[MGSA-L] Attitude of Hardline Greeks to Mamas Service before Bomb Attack

[Despina Christodoulou]

This is an article appearing on the website of the usually hardline 
Cyprus Weekly. It is of particular interest because it was published 
before the bomb attack on St Mamas church, after which many of those 
who had previously condemned the proposed service flip-flopped and 
now want to be publicly seen as supporting it. Some members of the 
Church of Cyprus, on the other hand, are now attempting to push a 
vote through the Church's Holy Synod condemning clerics who go to the 
north. It's still not quite clear what position Antigone 
Papadopoulou, a parliamentarian with Tassos Papadopoulos's small DIKO 
party, is now taking on the question of the service, having 
previously instructed Morphiots not to attend.

We should of course bear in mind that the fact that a Greek Orthodox 
service is taking place at all in the Turkish-held north after 30 
years is due to the open-minded and flexible attitude of the new 
Turkish-Cypriot leadership. This makes it even more sad that it is 
the Greek-Cypriot leadership that has attempted to prevent the 
service.

Despina Christodoulou


http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/default.aspx?FrontPageID=304_3


By Phillipos Stylianou

Preparations are well under way for the religious ceremonies at the 
occupied Morphou cathedral of Ayios Mamas on September 1 and 2, amid 
a raging controversy whether this is a good or bad thing for the 
Cyprus cause.

Opponents of the idea, including the government and the town's 
refugee municipality, fear it will deteriorate into political 
exploitation by parties and the occupation regime.

President Papadopoulos has publicly questioned the right of Morphou 
Bishop Neofytos to arrange the ceremonies directly with the 
pseudostate without consulting the government and the refugee 
municipality.

Boycott

In a special meeting, the Municipal Council has decided by majority 
to boycott the ceremonies, but five dissenting members announced they 
will be attending in their personal capacity.

Aristos Katsis of the Morphou Movement for Solution and 
Reunification, which spearheads Bishop Neofytos' initiative, denied 
that the ceremonies will escape their religious nature and purpose.

"There will only be the Bishop's sermon and I shall make a short 
speech of just 1-2 minutes duration," he told the Cyprus Weekly. He 
said certain people were against the initiative because they felt the 
Movement was stealing the show from them.

Mayor Charalambos Pittas on his part said he regretted that the 
organisers were insisting on drawing political advantage from the 
initiative and referred to press publications by members of the 
Morphou Movement to this effect. He added that the speech by Katsis, 
however brief, constituted political exploitation.

According to Katsis, the main event will be the evening service that 
will take place on September 1 at 6.30, because the hour will be more 
convenient for the masses of Morphou refugees to attend.

Special invitations

He said Bishop Neofytos had only extended special invitations to 
foreign ambassadors to attend and so far EU ambassador Adriaan van 
der Meer had responded positively.

"Local personalities belong to the Church congregation and therefore 
it was not thought necessary or proper to invite them personally," 
Katsis explained.

Asked if any Turkish Cypriot personalities would be attending, he 
said this was likely to occur at the accompanying fair that would be 
held in the cathedral grounds and which would hopefully turn into a 
bicommunal get together.

An early morning mass will be celebrated on 2 September, feast day of 
Ayios Mamas, guardian saint of Morphou.

Katsis said that in the past few days the Bishop with his aides have 
been working inside the church,turned into a museum by the invading 
Turks, to make everything ready for the ceremonies.

In reply to another question whether the Orthodox cathedral will 
revert to being a museum after the ceremonies, Katsis said that in 
their contacts with the other side they had asked for church service 
to be perfomed every Sunday.

"We believe there is a strong possibility we will achieve this, but a 
lot will depend on the success of next week's event," he said and 
added: "If we have a really big turn out and if everything passes off 
peacably, then there is a lot to hope for."

Security

Asked if the purported authorities in the north would be taking 
security measures in view of the fact that certain sections of the 
Turkish Cypriot population, including the so-called Morphou Mayor, 
also objected to the ceremonies, Katsis said they had raised this 
issue as well with their contacts on the other side.

"It has not been clear to us if security measures will be taken, but 
I should think the Turkish Cypriots would want no trouble during the 
event," he said.

The Turkish Cypriot "Mayor" of Morphou has criticized the move by 
pseudo-prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat to grant permission for the 
event, saying it signalled the surrender of the town to the Greek 
Cypriots.

But many of the Turks now living in Morphou and who are hoping to do 
brisk business in the accompanying fair are strongly in favour of the 
church ceremonies.

Katsis noted that the 9,000 Turkish Cypriots now living in Morphou 
come from Limassol, Polemidhia and Paphos and property-wise they 
stand to gain from the solution of the Cyprus problem based on the 
Annan plan.

There are about 800 mainland Turkish settlers in Morphou today as well.

Invited by the Cyprus Weekly to comment on reports that despite 
granting permission for the church services, the occupation 
authorities will not allow the church bell of Ayios Mamas to toll on 
the occasion, Katsis said they had made a request for its use.

"In any case, the Bishop has found that the original bell on the 
church belfry is in a bad state after 30 years of disuse and its use 
could be risky. He will, therefore, be taking two small bells with 
him," he added.

Katsis said that the other side had promised to speed up check point 
formalities for the pilgrims going to the feast of Ayios Mamas.