| Senior Research Fellow | |
| Home institution: | Trinity College Dublin |
| Time at IEG: | 2026 |
| Funding: | IEG Senior Research Fellowship |
| Research topic: | Christian Cultural Heritage in Turkey |
| "This project discusses the ongoing destruction of Christian cultural heritage in Turkey in the context of broader issues related to religious freedom, minority rights and rising state authoritarianism. Looking at several iconic Christian churches, which were recently converted into mosques, the project argues that these developments reflect a historical continuum of political and legal discrimination against minority groups within the framework of an exclusivist Turkish nanation-state. Furthermore, the proposed research seeks to understand how Christian minorities in the country address their heritage loss in the current context of rising state authoritarianism and the spread of ideological neo-Ottomanism by the ruling political elites." |
(c) Ina Merdjanova
