COUNTRY PROFILE TURKEY
The August 2020 announcement that Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia and Chora museums – which were built as Christian churches – would formally be redesignated as mosques was highly controversial. While plans went ahead at the Hagia Sophia, the Chora scheme stalled after UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee expressed concerns. 246 However, in May 2024, Islamic prayer resumed at the former Chora Church. Current legal interpretations of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty only grant legal minority status to Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Christians, Greek Orthodox Christians, and Jews. Despite their special status, they have no legal identity and cannot corporately buy or own properties or seek legal redress. The same applies to other minority groups, including Catholics and Protestants. Currently, these groups can only own property through separate foundations. Despite these restrictions, in October 2023, St. Ephrem’s Syriac Orthodox Church, the first new church to be built with government approval since modern Turkey was founded, was officially opened with President Recep Erdoğan in attendance. Church sources in the country told ACN there are also indications that the government will issue building permits for more new churches. Christian communities also continue to face certain restrictions on the training of clergy. Protestant communities cannot train clergy in the country and largely rely on foreign-born ministers. 247 The Greek Orthodox Church’s Halki Seminary has been shut for more than half a century, 248 and so, like the Armenian Orthodox Church, sends candidates for the priesthood abroad for studies. The elimination of bureaucratic difficulties preventing the return of Christians who emigrated from Turkey was praised by Fr. Gabriel Akyuz of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the 40 Martyrs, Mardin. He paid tribute to Turkey’s President Erdogan and the ruling AK Party government, noting “the state’s highest authorities [have given] assurances to Assyrians that they can safely return to their country.” 249 However, fears were rekindled when 91-year-old Syriac Orthodox returnee Gevriye Akgüç was shot dead in Anhil, Mardin, in November 2023. 250
SELECTED INCIDENTS JANUARY 2024 Two gunmen killed a man during Sunday Mass in the Church of Santa Maria in Istanbul. The uncle of the dead man said the victim was a 52-year-old catechumen. Daesh (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the murder. 251 FEBRUARY 2024 Written questions were sent to Minister of Education Yusuf Tekin over a manual sent to all schools, which stated they were forbidden to mark Christian holidays. 252 APRIL 2024 Christians were angered when the historic St. Mary’s Church in Goydun village, Sivas Province, was put up for sale for ₺16 million (c.US$500,000). The nineteenth- century church was being sold by local resident Hatice Akay, whose family acquired it after the Armenian Genocide. Registered as a protected cultural property, its sale should be unlawful. 253 MAY 2024 Islamic prayers recommenced at the historic Chora Church on Monday the 6 th . President Erdoğan presided over the opening ceremony via video link. The fourth-century church first became a mosque in 1511, following the fall of Constantinople. It was converted into a museum in 1945, because of its historically significant mosaics and frescoes from the late Byzantine period. Chora is a UN World Heritage Site 254 JUNE 2024 A court case brought to light that the Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı intelligence agency had been secretly monitoring members of Protestant communities over several years, marking foreign-born clerics’ files with code N-82. This identified clergy as threats to national security, and in practice, made re-entry into the country extremely difficult. 255
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