Important cultural-political event for Türkiye with the opening of the "Muraferm" church

The opening of the "Muraform" church brought a cultural-political event to Türkiye.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation stone of the Moraform Church in 2019 for about 17,000 Orthodox Christians, and the construction of the church is expected to be completed by the end of September this year (2023). The church was built on October 9 in Istanbul as the first Assyrian Orthodox Church of Ephraim the Syrian since the founding of the Republic of Turkey. Seyyed Susin, President of the Assyrian Foundation of Istanbul, expressed his happiness over the official opening of the church and said: "We feel happy about this and it brings us great pride."

The opening of the Moraform Church has had a wide resonance among Christian communities, with many countries reacting to it. The French news agency AFP wrote in response to the news: "Erdogan has opened a church in Istanbul for the first time in the 100-year history of his republic."

The German radio station Deutschlandradio also published the news of the opening of the church on its website under the title "Erdoğan opens the first official church in the history of the republic." In addition, the Greek state channel ERT also published the news under the title of the opening of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Moravem on its website, emphasizing that the opening of the Church of Moravem is considered an important cultural and political moment for Türkiye.

Erdogan also announced in his speech: "We are happy that Jews, Christians and all communities in Turkey live together."