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From Our Own Correspondent: Turkey and Germany

12/08/2013

Turkey and Germany

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Turkey and Germany

Syriac Orthodox Christian communities on the rebound; Berlin's gentrification on the rise

Diana Darke sees Syriac Orthodox Christian communities rebounding, and being swelled by refugees from Syria; Damien McGuinness on how Berlin's gentrified in the last ten years

Owen Bennett Jones presents personal experiences, reflections and analysis from BBC correspondents and writers around the world. In this edition: two stories of how communities' fortunes can ebb and flow with history. In southeastern Turkey, near the borders with Syria and Iraq, Diana Darke witnesses an apparent revival of one minority group: the Syriac Orthodox Christians, persecuted for centuries by a range of local powers, but now being encouraged to move back to the region and restore their landmarks.  One young priest she meets is flushed with success - and believes this resurgence might all be down to EU pressure on Turkey's government. In Berlin, it's more a tale of disintegration, although there too the buildings are being spruced up with gleaming new stucco and freshly-planted flowers in the streets. But for Damien McGuinness, who's lived in the city on and off for more than a decade, while it might be prettier to look at these days, the heady excitement and genuine community spirit of the older, scruffier Berlin is now under real pressure - from moneyed foreigners, bourgeois families and visiting hipsters.

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