Ayios Fokas Greek Orthodox Church was built-in 1719 by the edict of Sultan Ahmet III. It was damaged during a fire in 1853 and was restored by the edict of Sultan Abdülmecid. The church was dedicated to Saint Fokas who was born in Sinop and sacrificed his life to promulgate Christianity. The Istanbul pogrom, also known as the Istanbul riots, were a series of state-sponsored anti-Greek mob attacks directed primarily at Istanbul's Greek minority on 6–7 September 1955 caused many members of Ortaköy's Greek and Armenian communities to leave