Police have been given “clear instructions” to fully investigate what is thought to have been an arson attack on the Haji Ibrahim Aga mosque in Limassol in the early hours of last Saturday, Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday.
The mosque was one of the targets of the holiday weekend vandalism spree. The perpetrators set the veranda’s roof and entrance on fire. Part of the entrance was damaged in the arson attack, which happened at around 3.30am.
Despite the fact there were numerous acts of vandalism and arson attacks over the weekend, a number of which were on schools in Nicosia, Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu used the incident to gain political capital.
“Our mosques have been demolished in the past as well, our people who prayed have been shot. This is the Greek Cypriot mentality,” Eroglu reportedly said.
Stefanou condemned the arson attack but denounced the Turkish Cypriot leadership’s efforts to politicise the issue by making “arbitrary and unfounded accusations”.
Stefanou said and in turn slammed Turkey for the destruction of religious monuments in the north “in an attempt to alter our country’s cultural heritage and history”.
He said the Department of Antiquities had assessed that the damage to the mosque was not significant in an archaeological sense, and that repairs had already started.
“The Republic of Cyprus fully respects the monuments and places of worships of the Turkish Cypriots, located in the free areas and preserves and protects them,” Stefanou said.
Limassol Mayor Andreas Christou extended his sympathies to the Turkish Cypriots of Limassol and said he was sorry about what had happened.
He said the mosque was vulnerable because it was just 30 metres away from a Greek Orthodox Church, where a traditional Lambradjia bonfire was burning.
“Every time we celebrate Easter in Limassol private and public property is damaged which I think is also what happened in this case,” Christou said.
He said the municipality had cleared the debris away and painted the mosque’s walls so that “aesthetically at least we have largely restored the look of the place”.
The mosque was built in 1825, and is regularly used by worshippers.
The mufti to the republic of Cyprus and Hala Sultan Tekke mosque imam Shakir Alemdar said the incident was “very unfortunate”.
The imam said there was a need for greater security in major mosques because “unfortunately there are some fanatic people out there, we cannot stop them”.
“We don’t want to exaggerate what happened,” he said adding that he hoped the authorities would do their best to prevent future incidents and together they could work for peace.