Bahcheli said they chose Ani, because it was the first place where Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan prayed after conquering the region in 1064.
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahcheli yesterday organized a Friday prayer session in Ani, a site which hosts churches and a mosque that remain from an abandoned medieaval city from the same name, located in the border city of Kars.
The Friday prayer was a response to recent improvements that allow non-Muslim groups to carry out religious services in historically significant places for worship. Spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians Bartholomew I conducted a service at the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon in August in what was the first official religious service carried out at the ancient monastery since the foundation of modern Turkey.
Last month, a service was held at the Church of the Holy Cross, an Armenian Church on Akdamar Island in Lake Van, near the city of Van. Bahcheli and his retinue were met in the entrance to Ani with posters that read, “If it is bells ringing in Akdamar, than it is the voice of adhan (muslim call to prayer) in Ani.”
Bahcheli said they chose Ani, because it was the first place where Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan prayed after conquering the region in 1064. About 40 MHP District Branch Presidents and 5,000 party members joined the service. Friday prayers in Islam can only be carried out in the presence of a congregation. The prayers took place in the 11th Century Cathedral of Ani, converted to a m mosque by Alp Arslan in Turkey.
He gave a farily nationalistic speech, saying “We have gathered here today with all my patriotic brotehrs who are saying ‘I am here, I haven’t surrendered, I haven’t bent down.’ All of you have openly announced that our motherland is not withoutn an owner. You have instilled fear in those who are cruel, you haven’t been decieved by co-chairmen [a reference to the pro Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) which has two chair peopel]. You have proven the strenthg of the Turkish nation with this nationalist determination. I extend my gratitude to all my comrades in this cause.”
Bahcheli also said, “We will all become Alparslans and fall in battle if need be, we will conquer Anatolia again if need be.” The prayers were seen as a gesture to stress the Turkish identity of the region after last month’s Armenian Orthodox service. The government had hailed that service as a sign of growing religious tolerance in the predominantly Muslim country as it seeks membership of the European Union.
MHP leader Devlet Bahceli and provincial party chiefs knelt down and pressed their foreheads to the ground as they prayed in the building as part of an event launching the MHP’s campaign for a parliamentary election set to be held in June 2011. The prayer coincided with the reopening of parliament following a summer recess.
Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia are bitterly divided over their troubled history and the border between them remains closed despite US-brokered peace accords signed last year.
A bid to normalize ties suffered a blow in April when Yerevan froze ratification of an accord after months of deadlock.
Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says some 1.5 million Armenians died during the upheaval that accompanied World War One and labels the events as genocide. Ankara rejects the term genocide and says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed during the chaos that accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Last month’s Armenian Orthodox service was overshadowed by a partial boycott because Turkish authorities failed to place a cross on the roof of the building, prompting many worshippers to cancel plans to attend.
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