Türkiye: First new church in 100 years opens its doors
By Marion Sendker - Istanbul
The faithful of the Syriac Orthodox Church have been waiting for this day for years.
A choir sings at the opening of St. Ephrem Church in Istanbul, Türkiye. It’s the first Christian place of worship to be built in the now one hundred-year-history of the Republic of Türkiye.
Archbishop Yusuf Cetin, Metropolitan of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, says: "Our community has diminished in Türkiye, but we are - after our Armenian brothers - the second largest Christian population in the country. In Istanbul, it is very important to us that people have a second church. Because here we have many parishes."
Around 20,000 Syriac Orthodox live in the metropolis, but until now they had only one church. Out of necessity, the faithful had turned to places of worship belonging to other Christian communities, says Metropolitan Cetin:
"At some big ceremonies, more than half of the congregation stood outside. That is difficult when it is very cold or very hot. And since it was not our property, it could not be used as we wished. That's why 13 years ago we visited the president and the prime minister and started a dialogue."
The construction of churches has only been permitted in Türkiye since the early 2000s, and is dependent on a great many permits and conditions. Without good relations with the state and the goodwill of the government, such a project is not feasible. The Syriac Orthodox are thus grateful to the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For parishioner Ilhan Güzelis, the president is "a guardian angel".
"With all the formalities, with the construction and the permits, it was all problematic and our President solved it all. With his guidance and help, we have built a very beautiful church.”
Under Erdogan's government, the congregation was allocated a plot of land in the Yesilköy district and bureaucratic hurdles were overcome. These included a court case with the Catholic community in the area, which was once owner of the open space, and wanted to be recognised as such again. After that, the parish priest in charge said at the time, they would be willing to give part of the land to the Syriac Orthodox. The court initially stopped the building process, and the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople tried to mediate. In the end, there is said to have been a donation from the Syriac Orthodox to their brothers and sisters in the faith.
If you ask the Catholics in Istanbul today, there is no longer any talk of a dispute. The building of the church is a historic event, says Dominican Fr. Claudio Monge from the parish of St. Peter's, several kilometres from the formerly disputed site:
"Not only all Christians, but also all those who have worked for an inclusive country that respects diversity and considers it an enrichment, can only rejoice! The Latin Catholic community, which for years has shared some of its churches with the Syriac Orthodox as a sign of profound ecumenical hospitality and which has even provided the land for this new building, is working tirelessly for unity in diversity in this country."
He would like to see the doors open wider to other non-Muslim communities. In Istanbul, for example, many Catholics live in new housing developments, but there are no churches there. Some believers are on the road for one to two hours to go to Mass.
A new beginning?
The Syriac Orthodox, too, hope that their new church building is only the beginning. The situation for their community in Türkiye is complex, says Daniyel Demir, the national chairman of the Assyrian community in Germany, who travelled all the way from Germany to attend the opening in Istanbul:
"There are difficulties. We remember the expropriation proceedings in 2008, 2009 and 2010, which are still ongoing. And, of course, we’re also trying to win it back in court and through proceedures. But this is of course always exhausting and associated with costs."
Again, it's about land disputes, this time in the southeast and above all with the Turkish state. One day after the opening ceremony, President Erdogan said, "The church we have built is a symbol of freedom of religion and belief in our country. At a time when divisions, conflicts and hate crimes based on religious and ethnic origin are increasing in our region and the world, this embracing attitude of Türkiye is very important."
This "embracing attitude" would also be relevant for other concerns of Christians in Türkiye: there are historic monasteries that cannot be used without approval from the authorities, residence permits of foreign priests also usually have to be renewed annually, and the seminary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is still closed.
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