Georgian Orthodox Church in Turkey

The Georgian Orthodox Church was once an important and significant part of Orthodox Christianity in Turkey. Today, Georgians represent only 0.1 percent of the population in Turkey.

The Vierkonchenanlage of Bana (Armenian Բանակ, Banak; Georgian ბანა, Bana ) in the northeast of present-day Turkey was used in the Middle Ages as a Georgian Orthodox cathedral, while the Haho Monastery (Georgian ხახულის მონასტერი ) in Bağbaşı ( county Tortum, in the province of Erzurum ) served as a Georgian Orthodox monastery. During the Bana - cathedral was destroyed in the 19th century, the churches of Haho Monastery of Barhal (Georgian Parchali ) and other houses of worship, which are surrounded by villages were converted into mosques. The former monastery ÖSK Vank (Georgian ოშკი, Oschki ) is located in a mountain valley a few kilometers south of Haho.

Before Turkey was founded in 1923, about 200,000 Georgian Orthodox Christians were counted in the country since. By 1955 the number had fallen to less than 100,000. Religious freedom for Georgians is limited in Turkey, the Georgian Orthodox Church in Turkey has a lower status than the Greek Orthodox Church, which was at least theoretically recognized by the Treaty of Lausanne of 1922 as a religious community.