Sabri Anar, the spiritual leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Turkey and archbishop of Diyarbakır, died in France on Saturday at the age of 60, according to the Sabro daily.
Anar had been receiving cancer treatment in France since December 2025.
His funeral is scheduled for October 22 at the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle in Sarcelles, north of Paris, followed by burial in Sarcelles, the Chaldean Patriarchate announced.
The Chaldean Catholic Church’s Spiritual Council and Foundation Board said in a joint statement that Anar had devoted his life to serving the church and its congregation. The council offered condolences to his family, Chaldean communities in Turkey and France and Chaldeans in the diaspora.
Remzi Diril, the head priest of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Turkey, told Sabro that Anar’s cancer had recently spread throughout his body.
“We were hoping he would recover and return, but unfortunately we lost him,” Diril said.
Diril said Anar had served the Chaldean community in France for many years and described him as devoted to his church and congregation.
“He was a person loyal to his church and who loved his congregation, someone who truly sacrificed himself for them,” Diril said. “He provided great service, especially to the congregation in France.”
The Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey issued a message of condolence, saying Anar’s death was a loss not only for the Chaldean Catholic Church but also for other churches. The patriarchate said he would be remembered during Sunday services.
Monsignor Martin Kmetec, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Turkey, also issued a letter of condolence.
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, sent condolences to Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Mar Paulos III Nona. Nona was elected patriarch on April 12, following the resignation of Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako.
The Diocese of Pontoise in France also remembered Anar’s contributions to the Chaldean community, where he had served for many years.
Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chairs of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), also shared condolences on social media.
Anar was born on January 1, 1966, in Doğan village in the Uludere district of Şırnak, a southeastern Turkish province.
After studying at a Franciscan seminary in İstanbul, he entered the Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad in 1985. He was ordained in Paris on November 10, 1990, and began serving the Chaldean community in France.
From 1990 to 2006, Anar served as assistant pastor at the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle in Sarcelles, France, and subsequently became its pastor. In 2016, he took responsibility for the Church of St. John the Apostle in Arnouville.
In 2017, he was appointed chorepiscopus, a clerical rank in Eastern Christian churches. He also completed a master’s degree in catechesis at the Catholic Institute of Paris.
Anar was elected archbishop of Diyarbakır by the Chaldean Church’s synod with Pope Francis’s approval, the Vatican announced on May 24, 2023. At the time, he was serving as a parish priest in Arnouville, France.
Anar was consecrated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in İstanbul on July 16, 2023, and served as archbishop until his death.
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