Tag: Turkey

Police break up plot to assassinate Turkish pastor

January 18, 2013 Turkey Converts, Diyarbakir, Izmit, Malatya, Turkey

Police in Turkey say they thwarted an assassination plot against a Christian pastor Tuesday when they arrested 14 suspects, two of whom had been part of his congregation for more than a year. Emre Karaali, pastor of Izmit Protestant Church and the target of the alleged plot, said two of . . . Read More

Book review: ‘Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack’

December 21, 2012 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Qaeda, Arab Spring, China, Egypt, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Mao Zedong, Middle East, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Nigeria, Prophet Muhammad, Turkey

Jesus warned his followers that they would experience persecution, a prediction that was already coming true before the books of the New Testament were completed. Today, Rupert Shortt, author of Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack, argues, “the greatest curbs on religious freedoms take place in Muslim majority countries.” Take Egypt, . . . Read More

Finally, Istanbul gives Syriac Christians a place to build: a cemetery

December 18, 2012 Turkey Burial, Churches, Istanbul, Mardin, Midyat, Mor Gabriel Monastery, Turkey

Three years after a Syrian Orthodox foundation applied to build a church in Istanbul, the Greater Istanbul Municipality has granted them a large plot of land and a building permit. Banner headlines in the Turkish media praised the early-December decision as “a first in the history of the Republic,” declaring . . . Read More

Attacked Turkish pastor joins in memorials for slain Christians

April 18, 2012 Turkey Malatya, Mardin, Turkey

After a memorial service for three Christians who were murdered in Malatya, Turkey five years ago today, an Istanbul pastor who was attacked over Easter weekend said he’s experienced hostility from Muslims nearly all his life. Semir Serkek, 58, pastor of Grace Church in Istanbul’s Bahcelievler district, said he personally . . . Read More

Turkey’s religious freedom record slides

April 9, 2012 Turkey Greek Orthodox, Malatya, Orhan Picaklar, Religious freedom, Turkey

Sentiment against Christians in Turkey has persisted long enough for a U.S. religious rights monitor to recommend it as a “Country of Particular Concern,” and pastor Orhan Picaklar knows such anti-Christian hostility first-hand. Picaklar, of Agape Church in Samsun, lives in the Black Sea region, a bastion of Turkey’s unique . . . Read More

Indictment of ‘masterminds’ of murders in Turkey expected

February 28, 2012 Turkey Armenians, Malatya, Trabzon, Turkey

Judges in Turkey’s southeastern city of Malatya have announced the preparation of an indictment in the case of three murdered Christians that is expected to reveal a shadowy network that incited five young men to carry out the crime. The Third Criminal Court of Malatya is expected to announce the . . . Read More

Church head in unprecedented meeting with Turkish MPs

February 27, 2012 Turkey Ankara, Greek Orthodox, Halki Seminary, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

In an unprecedented meeting, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey last week expressed his concerns and hopes for the country’s Christian minority to members of the Turkish Parliament. The visit took place in Ankara after Speaker of the Parliament Cemil Cicek invited Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to . . . Read More

Turkish Christians subject to discrimination, attacks, report says

February 14, 2012 Turkey Education, Malatya, Protestants, Turkey

Despite some promising developments, Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media, according to a study by a Protestant group. In its annual “Report on Human Rights Violations,” released in January, the country’s Association . . . Read More

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