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Saving the Monastery

While I was in Israel, Reuters reported on the happy resolution of a nasty situation I blogged on some time back.

Christian monastery in Turkey wins back land

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – One of the world’s oldest functioning Christian monasteries has won a legal battle to have land it had owned for centuries restored to it, after a Turkish court ruled on Friday it could not be claimed by the state.

The dispute over the boundaries of Mor Gabriel, a fifth-century Syriac Orthodox monastery in eastern Turkey, had raised concerns over freedom of religion and human rights for non-Muslim minorities in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country and European Union aspirant.

In a statement, the Syriac Universal Alliance (SUA), a leading Syriac group based in Sweden, said a Turkish court in Midyat had reversed an initial decision by the land registry court to grant villages some 110 hectares (272 acres) of monastery land.

One thought on “Saving the Monastery

  1. […] PUSHBACK– Christian monastery in Turkey wins back land. Attemped pilferation of 1500 year old property […]

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