The Ayatriada Manastırı (Halki seminary) in Heybeliada, Turkey, the only Greek Orthodox educational institution in Turkey, was closed by authorities in 1971. Persecution of Christians has only continued since.
Darwinek, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The new pope is advised by a Curia that remains Bergoglian in orientation—progressive in theology and socialist in politics.
Far from acting as a balancing power between East and West, Turkey has become a tactical opportunist, leveraging its NATO membership to extract concessions from the West.
The Italian PM skillfully transformed the Italian Right from the transactional politics of Silvio Berlusconi to a populist movement defined by policy rather than personality.
Since 2020, more than 200 foreign Christian workers and their families have been expelled from Turkey. The situation has affected roughly 350 individuals, many of whom lived there for decades, according to a new report by the Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF).
“Turkey labels Christians as ‘national security threats’ to justify mass expulsions,” ADF International said.
The Turkish Ministry of Interior assigned these individuals so-called “security codes” (such as N-82 and G-87), effectively banning their re-entry and classifying them as national security threats.
Between December 2024 and January 2025, at least 35 new codes were reportedly issued against foreign Christians. These actions have deprived many Protestant congregations of pastoral leadership and disrupted religious life across the country.
While Turkey’s Constitution enshrines freedom of religion and conscience, government practice tells a different story, noted ADF International.
Entry bans and deportations have increasingly been used as tools to silence foreign Christian workers, while theological training remains heavily restricted—the historic Halki Seminary remains closed, and Protestant seminaries continue to be denied legal status. At the same time, Bible education is prohibited even as Islamic theological courses are freely permitted under state oversight. Church properties also face unjust restrictions, with congregations such as the Bursa Protestant community being forced out of long-standing places of worship. Taken together, these practices reveal a pattern of systemic discrimination against Christians in clear violation of Articles 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Türkiye’s own constitutional guarantees.
ADF International is currently supporting over 30 legal cases on behalf of Christians challenging the arbitrary bans before the European Court of Human Rights and the Turkish courts.
One of the Christians ADF International is representing is Kenneth Arthur Wiest, an American who was denied reentry to Turkey upon returning from a trip to the U.S. He lived in Turkey for over 30 years under a valid residence permit. Wiest was given an “N-85” label by Turkey’s Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) and Ministry of the Interior, meaning he now needs prior approval from the Ministry of the Interior to reenter the country. The N-85 label was issued based on “undisclosed information obtained from the National Intelligence Agency,” according to Wiest’s complaint before the European Court of Human Rights. Wiest was denied the prior authorization required for reentry and Turkish courts would not let him challenge the ban. He and his legal representatives were also not permitted access to documents related to the rationale behind imposing the travel restriction. The Turkish Constitutional Court dismissed Wiest’s claims as “unsubstantiated.”
The European Court of Human Rights is expected to issue a decision in the case soon, one which ADF International said will “set a crucial precedent for the protection of religious freedom in Europe and beyond.” The organization added that Wiest’s “case represents the growing number of believers punished for peacefully practicing their faith.”
According to a 2024 Human Rights Violations Report authored by Turkey’s Association of Protestant Churches, Protestant Christians experience increased hate crimes, hate speech, threats, discrimination, and dismissal from their jobs due to their religion. They also experience physical assaults, a lack of official recognition for the Protestant church, a lack of cemeteries for Christians, deportations of foreign Christians, banning their entry to the country, denying them residence visas, not allowing the Protestant community to open their own churches and train their own spiritual leaders, and forcing them to operate as just “associations,” as well as other abuses.
“Protestant Christian individuals or institutions experienced hate crimes or associated physical attacks due solely to their faith,” noted the report. “2024 saw an increase from the previous year in both written and oral hate speech aimed at provoking hate in public opinion, both written and verbal, that was directed at Protestant Christian individuals or institutions.”
Among reported incidents was an armed attack on the Salvation Church association building in Çekmeköy on December 31st: an assailant fired shots from a car and attempted to remove signs from the facility.
In another incident, assailants fired shots at the Eskişehir Salvation Church building on 20 January 2024, although no one was inside, according to the report. Bullets hit a dentist’s clinic below the church’s level.
“Police who attended the scene did not retrieve the bullet casing, nor did they file a report,” the report noted. “The crime was not recorded, and there was no follow-up investigation by police.”
A Christian English teacher lost her job on December 9 at a private evening class school linked to the Malatya Board of Education. Administrators gave her no cause, but a school director told her, “Be careful which associations you attend and the foreigners you make friends with,” according to the report.
An appeal to the board of education and security authorities was dismissed.
“In 2024, the laws in Turkey continued to block the possibility of training Christian clergy and the opening of schools to provide religious education for the members of church communities in any way,” noted the report. “Yet the right to train and develop religious leaders is one of the foundational pillars of the freedom of religion and belief.”
Meanwhile, the Theological School of Halki, the only Greek Orthodox educational institution in Turkey, has been closed for the past 54 years. Its 1971 closure has seriously deprived the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of its ability to educate its clergy and lay theologians. The closure prevents the Patriarchate from fulfilling its ecumenical role as the center of Orthodox learning, research, and scholarship.
In addition, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has severe visa restrictions placed by the Turkish government on students and priests who wish to visit it in order to study and serve there. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is not permitted by the Turkish Government to have its own printing facility. Therefore, it cannot publish religious journals, treatises and books, again constituting a serious hindrance to its theological and pastoral function and role.
As some historical background, the Ecumenical Patriarchate was founded by the Apostle Andrew, the first-called Apostle of Jesus, in 37 A.D. in the town of Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople and present-day Istanbul). The Ecumenical Patriarchate has served, over the centuries, as the religious center for Orthodox Christians up to this day. The term “Ecumenical Patriarchate” dates from the sixth century A.D. and reflects the stature in which the Bishop of Constantinople was held by the rest of Christendom.
Constantinople was invaded by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, yet the Ecumenical Patriarchate has continued its existence in the city, exercising its spiritual ministry over world-wide Orthodoxy. However, Turkey does not accept the Patriarch’s ecumenical status.
The lack of legal status to the Ecumenical Patriarchate continues to prevent the community from registering any property in its name. Instead, the Ecumenical Patriarch is required to register property in his own personal name.
Throughout the years, many Christians – both native and foreign – were murdered in the country. Catholic bishop Luigi Padovese, who served as the Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, for example, was murdered in Turkey by his driver in 2010.
The Turkish government persecutes Christianity and all its denominations and churches: the Protestant, the Orthodox and the Catholics. Yet, Turkey was the central land of the early church during much of the first century. Many Christians are unaware of this fact because the Bible refers to the region as “Asia Minor” or “Anatolia,”. When the population historically consisted of Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, and Jews, Asia Minor was home to the seven churches of the Book of Revelation and seven ecumenical councils. Much of the New Testament was written either to or from churches in Asia Minor. Many saints were born there and the three major apostles—St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John—either ministered or lived there. The Turkish-Islamic presence in the region began only in the 11th century. The Turks from Central Asia invaded and conquered Asia Minor in 1071. Indigenous Christians have since been oppressed by the Turkish Islamic regime.
Today, although Turkey is a NATO member and an EU candidate, the oppression continues through various methods, preventing Turkish citizens from learning about the Christian faith.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
