A BOMB explosion caused extensive damage to the church of Saint Mamas in Morphou in the early hours of yesterday, just days before Greek Cypriots were due to hold the first service there in 30 years.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the 3am blast, which was branded a “terrorist attack”. The historic 16th century church has been in use as an icon museum since the invasion and is only 200 metres from a police station.
The blast damaged doors and windows, and knocked tiles and timber from the building’s porch on one side. Witnesses said it caused a small crater on the ground at one of the church’s entrances. The wooden ceiling of the church, considered unique on the island for its blend of Byzantine and Gothic architecture, was damaged. Nobody was hurt.
The perpetrators also tried to set a fire at the back of the church, which failed to ignite and scrawled slogans on the walls. Turkish Cypriot workers spent most of yesterday clearing up the debris after Turkish Cypriot ‘Prime Minster’ Mehmet Ali Talat pledged to have the church repaired in time for the service on the Saint’s feast day on Wednesday.
“The objective of the terrorists who carried out the attack is to humiliate us… Whether it was a church or mosque would not have made any difference. What has been done is an immoral attack,” Talat said during a visit to survey the damage.
“While we try to show to the world that we are not living in captivity, they are trying to show that we are not free and live under pressure.”
He also said the attack “was the butter on Greek Cypriot bread” and that cancelling Wednesday’s service was out of the question.
In a written statement from Athens, government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said: “The government condemns with abhorrence the bomb attack against Saint Mamas in Morphou, as well as all kinds of terrorist and bomb attacks which aim at poisoning the climate of tranquility which is necessary to pursue the final aim of a solution and reunification of Cyprus.”
The planned service on Wednesday has been a source of controversy on the Greek Cypriot side because the Bishop of Morphou organised it with a pro-reunification group of Morphou refugees, whose leader is scheduled to speak at the event. This prompted accusations on both sides of politicisation of a religious event, prompting veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to call on Turkish Cypriots to react. Yesterday he expressed “sorrow” over the attack but did not regret his opposition. “It is not right to open the barricades with false friendships,” he said.
Andreas Paralikis, a member of the Morphou Movement for Solution and Reunification, one of the organisers of the event, told the Cyprus Mail. “We are saddened. This event takes us back to the 1960 terrorists attacks. It is with regret that we hear of such things happening in 2004.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Morphou Mayor Charalambos Pittas, who objected to the event being anything other than purely religious. “I am very, very sad because Saint Mamas is one of the few churches in the north that had not been destroyed. This is an act by Turkish terrorists, and you can’t call them anything else,” said Pittas.
Later yesterday the Movement for Solution and Reunification said it would now leave the speeches entirely up to the Bishop of Morphou to avoid any further dangers.
A statement from the bishopric said it was saddened by the actions of a “small group of bigots” who were trying to derail the event and destroy the bridges being built between the two sides.
Condemnation also came in from the Bishops of Paphos and Kyrenia and from the vast majority of Greek and Turkish Cypriot political parties, the US embassy and the UN, which said it was “shocked and distressed” at such an attack at a place of worship.
