TURKEY: Priest of Midin launches initiative to preserve Mor Saloro Church and its cemeteries in Temerze village

MIDIN, Turkey — After more than 30 years since the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people were displaced from Temerze village by Turks who desecrated its church and cemeteries, priest of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Midin, Father Semhun Uçar launched an initiative to build a wall around the church and its cemeteries in Temerze. The village is located between Midin and Bsorino in the historic Tur Abdin region in southeastern Turkey.

“Since the 1980s, Temerze village has been abandoned by its Syriac residents,” Father Uçar stated. “The village church turned into ruins and a place for growing vegetables and the cemeteries turned into a secondary road.”

Father Uçar said that his initiative to build a wall around the Mor Saloro Church and its cemeteries are a response to encroachments and to prevent people and animals from crossing over them.

Father Uçar called on the Syriac people to pay attention to their history and the sanctity of their landmarks, regardless of their geographical affiliations because they are one people and their churches and cemeteries belong to the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people as a whole.

He called on all Syriacs (Arameans–Assyrians–Chaldeans) to cooperate and contribute to the restoration and construction of the protective wall.