We do our utmost to preserve cultural heritage, says Turkish Cypriot FM Ozgurgun

LEFKOSA (A.A) - Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Huseyin Ozgurgun, said Wednesday that they did their utmost to preserve common cultural heritage, despite Greek Cypriot efforts to block such attempts, and that the Muslim-Turkish cultural heritage in south Cyprus was under a threat. In a written statement released on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ozgurgun criticized the remarks made by Archbishop Hrisostomos II on the renovation of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery in the north of the TRNC. Hrisostomos has made remarks not appropriate for a religious figure. He has said he will assume the full duty of renovating the Apostolos Andreas Monastery without obtaining a permit. He has called on the Greek Cypriots not to visit the Monastery until renovation took place. He has argued that religious works in the TRNC faced getting ruined. Hrisostomos has said they will never permit the destruction of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery, Ozgurgun said. Archbishop Hrisostomos's remarks do not represent the reality. The only individual responsible for not renovating the Apostolos Andreas Monastery until today was the Archbishop himself who made great efforts to block all projects designed to renovate the Monastery in the past, Ozgurgun underlined. -"He uses issue of cultural heritage as a tool for politics"- Hrisostomos constantly told the world that the Apostolos Andreas Monastery faced getting ruined. The fact that he preferred to see the Monastery get ruined instead of getting renovated by the Turkish Cypriots and his comments that the Monastery was not facing the possibility of getting ruined shows his insincerity. As in many issues, we see with sadness that Archbishop Hrisostomos uses the issue of cultural heritage as a tool for politics, Minister Ozgurgun stressed. While we do our utmost to preserve common cultural heritage, the Muslim-Turkish cultural heritage in southern Cyprus faces getting ruined. It is thought-provoking to see that Archbishop Hrisostomos, a person who supposedly wants to preserve cultural heritage in the island, is not sensitive on protecting the Muslim-Turkish cultural heritage in southern Cyprus, Ozgurgun said. Turkish and Greek Cypriots have agreed to launch a joint renovation project for the Apostolos Andreas Monastery and the Cultural Heritage Technical Committee of Turkish and Greek Cypriot members has been authorized to renovate the Monastery, Ozgurgun noted. The Archbishop has saw it necessary to make remarks by fearing that the issue of the Monastery would be solved thus not making it a tool for politics any longer. We want to stress that, despite the provocations by Archbishop Hrisostomos, the Turkish Cypriot side will make all efforts possible to preserve the common cultural heritage, Ozgurgun added. The 12th century Monastery is located at the north-eastern most point of Cyprus in the Karpaz Peninsula. The monastery is an important site to Orthodox Christians.