July 25, 2021
The Turkish Ministry of Defense recently announced that its armed forces carried out maintenance work on the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mar Tuma (St. Thomas) in the center of Ras al-Ain in northern Syria.
The ministry added in the July 14 statement that the Turkish armed forces have paid great attention to the restoration and maintenance of religious buildings in the Operation Peace Spring area.
Abdullah Arin, the governor of Turkey’s southeastern city of Urfa, visited Ras al-Ain on June 11. Accompanied by the head of the Ras al-Ain local council, Mohammed Ali al-Hosho, Arin visited the Syriac Orthodox Church and met with Syriac Christians before heading to the city’s cultural center, where training and educational courses have been offered to locals since last year.