President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday conveyed Easter greetings to Türkiye’s Christian citizens as he emphasized the peaceful coexistence in the country.
“We continue to uphold the unity, solidarity and fraternal bonds in Anatolia, where different beliefs, cultures and traditions have lived side by side in peace and harmony from the past to present,” Erdoğan said as part of his Easter statement.
“Under the roof of the Republic of Türkiye, we consider each citizen as an exceptional asset of our great nation; we all walk towards a stronger and more prosperous future shoulder-to-shoulder,” he added.
He then extended Easter greetings to all Christians in Türkiye.
Christians living in Türkiye constitute roughly 0.2% of the population as of 2023.
Easter is one of the most important holidays in the Christian world and was celebrated on April 9 this year. The holiday was established at the First Council of Nicaea, which took place in A.D. 325 in Türkiye's Iznik province.
Easter, the holy Islamic month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday, or Pesach, overlapped for the second year in a row last weekend, an instance that occurs three times a century.
Followers of the three faiths – all preparing to commemorate their holy days – share similarities.
Erdoğan also conveyed holiday greetings to Türkiye’s Jewish community last week as they celebrate Passover from April 5-13.
Passover commemorates the Israelite exodus from Egypt under the Prophet Moses and is considered one of the holiest times on the Jewish calendar. It is observed by avoiding consumption of leavened bread as a sign of respect to Moses' followers, who were in such a hurry during the escape to liberty, commonly known as the Exodus, that they were unable to bake their daily bread properly, and hence ate unleavened bread.
Muslims mark Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, as the time when parts of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Easter is the Christian celebration marking the resurrection of Jesus.
