(Turkish Daily News, Monday, April 09,
2007
Easter services organized yesterday by Armenian, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches around Turkey for Christian faiths and followers who observe Christ's death and resurrection in Turkey.
In Istanbul, a mass was held at the Hagia Yorgi Church that is in the Fener Greek Patriarchate garden. During the prayer service conducted by Patriarch Bartholomeos, hymns were sung and people prayed in various languages including Turkish. Many Orthodox living in Turkey and from Greece attended the prayer.
Touristic places such as the Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, Booksellers Bazaar and Mahmutpaşa, which are normally closed on Sundays, were open for Easter.
In Mardin, a city in the east of Anatolia, an Easter celebration of three days started with a prayer yesterday morning at the Kırklar Church. “Societies have to embrace around intangible assets to be able to look forward safely,” said Mardin Governor Mehmet Kılıçlar in a speech he made at the church yesterday celebrating Easter, reported Anatolia news agency.
Saliba Özmen from the Deyrulzafaran Monastery pointed out that Mardin is considered a special place because of its cultural and historical structures at the Divine Liturgy. The celebration's prayers were in Turkish, Arabic and Syriac. After the prayers were said, Syriac citizens broke their fasts by receiving communion from Özmen.
Also in Iskenderun, a city near Syria in the southeastern district of Hatay, Easter masses were held in three different churches on Saturday. The first of the masses was at the Karasun Manuk Armenian Church. As there was not a priest presiding over the church, a priest from Istanbul, Armenian Patriarch Zavan Balıkçı, conducted the ceremony.