Turkey’s Abuse of Historic Churches
01/15/2021 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Illegal treasure hunters recently defiled a 900-year-old church in Bursa, Turkey. The Turkish government placed Aya Yani church under preservation after the local population left the area decades ago due to persecution and genocide.
However, this church and other Christian faith sites, are often the targets of treasure seekers, hoping to find gold or items of worth in the historical buildings. Despite the named preservation for this church, it was allowed to decay and left abandoned for years.
Turkey’s history is riddled with examples of converting historical churches into mosques or restoring the buildings to become tourism sites. In this case, the church was left to crumble and be abused by those seeking earthly gain.