This is a Rum Orthodox Church.

I have been informed this is the Greek Orthodox church of St. Constantine (the emperor that gave the city its name) and his mother St. Helen.

As a building it was almost rebuilt a little bit after 1955 since it was burned down by the mob in the tragic events of September 1955. It is called of the people of karamania since around it they lived rich christians from Kapadoccia and neighbouring regions.

As for those tragic events, I quote from the impeccable source of Erik J. Zürchers "Turkey, a modern history": "On 6-7 September, large-scale riots took place in Istanbul. In all probability, Menderes and his foreign minister, Zorlu, had decided to have a limited "spontaneous" demonstration by students in Istanbul to express public feeling on the Cyprus issue in Turkey, but the demonstration got completely out of hand and developed first into a pogrom against Greek businesses and then into a general attack on visible wealth by the inhabitants of the gecekondus [poor neighbourhoods – Dick Osseman], shops in Istanbul’s main shopping streets were ransacked and trucks came even from Anatolia to collect the loot. The police, who apparently had been instructed not to act in the original planned demonstration, watched without interfering.” Strolling through Istanbul – a very good guide I use a lot, informs us dryly “This church has only very recently been rebuilt, but its foundation goes back at least as far as 1563, the date of the earliest recorded reference to it”. Rebuilt indeed.