The Turkish Ministry of EU Affairs welcomed a ruling on March 2 that resulted in land seized by the government being returned to the world's oldest Syriac Orthodox monastery, Mor Gabriel
The land that was given back amounts to 244,000 m2This is less than half of the land awarded by the courts to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Forestry in 2012.
The monastery, located in the southeastern province of Mardin, was built in 397 and is considered a sacred site for Armenian Syrians. The monastery's management appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in 2012, attracting international attention and making the future fate of the land an issue in Turkey's application for EU membership. Turkey's Prime Minister declared last September that the government would return the land to its historical owner as part of its "democratization package".
Isa Dogdu, Vice President of the Mother Gabriel Religious Foundation, told World Watch Monitor that the monastery management will not let the matter rest until all the land is returned, because despite the Prime Minister's promises that the government will return all the land, he believes it will be an ongoing battle to convince the government to actually do so. "We are happy to have the land back, but we will be even happier when we get back the rest of the property belonging to the monastery," said Dogdu. "What has been given back is less than half of the land. The other plots that currently belong to the Ministry of Forestry are still waiting for a decision."
