the world, it is a-changin'
Turkey Prepares for Historic Church Construction
01/09/2019 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – On Tuesday, the mayor of Bakirkoy (a district in Istanbul) announced that construction of a new Syriac Orthodox Church will begin next February. The construction of this church was originally announced in 2015. It is anticipated that the church will accommodate over 700 Christians and construction will take two years to complete.
The construction of this church is a historic moment in the history of modern Turkey. According to Turkish media, no new church has been built since 1923, when the Republic of Turkey was founded. Historically, Turkey has tightly restricted the construction and registration of churches for centuries. Discrimination, coupled with periods of extremely violent persecution, led to most Christians fleeing Turkey.
https://www.persecution.org/2019/01/09/turkey-prepares-historic-church-construction/?