[Cyprus Times] Panicos Leonidou joins IOA's global campaign to condemn the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque

MP Panicos Leonidou, head of the Cypriot delegation to the IOA, participated in a visit of the International Secretariat of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IOA) to Florence, in the framework of the IOA's global campaign to raise awareness of the international public opinion for the condemnation of the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

A statement from the Parliament said that during its visit, the IOA delegation held meetings with state, ecclesiastical and academic authorities of the Tuscan Region.

On Tuesday, a presentation of a multilingual IOA publication entitled "Hagia Sophia: The Temples of the Wisdom of God around the World", at the Theological School of Central Italy. The IEA's dedication volume presents 37 iconic churches dedicated to the Holy Wisdom of God, including the Cathedral of St. Sophia, today's Selimie Mosque, in occupied Nicosia and the Church of St. Sophia in Muttalos, Paphos.

This was preceded by a meeting of the Assembly leadership with the rectorial authorities of the Theological School of Central Italy, during which Mr. Leonidou pointed out that Cyprus has been subjected for 48 years to flagrant violations of international law and human rights and freedoms, as a result of the invasion and continued occupation of part of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkey.

Leonidou also referred to the foundation of the Church of Cyprus by the Apostle Barnabas, who together with the Apostle Paul preached Christianity in Cyprus in 45 AD, stressing that today in the occupied territories, the churches remain inoperative and that systematic and methodical attempts are being made by the occupying regime to de-Christianize historical cultural and religious monuments and churches.

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