“We request permission from the occupying troops to restore our churches at our own expense and to allow 6 octogenarian monks to return to the monastery of St. Barnabas where they wish to die, in the occupied zones”: the appeal is made by the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church in Cyprus, Chrysostomos II, during an interview on Italian TV on 8 July and released by the Cypriot Embassy in Italy on the following day. “We wish to raise the awareness of the international community, recover looted works of art and bring them back here in order to restore them – added Chrysostomos, – we wish our civilization to be respected”. Chrysostomos also said he was willing to authorize the restoration of mosques in the Greek zone of the island. “What we hope – said the Primate of the oldest Orthodox Church – is that the money that the European Community has given for the Turkish-Cypriot community, 286 million euros, be used to restore churches, at least those that are most in need”. Some estimates speak of 520 churches, chapels and monasteries in northern (Turkish-occupied) Cyprus: of these 133 have been desecrated, 78 converted into mosques, 28 used for military purposes or as hospitals, 13 as warehouses. It is estimated that some 15,000 icons plundered from Cyprus are circulating on the international clandestine art market. Chrysostom had already denounced this situation during his recent visit to the Vatican, when he was received by Benedict XVI.
