CYPRUS – Archbishops appeal for UK support to protect religious heritage

Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus and Bishop Christophoros of Karpasia, accompanied by UK Cypriots’ Federation President, Peter Droussiotis, met with the Minister for Europe, David Lidington MP at the Foreign Office, and the Shadow Minister of Europe, Gareth Thomas MP at the House of Commons, on May 15th. 

The delegation made the case for the urgent restoration and protection of Cyprus’s religious and cultural heritage in the areas of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by the Turkish army. Several independent reports have presented evidence of the destruction of many of the island’s historic Greek Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries as well as the desecration of graveyards and cemeteries. Mr Droussiotis stressed that these sites and monuments “are of huge cultural and religious significance and belong not only to the Cypriot people (…) but to the whole of humanity.”

Both Mr Lidington and Mr Thomas expressed their support for the efforts by Archbishop Chrysostomos II to seek access to Christian places of worship and other sacred sites and religious monuments in the occupied areas with a view to resurrecting, restoring and maintaining these and said that they would raise the matter both with Turkey and also with the Turkish Cypriot leadership.

Read the full article here.