What happend to the Byzantine graves around ...

Older türkish graves are generally at garden of mosques( You can find graves of ottoman sultans) or older graveyards. If I am not wrong, There is armenian, greek and jewish graveyard in istanbul but not sure, It they have more than 500 year past.

By accident I found out what could have happened to the Byzantine graves. I pulled out of storage one of my many plastic tote containers and found an issue of “Greek American Magazine” dated 2007. It has an article titled “The Popes visit to Turkey…Did we do enough” by Gregory Pappas.
I clipped a portion of the article that gets to the point:
The Ecumenical Patriarchate is not permitted to own property; thus it owns none of the churches under its religious jurisdiction, Turkish authorities have confiscated houses, apartment buildings, schools, monasteries and lands there were once owned by the
The Ecumenical Patriarchate; the state seized the Patriarchate’s 36 cemeteries which are now the property of various legal subdivisions of the city of Istanbul. Page 09

I am not sure if any of these gravesites were contemporary or if any go back to the Byzantine period or pre-1453 but this is what could have happened to the ancient graveyards. I cannot assume that any were Byzantine which would take more research and I would probably have to contact the Patriarchate’s office in Istanbul. I do not recall any Turkish graves in Athens so they could have faced the same fate since both cities have expanded so much over the decades. I would not doubt that some Turkish graves in Istanbul were exhumed because of development pressures, it has happened in the USA

What has happened has happen so please do not turn this into a Greek/Turk brawl. I do believe any lands that are still undeveloped should be returned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and compensation should be given for the land already developed but that is only an opinion. I wonder if the bodies were exhumed and moved or simply built over. If they exhumed them then were did they relocate them? In the countryside or the bottom of the Marmara Sea? This is a serious question and not meant as an attack on Turks, most of whom I respect. This could be a hot topic now so please be civil about it.

Hello eaglecap

Well, Al Jassas has a point. I don't know about Athens (which by the way, was not very big in the pre-revolutionary years), but here in Thessaloniki non-christian graveyards have been sweeped for development. Especially the jewish cemetary, which supposedly held 500,000 bodies has now been built as a university campus, and only a small patch of land is saved today as a cemetary. I think, the authorities relocated the skeletons they found.

Originally posted by eaglecap ....Istanbul/Constantinople? I really did not think about looking for them but having the sickness called the wonder-lust I went all over Istanbul. I saw a lot of Turkish grave sites; both old and new. But, I do not recall seeing any graves from the Byzantine period. It could be I just was not looking but with all the places I visited I don't see how I could have missed them. What happened to these graves? Were they dug up or just built over or did I just miss them?

Don't you think that, you are just a little bit more sensetive. As you know if people respected pagan temples, there weren't many nice churches as Hagia Sophia. Idea of protecting all byzantine greaves( they should be at least 600-800 years old) ???

I have to agree Xristar and Al Jassas

Originally posted by xristar here in Thessaloniki non-christian graveyards have been sweeped for development. Especially the jewish cemetary, which supposedly held 500,000 bodies ha

That's quite normal. However I want to help you.

*Byzantine Bruial Chamber in İstanbul
it is 1600 years old and near the Wall of Istanbul. It was found in 1988
http://www.parkeoloji.com/1600-yillik-mezar-odasina-ihanet/ (Turkish)
http://www.fatihhaber.com/index_kralmezari.html (just photoes)

*People were going to pray a cemetery in Erdek/Balıkesir. Even local soldiers were making cerenomies in there. They had thought that ıt was a cemetery for dead soilder of WW1 but they noticed the reality. That is a byzantine cemetery. 
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=288950