“I express my condolences and firm condemnation for the cowardly attack on the Church of Santa Maria. Farnesina is monitoring the situation at the Embassy in Ankara and the Consulate in Istanbul, I am sure that the Turkish authorities will arrest those responsible”. Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani wrote this in a post on X following the armed attack on a church in Istanbul in which one person died. This morning, at 11:40 am (local time), two men broke into the church of Santa Maria Draperis, a Catholic parish in the district of Sariyer, and one person lost his life. “One of our 52-year-old citizens was killed. Investigations by our police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office continue. There are no injuries, only one person was attacked.” The announcement was made by Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, quoted by ‘Hurriyet’. Two men with their faces covered “entered and the victim was attacked,” he added. “The culprits will be caught and tried. Our president is following the incident,” Gül explained. The horrific story also drew comments from Pope Francis. “I express my closeness to the community of the Santa Maria Draperis church in Istanbul, which suffered an armed attack during mass that left one dead and several injured,” said Bergoglio at the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
