TURKEY: Village Hall inaugurated Tur Abdin village of Sidari

MIDYAT, Turkey — As announced last week, the village of Sidari on Tur Izlo (Mount Izla) in the historic region of Tur Abdin in southeastern Turkey, inaugurated its new Village Hall over the weekend.

The inauguration — broadcast live by Suroyo TV — took place with the participation and presence of Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Tur Abdin Mar Timotheos Shmuel Aktas, Mar Julius Hanna Aydin — responsible for external relations of the Syriac Orthodox Diocese of Germany, independent Syriac Member of Turkish Parliament Tuma Çelik, and hundreds of members of the general public.

Our colleague Jacob Guptas interviewed the head of the Sidari Village Club, Mikhael Akbaba, for more details about the opening.

Akbaba thanked Archbishop Mar Timotheos Shmuel Aktas for his assistance in opening the hall. He added that his parents planted in him a love of the ancestral homeland which prompted him to return to the homeland and open the hall in the village. He invited the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) youth to return to the homeland, pledging to provide all support possible to them.

He stressed that there is no future for the homeland without the youth, as they must follow the path of the ancestors who sacrificed their lives and spilled their blood for the homeland.

Akbaba said that, after two years of planning, the hall will be a center for public life, including wedding parties and funerals.

He thanked the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people for their support and Suroyo TV for covering the inauguration.

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