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Turkey formally opens another former Byzantine-era church as a mosque

Ankara, Turkey AP Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque on Monday, four years after his government had designated it a Muslim house of prayer, despite criticism from neighbouring Greece. Turkey formally converted the Church of St Saviour in Chora, known as Kariye in Turkish, into […]

Turkey’s President formally makes Hagia Sophia a mosque

Haghia Sophia decision 1

Ankara, Turkey AP The President of Turkey on Friday formally converted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had made the religious landmark a museum. The decision sparked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians. Originally a cathedral, Hagia […]

Turkey’s Churches publish landmark book of common Christian doctrine

Fundamental teachings

World Watch Monitor A joint commission of Turkey’s major Christian denominations has published an historic book of concise Christian doctrine, receiving the unprecedented endorsement of all the nation’s Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Syriac and Protestant Churches. According to Armenian Bishop Sahak Masalyan, keynote speaker at the formal book launch in Istanbul of the English edition on […]