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According to the Turkish Hurriyet Daily, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spread a message December 1 over Switzerland referendum on minaret ban.

“Swiss vote on minaret ban held November 29, has caused disappointment in Turkey,” the statement reads. Minarets are generally tall spires, distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques from which the call to prayer is made five times each day.

The official statement also says the Swiss ban on minarets violates basic human rights and freedoms, Hurriyet reported.

“Turkey, an initiator of the UN civilizations alliance, makes great effort to reinforce the atmosphere of mutual understanding and tolerance between different cultures and religions. Swiss resolution is grave for us.”

According to the source, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the vote contradicts to the basic human rights and freedoms and highlighted it was shameful for the Swiss people.

Panorama.am recalls that Switzerland constitutional referendum banned minarets in the country. Nearly 57 percent of the voters in Switzerland voted to ban the building of Minarets in the country opening a door for a Europe-wide debate on the issue of religious dialogue throughout the old continent and the Middle East. There are over 150 acting mosques in Switzerland, a country with a population of 7 million, 5 per cent of them Muslims the majority being Turks. While most Muslim countries and many Christians strongly criticized the Swiss Minaret vote, no one in the Muslim world or even in Europe seems to really care about the situation of the Christian churches in Turkey.

In an article headlined “Turkey Feels The Pain Of Swiss Minaret Ban”, Huliq.com American website referred to the issue.

Huliq.com editor-publisher Armen Hareyan writes: “Turkey feels the minaret decision pain as number of Christian churches (namely Armenian and Greek) in Turkey are either closed or turned to museums. So, the main school of theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church's Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, was closed in 1971 and not opened to this date.

The most beautiful church of the Orthodox Christianity, the cathedral of Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul. Hagia Sophia was converted into a museum in 1935 by the Republic of Turkey. Consider the St. Sophia Museum, which was built in covered Greek cross architecture during the reign of King Manuel I Kommenos in 13th century. Today, St. Sophia church is converted into a museum. ”

Hareyan recalls Turkey restoring the Armenian Church Aghtamar and turning it into a museum and not yet allowing to put a cross on the top of the church building.

“If there had not been so much limitation on the Christian minorities and their properties in Turkey and the Middle East (in some Arab countries Christians have broad religious freedom) perhaps the voters in Switzerland would have thought differently about the Minarets. Perhaps the issue wouldn't even come up,” Armen Hareyan writes.