TURKEY
A Cultural Heritage in Ankara: The Jewish Neighborhood
By Muzaffer Karaaslan Translation by Suzy Esentürk The Turkish Language Association (TDK) expresses the word ‘neighborhood’ as ‘each part of a city, a town or a large village divided.’ However, sometimes neighborhood means much more than this expression. The coexistence of different cultures creates a common culture. This culture created, has…
Read More »Catholicos-Patriarch of Assyrian Church of the East: Painful to temporarily forgo the Eucharist but “incumbent upon us as Christians” to follow secular governments in matters of public health
ERBIL, Iraq – His Holiness Mar Gewargis III Sliwa, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, released a message from the Patriarchate in Erbil, Iraq, regarding the corona epidemic, which has spread to most countries of the world, calling on all believers to adhere to government decisions aimed at…
Read More »Nephew of missing Chaldean couple in Turkey: Şimoni Diril might have been found alive if search had been sincerely conducted
By Ruken Tuncel 23 March 2020 BIANET Living in the Syriac village of Mehre (Kovankaya) in Beytüşşebap in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şırnak, Chaldean couple Hurmuz and Şimoni Diril had been missing since January 11, 2020. The deceased body of Şimoni Diril was found by her son in a streamside only…
Read More »Turkey blocks 200,000 face masks destined for Italy
@theEUpost – Hundreds of thousands of face masks intended for Italy to help with the coronavirus emergency have been stuck since 3 March at Ankara airport. Turkey‘s government has decided that only the Minister of Health can allow the export of face masks to protect from coronavirus and this authorisation has…
Read More »BRUSSELS: European Syriac Union demands full investigation into the death and missing of Smuni and Hirmiz Diril
Brussels / Mahre – The European Syriac Union (ESU) issued a statement yesterday on the discovery of the body of Smuni Diril in a river bed close to her village in Sirnak province, Turkey. Smuni Diril (65) together with her husband Hirmiz Diril had been missing since January 11, 2020.…
Read More »BREAKING NEWS: Missing Chaldean woman Smuni Diril found dead
MAHRE, Şirnak, Turkey — Smuni Diril, who together with her husband Hirmiz Diril, had been missing since 10 January of this year has been found dead nearby their village of Mahre in the mountainous Hakkari region in southeast Turkey. According to the latest information obtained by Syriac television channel SuroyoTV,…
Read More »TURKEY: Even the dead cannot escape persecution
ORTAKÖY, Turkey – On 14 February, the Ortaköy Christian Cemetery in Ankara was vandalized, destroying 20 of the 72 tombstones. Six people were arrested but all were released shortly thereafter. Turkish-based Ahval News reported that Christian cemeteries throughout Turkey have been targeted many times recently. “These attacks against cemeteries are…
Read More »TURKEY: MP Tuma Çelik (HDP) to Health Minister Koca: What is being done to contain coronavirus in Turkey?
MARDIN, Turkey – Due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus COVID-19 throughout Turkey, Syriac MP in the Turkish parliament Tuma Çelik (Peoples’ Democratic Party; HDP) asked Turkish Minister of Health Fakhruddin Koca whether the government will launch an awareness campaign in the Syriac, Arabic, and Kurdish languages in Mardin Province.…
Read More »TURKEY: Diyarbakir municipality forgets to clean Syriac church and Alewite Cemevi on Coronavirus
Omid / Diyarbakir – Against the backdrop of the global spread of Corona-virus, the Diyarbakir municipality held a massive cleaning and sterilization campaign in all mosques of the city in southeastern Turkey. But it “forgot” the Alewite place of worship (“cemevi”) and the Syriac church of the city. Municipal cleaners…
Read More »Erdoğan’s interference in Syria and Libya grows
TRIPOLI / TEL TAMR, Syria – Since the Russian-Turkish ceasefire to end military escalation in Idlib, Turkey has intensified its presence in North Syria, sending military convoys of vehicles to Tel Abyad, Rish Ayno (Ras al-Ayn), and the surrounding countryside, which have been under Turkish and Syrian National Army (SNA)…
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U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom repeats call for self-governance and representational security for Syriacs and Yazidis in Nineveh Plains
WASHINGTON – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) yesterday repeated its …
