2015-01-05 L'Osservatore Romano
The Turkish government has authorized the construction of a new Syriac Christian Church. Quoting official sources, the Andaolu Agency reported that the church will be built in the Yeşilköy quarter on the outskirts of Istanbul, on the Sea of Marmara.
The announcement, according to the website Orthodoxie.com and French daily la Croix among others, was made by the Prime Minister himself, Ahmet Davutoğlu, who in recent days received representatives of non-Muslim minorities in Turkey, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios. The construction, expected over the coming months on land granted by the municipality, will be financed by a foundation that defends rights of Syriacs (Orthodox and Catholics) who live mostly in the south-eastern part of the country, and who are estimated to number approximately 20,000. Many refugees from northern Iraq are Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain.
