Tag: Turkey

Brunson’s trial highlights Turkey’s ‘hostage diplomacy’ tactic

May 4, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Binali Yildirim, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Human rights, Iran, Izmir, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Turkey, USA

On the eve of jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson’s second court hearing in Turkey, growing international comment has focused on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s transparent “hostage diplomacy” tactic, one of several issues seriously souring his nation’s relations with the United States. The upcoming 7 May hearing near Turkey’s third-largest . . . Read More

Five years on, hope remains for missing Syrian bishops

April 27, 2018 Syria Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Kidnapping, Qatar, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Yohanna Ibrahim

Syrian Bishop Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox church in Aleppo, together with his counterpart from the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo, has been missing since 22 April 2013. (Photo: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Five years since the disappearance of two Syrian bishops, the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut says “all available evidence and indications encourage continued optimism” that they may yet be alive and one day released. However, its statement added that “all the efforts that have been made to obtain even a . . . Read More

On trial for terrorism and espionage in a Turkish court

April 25, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Islamic State, Izmir, Kurds, Middle East, Missionaries, PKK, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Refugees, Suruç, Turkey, USA

Just one prisoner, slightly built, came through a side door, escorted on either side by armed gendarmerie soldiers, walking him past rows and rows of empty seats. Dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, he glanced up at the impressive state-of-the-art courtroom, built to accommodate 650 people. Its walls . . . Read More

North Korea, China, Russia and Iran ‘forces of instability’

April 24, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Andrew Brunson, Chechnya, China, Human rights, Iran, Liberia, Mexico, Myanmar, North Korea, Rohingya, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Uyghurs, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

Tibetan Buddhists as well as Uyghur Muslims are among the minority groups that Chinese authorities are clamping down on. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US State Department has called North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran “forces of instability” in its latest set of country reports on human rights, saying they “violate the human rights of those within their borders on a daily basis”. The 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published on . . . Read More

Erdogan demands Gulen extradition for US pastor’s release

April 23, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Turkey, USA

Responding over the weekend to public pressure from both US President Donald Trump and 66 members of the US Senate, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeated his demand that US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen must be extradited back to Turkey if Washington expects Ankara to release jailed US pastor Andrew . . . Read More

Turkish court puts trial of US pastor on hold for three weeks

April 16, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Andrew Brunson got his first day in a Turkish court today (16 April) to answer espionage charges. It will be three weeks until he gets his second. The American-born Brunson, pastor of a small Protestant church, told the court he denies any wrongdoing. He is accused of supporting the attempted . . . Read More

World Council of Churches condemns persecution of other religions

April 9, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Berlin, Germany, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Kurds, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has condemned efforts to incite violence against people who practise other faiths as “abhorrent and ungodly”. “Freedom of religion is as much about Christian minorities in Muslim countries as it is about followers of Islam . . . Read More

Turkey’s Churches publish landmark book of common Christian doctrine

March 28, 2018 Turkey Armenians, Catholics, Haghia Sophia, Istanbul, Orthodox, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Protestants, Turkey

A joint commission of Turkey’s major Christian denominations has published an historic book of concise Christian doctrine, receiving the unprecedented endorsement of all the nation’s Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Syriac and Protestant Churches. According to Armenian Bishop Sahak Masalyan, keynote speaker at the formal book launch in Istanbul of the English . . . Read More

Turkey: date set for trial of US pastor Andrew Brunson

March 21, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

A photo of the Rev. Andrew Brunson during his time in prison. Photo courtesy of World Witness

Imprisoned US pastor Andrew Brunson is set to stand trial before a Turkish criminal court on 16 April on espionage- and terrorism-related charges that could jail him for up to 35 years. Seventeen months after the pastor’s arrest in the port city of Izmir, a formal indictment accepted by the . . . Read More

5 years on, what has Pope Francis done for religious freedom?

March 19, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Azhar, Asia Bibi, Boko Haram, Egypt, Havana, Human rights, Iraq, Latin America, Minorities, Myanmar, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey

Pope Francis greets people during his inauguration on 19 March 2013. (Photo: Getty Images)

Pope Francis, the son of Italian migrants, appeared on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica five years ago to be introduced as the first Latin American pontiff. Below, World Watch Monitor looks at a few of the highlights of his tenure so far, and his impact on freedom of religion . . . Read More

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