Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid the cornerstone of the first Syriac church in Istanbul on Saturday, becoming the first Christian place of worship to be built in Turkey since the republic was founded in the country about 100 years ago.
The church will be built in the Yisilkoy district of the economic capital of the country, and will be dedicated to the Syriac Orthodox, one of the Eastern Christian denominations rooted in this city, which conducts its prayers in Aramaic.
"It is the duty of the Turkish Republic to meet the spatial needs of the Syriac sect to practice its worship, and Syriac are the sons of this region," Erdogan said during a televised ceremony broadcast live on air.
"Our hearts and doors have always been open throughout history to the oppressed who come to these lands from Spain to North Africa," he said.
"We currently host about four million of our Muslim brothers from Syria and Iraq, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, as well as Syriac, Yazidis and other members of other faiths," the president said.
In 2009, Erdogan, while still prime minister, ordered the Istanbul municipality to search for land to build a local Syriac church.
This will be the first church ever built in modern Turkey since the republic was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
"Do not forget, this country belongs to everyone, all those who are connected to Turkey and contribute to it and they have full citizens, there is no obstacle to them, not politics, trade or any other sector," Erdogan said.