Turkey: Pressures, Attacks, and Discrimination against Christians

by Uzay Bulut  •  March 29, 2020 at 4:30 am

     

• When Protestants introduce themselves to the authorities as a church, they receive warnings that they are not legal and may be closed down.
• In 2019, however, many members of the foreign clergy, as well as church members, were deported, refused residence permits, or denied entry visas into Turkey -- as in previous years.
• Some textbooks also target Christian communities. "Missionary Activity" continues to be a heading under the section related to "National Threats" in the eighth grade elementary school textbook entitled, Revolutionary History and Kemalism. This teaching continues to be referenced in supplementary textbooks and tests related to missionary activity being considered a "national threat".

On September 6, in the Akçaabat district of Trabzon province, the fronts of several buildings built for tourists were demolished as a result of complaints that their design resembled a cross. Pictured: The shore at Akçaabat, Turkey. (Image source: Sinan Şahin/Wikimedia Commons)

Turkey's Association of Protestant Churches has released its 2019 "Human Rights Violations Report" detailing the state of religious freedom in the country.

The report sheds light on problems Protestant Christians faced in Turkey in 2019. These included barring foreign Protestants from entering Turkey for no other reason than their faith, as well as the inability of Christians to train their own religious workers.

One major difficulty for Protestant Christians in Turkey is that the Protestant community is not recognized as a legal entity.

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