Shocking images of vandalism of historic church in Turkish-occupied Cyprus
Shocking images of vandalism and desecration have emerged from the Turkish-occupied areas of Cyprus, with the Holy Metropolis of Constantia and Famagusta this week posting photographs of the massive damage inflicted on the historic 10th century St. Procopius chapel, at the remote Syngrasis site.
Among others, the middle Byzantine-era church, which hosts a rare 10th century fresco of St. Procopius, has been systematically pillaged since the Turkish invasion in the summer of 1974.
Orthodox church in NW Turkey left to collapse after being taken away from local municipality
In a related and also utterly gloomy development, this time from northwest Turkey, what was once the St. George Orthodox church was partially demolished this week, according to the Turkish site Gazete Duvar.
The small 19th century church, which was converted into a mosque after 1923, when members of the ethnic Greek Orthodox community were deported to the Greece, had been restored and transformed into a cultural centre by the local Nilüfer municipality, near the city of Bursa.
Nevertheless, the building was taken from the municipality and transferred to the state-run General Directorate of Religious Foundations, only to be neglected for seven years,
The St. George Church, known as the “Hagia Sophia of Bursa”, was built in the late 19th century. It was converted into a mosque after the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, as foreseen in the Lausanne Treaty.
The local municipality, which received possession of the building in 2006, restored the premises and transformed it into a cultural house in 2009, which hosted various events and received numerous visits by the descendants of Greeks who once lived in the region.
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