Turkey investigates shooting of music video in ancient Christian monastery

The Turkish government is investigating the shooting of a music video in an ancient Christian monastery in the north-eastern province of Trabzon, following complaints by Greece and figures in the Orthodox church.

In footage seen online, the Turkish DJ, Ahmet Senterzi, and his colleagues shot a music video with 30 other people in a courtyard at the Sumela monastery, which is built into the cliff above Trabzon’s Black Sea forest and dates back to the 4th century.

On Monday, Greece’s Foreign Ministry condemned the shooting of the video and demanded that Turkish authorities enforce respect for the site and “do their utmost to prevent such acts from being repeated”.

The London-based news outlet, Middle East Eye ,quoted an anonymous Turkish official as saying that the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I – the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide – also sent a letter to Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, to express his concerns over the video and its use of the old monastery.

Following those complaints, the official confirmed to the paper that “We have sent inspectors to Trabzon to look into this incident”.

According to the news site, Euronews, the producers of the music video defended their actions by arguing that they were promoting Sumela monastery as a tourist attraction and that local Turkish authorities had granted permission for the shooting.

That claim has sparked criticism, however, due to the fact that the site is only open for prayers once a year and that it reportedly does not hold much benefit in terms of tourism.

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