NICOSIA, Aug 27 (AFP) - A bomb exploded early Friday outside a Greek Orthodox church in Turkish northern Cyprus where a controversial Mass is to be celebrated next week, causing damage but no injuries, police said.
The explosion targetted the disused Saint Mamas church in Guzelyurt, or Morphou, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of the capital Nicosia, where Greek Cypriots are planning to hold an Orthodox Mass on the saint`s feast day next Thursday, for the first time in 30 years.
Windows, a door and the church roof were damaged, along with windows in several neighbouring shops.
A Molotov cocktail was also hurled at the church facade, according to the Turkish Cypriot news agency TAK.
Obscene graffiti in black paint was left on the walls.
The decision to allow the Mass, and an evening service the previous day, to celebrate Saint Mamas Day, in honour of the town`s patron saint, was meant to help foster rapprochement between Greeks and Turks.
But it was fiercely opposed by Rauf Denktash, leader of the breakaway Turkish statelet.
"The arrival of thousands of Greek Cypriots .. and their wish to return every Sunday constitutes a serious provocation towards Turkish Cypriots," Denktash said earlier in the week.
"They have many churches on their own side of the island," Denktash added, calling the celebration of the Mass "a political act" by the Greek Cypriot government "to which we must react without violence."
Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat, meanwhile, condemned the attack as "ugly, disgusting and shameful", and pledged to provide full security for the Greek Cypriots who will cross the UN-manned Green line separating the two communities for the Mass.
"We will not surrender to a handful of good-for-nothings," he told reporters.
A Greek Cypriot government spokesman condemned the blast saying such attacks "tend to poison the climate of calmness that is necessary in order to pursue the final goal, which is the solution of the Cyprus problem and the reunification of our island."
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the north of the island in response to a plot by ultranationalist Greek Cyrpiots to have Cyprus annexed by Athens.
A UN plan to reunite the island failed earlier this year when the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriots voted down the plan even though the isolated breakaway Turkish Cypriots approved it.