About the event
To mark WDEC 2025 and highlight the spirit of international understanding and unity that has characterized the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery since its founding in 1859, an olive tree will be planted in front of the chapel on May 28, 2025. Embodying the motto of ASCE’s Peace Tree Project, “Live in peace to rest in peace,” the tree will permanently remind cemetery visitors of the need for empathy and accord to counter aggression and foster just, harmonious societies that bind humanity rather than divide it.
The event will open with a guided tour of the cemetery lead by Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Initiative members Fokke Gerritsen (Netherlands Institute in Turkey) and Brian Johnson (American Research Institute in Turkey). Speeches by Consul General of The Netherlands Arjen Uijterlinde and President of the Governing Board of the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Sebastiaan Kuipers will follow, after which the tree will be planted. The celebration will conclude with refreshments from one of the oldest bakeries in the Feriköy neighborhood, including its signature Süryani Çörekleri, or “Assyrian Buns.”
About the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery
Founded in 1859, the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery is the principal burial place for Istanbul’s foreign Protestant and otherwise non-Catholic or Orthodox dead. It is managed by a governing board comprised of the consulates-general of Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Switzerland, and the USA. The board is assisted in its administrative task by the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Initiative, a scholarly working group affiliated with six Turkey-based international research centers, including the American Research Institute in Turkey, the Netherlands Institute in Turkey, the Orient-Institut Istanbul, the Hungarian Cultural Center, the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, and the British Institute at Ankara.
Additional information
Further details about the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery and its history and administration can be found on its ASCE webpage and on the website of the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Initiative. Inquiries about the Initiative and its projects can be sent to info@ferikoycemetery.org.