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Monday, April 27, 2009

THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY is intervening in the land dispute around the Syriac Mor Gabriel Monastery:
Erdogan steps into monastery dispute

(Hurriyet.com)

ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has intervened in a land dispute over an ancient Syriac monastery in the southeastern city of Mardin, instructing his ministers to resolve the problem through a peaceful settlement.

"Our prime minister is closely following the matter," Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Mardin deputy Cüneyt Yüksel told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "We do not want the problem to cause an international crisis." ... The next trial in the case will be held May 6. "The government and the state are not taking sides in the case," Yüksel said, adding that the matter would be settled in a peaceful way.

"Our work to solve the problem continues. We are trying to persuade the villagers to withdraw their complaint," he said.

"The monastery has a history of 1,600 years," he said. "We will settle the conflict and resolve our Syriac citizens’ problem." The Finance Ministry, Forestry Ministry and the Mardin Governorship have already taken action to try and settle the dispute.

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Background here.