President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday hosted representatives of religious minority groups in Turkey at a fast-breaking dinner, or iftar.
The guests at the iftar dinner included the Armenian Patriarch in Istanbul Sahak Maşalyan, the chief rabbi of Turkey's Jewish community, Isak Haleva, Patriarchal Vicar Yusuf Çetin of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Patriarchal Vicar Orhan Çanlı of the Turkish Syriac Catholic Church, Deputy Patriarch Levon Zekiyan of the Armenian Catholic community and Kadıköy Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis.
Chairperson of the Union of Armenian Foundations Bedros Şirinoğlu, deputy head of the Armenian Hospital Herman Baliyan and Ishak Ibrahimzadeh, co-chair of the Turkish Jewish Community, also attended the iftar at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara. Other representatives in attendance included Konstantin Yuvanidis, president of the Balıklı Greek Hospital Foundation; Sait Susin, head of the Istanbul-based Syriac Church Foundation; Münir Üçkardeş, president of the Syriac Catholic Community Foundation; and Antuan Sultanoğlu, deputy chairperson of the Armenian Catholic Surp Agop Foundation.
The head of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) Ali Erbaş, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy were also present at the dinner.
Iftar is the evening meal that marks the breaking of the daily fast at sunset during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
