Turkish organization ASIMDER intends to disrupt annual liturgy in Surb Khach Armenian church on Lake Van

ASIMDER, a Turkish organization notorious for its anti-Armenian activities, intends to disrupt the liturgy celebrated once a year in Surb Khach Armenian Church on Akhtamar Island on Lake Van (in Western Armenia, present-day Turkey). A representative of the organization, Irfan Ermis, was reported as announcing such plans by Turkish newspaper Milliyet, according to Ermenihaber.am.

Surb Khach Church was built in 915-921 AD by order of Armenian King Gagik Artsruni. The church was destroyed after the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. In Turkey the church was turned into a museum. It was only on September 19, 2010 – 95 years later that an annual liturgy was celebrated in the newly reconstructed church for the first time.