Persecution of Christians in Turkey: in the conversion of this church into a cultural center we see yet again the contempt for the Christian history and heritage of Asia Minor that we see in the conversion of Hagia Sophia and the Monastery of the Holy Savior in Chora to mosques is not held solely by governing authorities, but by many of the people as well. The general contempt for Christianity and Christians is also manifested in the ongoing denial of property rights and legal identity to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Turkey, see here.
“Turkey will Convert Armenian Church into Cultural Center,” International Christian Concern, December 30, 2020:
12/30/2020 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Agos reports that Turkey has decided to turn Konya’s Holy Trinity Armenian Church into a cultural center. Turkey has finished restoring it to a cost of 3.5 million TL but it is not clear when the church will reopen in its new capacity.
The 1915 genocide nearly eliminated the Armenian Christian population from Turkey. Since then, Turkey has taken control over most of the abandoned churches and other Armenian cultural sites. Turkey does not acknowledge the genocide, and has not made any attempts to restore these churches back to their original Christian community. Instead, Turkey either converts these churches into mosques or restores their buildings into faith tourism sites. When pursuing the later option, Turkey uses it as an example to the international arena about how they care for religious freedom….
