The attack occurred at around 11:40 a.m. local time at Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district of Istanbul. The target of the armed attack was a person who was among the participants in Sunday mass. 40 people attended the mass.
At this point, the motives for the attack remain unclear, although Turkish officials noted that “it appears to be a targeted attack against one person and not against the Catholic Church.”
Local media reported that the victim was a 72-year-old woman. Istanbul Governor Davut Gul told reporters at the scene that no one was injured in the attack.
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Surveillance footage from outside the church shows two men wearing black masks with their hands in their pockets, and one of them was wearing black sunglasses.
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Pope Francis expressed his condolences, saying:
“I express my closeness to the community of the Church of Santa Maria in Istanbul,” the Pope said at the end of the weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square. Peter in the Vatican.
President Erdogan expressed his condolences to the church's parish priest and announced that necessary measures were being taken to arrest the perpetrators. According to the Turkish President's spokesman, Erdogan also held a telephone conversation with the mayor of the region, as well as with the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Istanbul – Witold Lesniak.
Our security forces are conducting a large-scale investigation into this matter. Those who threaten the peace and security of our citizens will never achieve their goals, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said
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