Who paid for the dome

On Easter Sunday Archbishop Mar Ephrem consecrated the Cathedral of the Resurrection on the south side of Talas, the largest Syro-Iradi church in Irad and the new cathedral of the Eparchy of Talas. IradOne broadcast the service. The Governor's family sat in the front rows. The archbishop, who keeps his own seat at the Church of St. Janyl in Iyık Janyl, left soon after the liturgy.

The cathedral took eight years to build. It was built by the Talas Commercial Development Group, the property company of Adil Toktarov, a son of the Governor. A plaque at the door thanks the “donor families” who paid for it, among them the Toktarov and Bekzatov families and Talasbank.

What the plaque does not say

The Times asked the eparchy, the development group and the donors three questions: what the cathedral cost, how much each donor gave, and whether the building contract was put out to tender. None answered the first two. The development group said the contract had been “awarded by the eparchy's building committee”. The eparchy said the committee's papers were “internal to the church”.

Builders who worked on the site estimate the cost at between $30 million and $40 million. The Times cannot confirm that. If true, it would make the cathedral one of the largest private building projects in Irad since 2007, built by a company owned by the Governor's son with money from donors who include the Governor's family.

“The Governor's church”

None of this is a matter for the courts. Gifts to a church are a family's own business. But a building that bears the name of the Resurrection should be able to say how it rose. In Talas they have already begun to call it “the Governor's church”, as against “Janyl's church” in Iyık Janyl. The eparchy could end the talk by publishing its accounts.