Authorities in Turkey, an officially secularist country, have approved the construction of a new church for the first time in 90 years.

The Syriac Christian house of worship will be built in Yesilkoy, Istanbul, near the Sea of Marmara.

According to AFP, the area is already home to Armenian, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox churches, but a new sanctuary has not been built since 1923.

"It is the first since the creation of the republic," a government source told AFP on Saturday. "Churches have been restored and reopened to the public, but no new church has been built until now."

An overwhelming majority of Turkey's population is Muslim, and some have criticised the AKP ruling party of inserting Islamic values into the officially secular government.

Turkish Christians were largely killed or driven out during and after World War I, and after the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey's decision to build a new church follows efforts to increase the rights of minorities, restore churches, synogagues, and monasteries, and return seized property, as part of their bid to enter the European Union.

There are less than 20,000 Syriac Christians in Turkey now, and most live in the southeast. The church will be paid for by a Syriac group, and built on land donated by the local council, the government source said.