Turkish authorities crack down on Christianity; deny church land for worship space
The Diyarbakir Protestant Church Foundation, established in 2019 to serve Protestant Christians in one of Turkey’s southeastern major cities, is facing overt discrimination from the government as they struggle to acquire land zoned for religious buildings to construct a new worship center.
More than 100 Protestant Christians attend worship services at the church in Diyarbakir, which requires a larger space to accommodate the congregation. However, despite repeated applications, the requests have been continually denied or ignored by authorities who claim they lack the requisite authority to grant such requests, said the legal advocacy group ADF International.
“The land in question has been specifically designated for religious use, but the government is discriminating against the church because it is not associated with the state’s preferred religion,” said the group’s Director of Advocacy for Global Religious Freedom, Kelsey Zorzi. “The systemic and bureaucratic persecution is not only in direct violation of the basic human right to religious freedom but also Türkiye’s international human rights obligations. The discrimination must stop.”
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The foundation currently meets in a cramped space inadequate for its growing membership, sparking a legal battle for adequate worship space.
In their fight for justice, the foundation, supported by ADF International, is challenging the court’s decision, which has set a troubling precedent that impedes the establishment of any new religious facilities under the existing urban planning laws.
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, the lead attorney in Turkey for ADF International, described the situation as a critical infringement on one of the most fundamental human rights: freedom of religion. “Christians face numerous legal and practical barriers when they wish to establish a legally recognized worship place in Türkiye,” he said.
The situation is part of a pattern of religious discrimination in Turkey, where the government's increasing Islamization and nationalism have created significant barriers for the Christian minority.
The nation of about 83 million people is predominantly Muslim, with Christians numbering around 170,000. Legal and bureaucratic hurdles have become a common challenge for Christians, often leaving their rights and freedoms curtailed.
At least 185 foreign Protestant ministers have been deported from Turkey since 2018 under the pretext of national security. These expulsions often involve nebulous security codes like N-82, used to bar individuals deemed threats to public order. Notably, David Byle and the Wilsons, a missionary couple, represent just a few of those who have been forced out of the country under such pretenses, with minimal justification and restricted access to legal recourse.
In June, Turkey’s Constitutional Court upheld the expulsion of nine foreign Christian workers, ruling that the controversial N-82 immigration code, which designates these individuals as risks to national security, was within the broad discretion of public authorities regarding immigration and border controls.
Dissent within the court, such as the opinion voiced by Constitutional Court President Judge Zühtü Arslan, suggested a lack of concrete justification for these expulsions.
The international community, including the European bishops, has expressed concern over Turkey’s policies toward Christians, particularly in light of the recent conversion of the Church of Saint Savior in Chora into a mosque. This transformation, following the earlier conversion of the Hagia Sophia Basilica, has been criticized as an effort to erase the historical Christian presence in the country, undermining the credibility of any interreligious dialogue promoted by Turkish authorities.
