The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) joins our partners in the Middle East in calling on the U.S. government to lift its sanctions on Syria so that a speedy and effective humanitarian response can be mounted immediately in response to the devastating earthquakes on Feb. 6. The earthquakes that rocked Southern Turkey and Northern Syria resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries and hundreds of destroyed buildings. In Northern Syria, already suffering from years of war and U.S.-imposed sanctions, the earthquake has had devastating effects.
A senior Turkish Protestant has said his country’s small Christian churches still face severe hardships, despite recent pledges by the government to improve protection of religious rights.
A Turkish government adviser says Christians and Muslims should be allowed to worship again in Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia basilica, eight decades after it was turned into a museum by the country’s secularist authorities.