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February 26, 2013

Christian Exodus from Syria Raises Hopes for Resurrection in Turkey

(Updated) Civil war pushes more Christian refugees into nearby Armenia and Turkey.

Melissa Steffan

Update (April 12): Good news for Assyrian Christians: Reuters reports that Turkey plans to build refugee camps for the 250,000-plus Syrian refugees that have flooded into the country.
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Escalating violence in northern Syria is forcing Christians to flee their homeland and take refuge in nearby regions of Armenia and Turkey.

The New York Times reports that several hundred Syrian Christian refugees have arrived in Turkey throughout the past few weeks, heading for "the monasteries and towns of Mardin and Midyat in Tur Abdin, an ancient region in southeastern Turkey, less than 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, from the Syrian border that is the historical heartland of the Syriac Orthodox Church."

The exodus from Syria is raising hopes of resurrecting the Christian presence in southeastern Turkey, which "is still dotted with Syriac churches like Mor Gabriel, which was founded in the year 397 and is one of the oldest active monasteries in the world today," reports the Times. "But apart from the monks, very few Syriacs remain."

USA Today also reports that an "estimated 7,000 of Syria's Christian-Armenian community have arrived in Armenia since the start of the uprising." Christian refugees have headed for Aleppo, which is now the temporary home for nearly 8 in 10 of the Syrian Christians in Armenia.

CT previously has reported on Syria, including how many Christians backed Assad's regime and have been working to avert an all-out civil war. CT has also noted the legal troubles of Mor Gabriel.

CT has also reported on Syriac Christians, who speak Aramaic (the language of Jesus), and "religicide" in the Middle East.

posted by Melissa Steffan | Comments (1)

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Being a christian from Iraq where my grand parents were born in Turkey our experience when we left Iraq proved the contrary to the hopes of the writer. This is a false hope for one or more of the following reasons:

1. Refugees to turkey are poorly treated. Most are left in camps in difficult conditions. Women are raped ....etc.

2. The area occupied by Christians is now taken by Kurds. How would Christians claim their properties and lands

3. Returning Christians is not at all in the agenda of the US or European allies. They only care about their interestsos to basically rape those countries of their natural resources and social fabriq. During two wars with Iraq christians were stranded as far as pakistan.

4. The Christian of today are adapted to arab culture and cannot survive living in harsh environrment of southern turkey surrownded by Kurds and Turks.

5. For your information when Christians of mideast leave home they will only settle in western countries. In our case, it took my sister 10 years to find settlement in canada.

Unfortunately I view your article inducing false hopes just analegous to injecting a dosage of drug in arm to put someone to relaxation that is far from reality.

Posted By: David Shimun | March 1, 2013 10:00 AM

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