Sunday, January 4, 2015

Turkey OKs Building Its 1st Church in a Century; Syriac Church Will Be in Yesilkoy Near Istanbul

Turkey's Islamic-rooted government has authorized the building of the first church in the country in nearly a century, the Yahoo News website reports today (January 4, 2015).

The church is for the tiny Syriac community in Turkey and will be built in the Istanbul suburb of Yesilkoy on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, which already has Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian churches.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met Turkey's religious leaders in Istanbul on January 2, and said no faith that has lived in the country could be regarded as foreign.

"It is the first (new church) since the creation of the republic (in 1923)," a government official said.

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