Syriac Christians to get first church in Istanbul

Turkey's Syriac Christian community has secured approval from both the prime minister and the president for the construction of its first church in the Yesilkoy neighborhood on the European side of Istanbul. "Half of our community lives in and around Yesilkoy. We rent churches for Sunday rites, but we can only start morning mass at 11:30, whereas we are supposed to finish our Sunday rites before 10:30 in accordance with our tradition," Kenan Altinisik, a prominent Syriac community leader, told the Hurriyet Daily News via e-mail. The church site will be allocated to the ancient community by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, while construction expenses will be paid for by the Syriacs. An official from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Hurriyet Daily News that they are searching for a suitable location for the new church. The church architecture is planned to bear traces of the Syriac's thousands-of-years-old culture, while the construction is set to begin as soon as suitable lands are allotted.