Religion News

Cyprus meeting on Christianity and Islam cancelled due to politics

Jan 8, 2007, 16:12 GMT

Athens - A meeting on the divided island of Cyprus intended to promote dialogue between Christianity and Islam was cancelled on Monday over fears that politics rather than religion would dominate the talks, the Athens News Agency (ANA) said. The meeting between Orthodox Christian Archbishop Chrysostomos and Muslim cleric Ahmet Yonluer in southern Cyprus was supposed to have been the first to take place on the island for decades. The meeting would have been reciprocated in late January with a visit by the archbishop to the Turkish-Cypriot north. Reports said the Muslim cleric, who represents the majority of Sunni Muslims on the island, cancelled the meeting because he feared the Greek Orthodox Church would want to discuss political issues following a political statement by the archbishop a day earlier. The Greek Orthodox archbishop was quoted as saying that he wanted to address the issue of the destruction of Christian shrines in northern Cyprus. Cyprus has been split into a Greek-Cypriot south and Turkish- Cypriot north since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 after a brief Greek-Cypriot coup backed by Greece. Turkey has since stationed more than 30,000 troops in the northern third of the island and is the only country to recognize the Turkish breakaway state. A UN sponsored reunification of Cyprus broke down in 2004 after Greek Cypriots rejected the reunification plan which was overwhelmingly accepted by Turkish Cypriots. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Anna BlackstoneJan 9th, 2007 - 13:05:58

It is a shame that the two religious leaders of Cyprus have cancelled a meetings yestaerday.Surley, as head of their religion, each leader has a unique oppurtunity to offer peace , respect, tolerence for each other and be a good example to each Cyproit which could one day lead to a settlement and reunfication of the Cypriot people.

Ofcourse, politics enters the Cyprus problem, but with dialogue we can find peace and reconcilation between the two communitites. Please lead through example show what can be achieved by both leaders meeting!

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Tuna HunterJan 11th, 2007 - 15:13:38

Jesus preach love of God even love of enemies. Muhammad preach of no surrender
and killing for Allah's defense. The buddha which even non religious is close to Jesus preachings may be so appalled about the muslims. We really know the score even the muslims know. But what can we do? Do you negotieate with the terrorists?

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???Feb 21st, 2008 - 22:21:23

Islam is evil, period! But christianity isn't much better.

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