SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 28, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has removed 15 young missionaries from Turkey, which remains unstable after a July 15 coup attempt.
The missionaries are being transferred to Berlin, Germany, where will they will serve a Turkish-speaking population in Berlin.
“We anticipate these volunteers will return when conditions in Turkey normalize,” said a statement released by the LDS Church on mormonnewsroom.org.
LDS missionaries are called “volunteers” in Russia and some Eastern European countries, in order to comply with local regulations regarding religion.
“Our prayers are with the people of Turkey and with our Church members who live there,” the statement said.
The LDS church has 439 members in Turkey, organized into 12 congregations and one mission, according to the website.
According to information from CNN, more than 300 people were killed during the attempted coup, and more than 2,000 were injured. Mass arrests followed, and thousands of people were fired from their jobs.
