Turkey Thanked for Building Buddhist Temple in Tsunami-Hit Sri Lanka

December 29, 2006

Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,3576,0,0,1,0

Istanbul, Turkey -- Among the 450 homes ordered built by Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a Buddhist region of Sri Lanka hit hard by the tsunami two years ago, a Buddhist temple was also built with Turkish funds.

State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin yesterday recounted his impressions of the work done in Sri Lanka following the tsunami to the Council of Ministers in Ankara.

The minister had recently returned from a ceremony in the region dedicating the new homes to the victims of the tsunami in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Sahin said yesterday, "In particular, the Buddhist temple built by Turkey in Sri Lanka has attracted a lot of interest. In fact, Buddhist monks came to two mosques in Colombo to thank the imams there for Turkey's initiative."

Sahin reported that in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia, gratitude to Turkey for keeping its promises following the tsunami disaster was at an all time high.