A small Syriac population survived the genocide of Christians in 1915 near the ancient (397 CE) monastery of Mor Gabriel. Under the liberal policies announced by Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) in 2002, others returned from the diaspora and began ot rebuild.
Turkey appears to find the presence of this small minority intolerable. The disposession of the indigenous Syriac Christians goes forward mostly by law suit.
Muslims who wish to expel Syriacs form the monastery claim that it was built on top of a mosque. There is no evidence for this claim and the mosque would have to have been built centuries before the birth of Muhammad to predate a monastery that dates from the year 397.
