North Cyprus illegally leases Armenian church

An Organization for religious foundations in the north has leased an historic and beautifully restored Armenian site through an unfair and opaque tender procedure, the United Nations Development Program-Action for Cooperation and Trust (UNDP-ACT) program have said.

EVKAF, that oversees religious foundations in the north, leased in August the 14th century Armenian Church of Sourp Asdvadzadzin and Monastery complex in the Arabahmet area of northern Nicosia that was renovated with UNDP-ACT funds as part of reconciliation efforts, Asbarez reports.

Press reports from occupied Cypriot named the Near East University as the winner of a ten-year tender to turn the monastery into a cultural center.

According to Vartkes Mahdessian, the Armenian representative in parliament, such a move goes against the project’s original intention.

“The objective was to have a multi-communal area where communities could come together and for the church to be used as a place of worship by the Armenian community,” he said.