by Odul Asik Ulker
MORPHOU, Cyprus, Sept 1 (AFP) - Hundreds of Greek Cypriots attended a tense evening mass in a church on the Turkish north of divided Cyprus amid heavy security measures prompted by a bomb attack last week.
It was the first time in 30 years that a mass was held in the disused Saint Mamas church in the town of Guzelyurt -- Morphou in Greek -- some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of the divided Cypriot capital Nicosia.
The pacifist Turkish Cypriot prime minister Mehmet Ali Talat, who had condemned the bomb attack, paid a brief visit to the church while the service was in progress as a gesture of good will to the Greek Cypriot pilgrims.
"I came only to say hello... I wish Turkish and Greek Cypriots succeed in their efforts for peace," Talat said in the yard of the church to the applauses of a group of Greek Cypriots.
Some 650 policemen, or a third of the entire police contingent in the breakaway Turkish statelet in northern Cyprus, were on duty to ensure the safety of worshippers during the ceremony, which marked Saint Mamas Day, feast of the town's patron saint.
Officers formed a human cordon around the church and a military helicopter overflew the area. Snipers guarded the main road linking Morphou and Nicosia.
The church bells did not ring and no loudspeakers were used during the service, which was intended to foster rapprochement between the island's estranged communities.
The windows, roof and door of the church were damaged in an explosion last Friday. A Molotov cocktail was also reportedly hurled at the facade and obscene graffiti in black paint was left on the walls.
About 1,700 Greek Cypriots crossed from the south to the north ahead of Wednesday's mass, Turkish Cypriot authorities said. It was not immediately known how many of them attended the service.
A group of some 100 Turkish Cypriots, meanwhile, held a rival religious ceremony in a mosque just several yards from the Saint Mamas church in memory of compatriots killed in inter-communal violence in the island.
Contrary to an earlier announcement, the mosque did not broadcast the prayers through a loudspeaker on its minaret.
Both gatherings dispersed without an incident.
The church service was fierecely opposed by Rauf Denktash, the hardline head of the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
"The arrival of thousands of Greek Cypriots .. and their wish to return every Sunday constitutes a serious provocation towards Turkish Cypriots," Denktash has argued.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the north of the island in response to a military coup by ultranationalist Greek Cyrpiots aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.
A UN effort to end the island's division failed earlier this year when the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriots voted down a reunification plan even though the Turkish Cypriots approved it.