Turkey’s Christian communities celebrated Easter, one of the main holidays in the Christian world, by holding religious ceremonies in churches on Sunday.Hatay’s İskenderun Catholic Church held a ceremony on Sunday to commemorate Jesus Christ’s resurrection.
Participants circumambulated the church while holding candles. The service led by Patriarch Maximilian Vereş ended with prayers from the Bible. After the ceremony, Vereş presented participants colored eggs with bread and wine, symbolizing the body and blood of Christ. İskenderun Mayor Yusuf Civelek
and Republican People’s Party Hatay deputy Mevlüt Dudu were also in attendance at the service.
President Abdullah Gül issued an Easter message on Saturday. In his message, Gül said that he joined in the joy and celebrations of Turkey’s Christian citizens during Easter. Regardless of ethnic origin, language, faith or political views, everyone is an equal citizen in Turkey and equal owners of the Turkish state, Gül stressed in his message.