Roaring Turkish mob enters Armenian church and prays namaz (video)

A mob of Turkish nationalists, mainly members of Turkish Nationalist Movement Party headed by the party leader Devlet Bahceli, rushed into the medieval Armenian church Mother Cathedral of Ani and prayed namaz there on Friday.

According to local Turkish daily Hurriyet, the mob entered the church with shouts and roaring as if celebrating a triumph.

Some even managed carving the words “Mohammed” and “Allah” on the front entrance of the church in Arabic – a move apparently aimed to showing the Christian Armenians that the Mother Cathedral of Ani is no longer a church.

Earlier Turkish authorities had officially permitted Bahceli and his party fellows to pray a Friday namaz in the ruins of Ani.

According to Turkish media, this move by the Turkish nationalists comes as a response to the September 19 mass served in Sourb Khach Church (Saint Cross) on Akhtamar Island in Lake Van, eastern Turkey.