray to God.

As reported previously, on October 1, leader of Turkish “Nationalist Movement Party” (MHP) Devlet Bahceli and forty heads of the party’s provincial offices uttered a Muslim prayer in the Cathedral of Ani. In his speech, the nationalist leader criticized the Turkish authorities for the liturgies in Surb Khach (Holy Cross) Church and Sumela Monasteries.

The Cathedral of Ani is an original pearl of Caucasian architecture. Ani was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey.

The Cathedral was founded by the order of King Smbat II and was completed under the patronage of the wife of King Gagik I, Queen Katranide. The cathedral was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was built by a talented architect Trdat, whose 10th century monuments have been argued to be the forerunners of Gothic architecture which came to Europe several centuries later.