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| Europe |
| Turks Send Christians on Wild Goose Chase for Zoning Permit |
| 2004-08-11 |
| From Compass Direct Diyarbakir's first Protestant church in the history of the Turkish Republic continues to await a formal decision from Turkish authorities regarding its legal zoning status in the city. Guvener won a landmark court decision in May, when the Diyarbakir courts dropped all charges against the pastor for opening an "illegal" church and confirmed the congregation's constitutional right to conduct public and private worship. But a local committee of the Turkish Ministry of Culture promptly rejected the church's zoning application, informing the church verbally that their decision had been sent to Ankara for formal ratification. Last week, the chairman of the Committee for the Preservation of Culture and Historical Sites in Diyarbakir told Guvener that his church's zoning application had been approved by Ankara. "She read me the approval decision over the telephone," Guvener said, "but then she said this approval was still awaiting ratification by the Ministry of Culture." The church has yet to receive any written decision either denying or confirming its zoning status. Although initial blueprints for the church were approved in 2001, the construction and approvals process has been dogged by various legal hurdles ever since. With a congregation of more than 50, the church has functioned openly since the building was completed in April 2003. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |