Turkey has given permission to the group to build in the suburb of Istanbul called Yesilkoy. The area already has other churches there - Greek orthodox, Catholic, and Armenian. Although there initially were only about 20,000 Syriacs in Turkey, the numbers have grown as many of them had fled from Iraq and Syria and found refuge in Turkey.
One unique accomplishment in giving permission to this church is that it is the first time a new church has been built since 1923. While other churches have been allowed to reopen, or restored, this is a first for a very long time in the country that is about 99 percent Muslim. There are only about 100,000 in the country that identify themselves as Christian.
Turkey is working to come up to the requirements necessary to be able to join the European Union. In doing so, it has returned some property that was seized previously from churches, monasteries, and some synagogues.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-gives-ahead-first-church-century-180246919.html
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Graphics: Mine
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Keywords: new church, Turkey, Syriac, Christian