These hunters have stripped graves, excavated the building structure, and destroyed the garden. This warning comes as winter has ended, and this is the season when treasure hunters can easily dig since not many people live in the village during the winter. Villagers have asked the authorities to preserve the church and make it a tourist site.

The village used to have a strong Greek Orthodox presence, however by now, Greek presence is diminishing throughout the country. Turkey continues implementing policies which ostracize those few surviving Greek Christians in the country. It is a common misconception in many Islamic countries that Christians have treasure. In some cases, such as this, the misconception leads to the destruction of cultural heritage sites which were emptied because of Christian persecution.

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