Caesarea Mayor Denied Attack on Armenian Church

PanARMENIAN.Net - Mayor of the Turkish town of Caesarea Osman Gunesh denied the attacks on the Armenian Church. "The statements do not correspond to reality", he said. At the same he noted that February 9 the police examined the church building and found two bullet holes on the door. "It is impossible to find out when the shots were fired. As for the anti-Christian slogans, it did not take place at all," Gunesh said, reported RFE/RL.



To remind, earlier Patriarch of Armenians of Constantinople, Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan denounced the armed attack on St. Grigor Illuminator Church in Caesarea. In his words, those attacking scanned anti-Christian slogans and shot 10 bullets into the Church door. The religious leader of Armenians of Turkey links the attack with the tension over the publishing of Prophet Muhammad's cartoons in European countries. «Islamic circles, of course, have the right to voice their outrage over the cartoons, however armed attack at prayerful places belonging to national minorities is not quite comprehensible. Any demonstration of violence cannot be justified in any way and is to be censured,» says the statement disseminated by the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. Local authorities took security measures and established guards of the Armenian Church immediately.