Even though Turkey´s Christian population is barely 0,3%, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has supported 100 projects in Turkey in the last twenty years.

A significant amount of Aid to the Church in Need´s help has gone towards Iraqi and Syrian Refugees in the Eastern part of the country. Since 2010 Aid to the Church in Need donated a total of €130.000,- to the Iraqi refugees, mainly via the Chaldean Church and the Salesian Fathers in Istanbul. The Salesians look after families and are particularly concerned to ensure that the children continue to receive a school education.

Aid to the Church in Need has also helped Syrian refugees in Eastern Turkey, since the Crisis in Syria began. From 2013 to 2014 Aid to the Church in Need has donated a total of €47.000,- towards their needs.

Other types of help to Turkey include the support of the Christian TV studio “SAT 7”, and the printing of the book by the German Jesuit and Islam expert, W. Troll S.J.  “Müslümanlarsoruyor” “(Muslims ask, Christians answer”) – an interreligious dialogue based on answering the questions on the Christian faith most frequently asked by Muslims. Aid to the Church in Need also supported the installing of an internet homepage “Answers to Islam”, covering the same topic as the book.

Another example of a publication project is the translation and printing of 3.000 copies of the ACN´s Little Catechism, “I believe” in Turkish.  Aid to the Church in Need also helped the Pauline Sisters to print a Catechism for children in the Turkish language.

Repairing Church property, mainly churches and convents, has been an important part of our help both in the past and today.  Among these projects are several construction projects for the convent of the Daughters of Charity in Istanbul.  Another example is  the restoration of the historical church Santa Maria Kilisesi, Izmir, Smyrna (near Turkey´s Aegean coast) – one of the oldest churches to have withstood the destructions, and today cared for by Franciscan friars.

Finally, Aid to the Church in Need supports the work of different female congregations, e.g. a water borehole and an elevator in favour of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Istanbul (Fransiz Fakirhanesi), whose presence in Turkey goes back 120 years. The Sisters run an old peoples’ home and have also cared for refugees.