By Rebecca Bailey. Originally at Cyprus Mail.

Religious artifacts in Cyprus are in ‘great peril’, concludes a U.S. Helsinki Commission Report released yesterday afternoon.

Thousands of Greek-Cypriot artifacts have been looted from churches and monasteries in the north of Cyprus over the last 35 years. The paintings, mosaics, idols and manuscripts often end up on international auction blocks.

The Washington Times yesterday quoted some shocking statistics from the report.

Reportedly, 500 Orthodox churches have been ransacked, vandalised, or simply demolished. 133 have been desecrated.

28 of the churches still standing have been converted for Turkish military hospitals or camps; 13 have been turned into barns; and 77 have been converted, both literally and metaphorically, into mosques.

In these 77 converted churches, texts from the Koran have been mounted where idols and paintings used to stand.

In total, 15,000 religious paintings have disappeared, such as at the Byzantine-era monastery of Antiphonetes where all its icons and murals have been removed and sold on to art dealers.

The St Anastasia Monastery was luckier; although its holy artifacts were also taken, in exchange it now sports a swimming pool and a casino in its new role as a luxury hotel.

The Cyprus Department of Antiquities will feel vindicated; the details of the report seems to reconfirm what they claim on their website, particularly with regard to the Orthodox churches in the occupied areas.

“The 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the subsequent occupation of the island has heavily affected Cyprus’ cultural heritage and despite existing internationally binding treaties regarding the protection of cultural heritage, Turkey chooses to ignore the treaties and continues its destructive agenda. The damages are grave and in many cases, irreversible,” states the website.

These figures are sure to cause a vast emotional response amongst the Greek-Cypriot community, especially on the anniversary week of the 1974 Turkish Invasion.

In fact, an anonymous spokesman from the Turkish Embassy in Washington is quoted as stating that it was “no coincidence the report is coming out this week” and that the document sounded “like a one-sided presentation”. “Turkey respects all cultural heritages,” he added.

Jerome Bowers, an associate history professor of the Northern Illinois University, claimed to the Washington Times that destruction of Turkish artefacts in Southern Cyprus was well-documented as well. “In Paphos, for example, the Camii Cedit was not only destroyed but replaced with a parking lot.”

This is re-emphasised by Hilmi Akil, the Washington representative for the Turkish Republic of Cyprus, who reportedly dismissed the report as “a propaganda exercise”. “What we’re objecting to is that destruction, which has happened on both sides of the island, is being portrayed as something that only Turkish Cypriots have done.”

The report also apparently registers complaints such as the one made in November 2001 by Tahsin Ertugruloglu, the de facto foreign affairs minister for Northern Cyprus, that widespread destruction of Muslim mosques and shrines occurred in the southern part of Cyprus in villages between 1963 and 1974.

It then goes on to add though that since 2000, Cyprus has spent more than $600,000 on renovating 17 historic mosques.

The press briefing and panel discussion on Capitol Hill was attended by Charalampos Chotzakoglou, professor of Byzantine art and archaeology at Hellenic Open University in Patras, Greece; German art historian Klaus Gallas, who is a specialist on the international smuggling of art artifacts; and Michael Jansen, author of “War and Cultural Heritage: Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish Invasion.”