A number of incidents indicate that the persecution of Christians is increasing in Turkey. For example, a South Korean missionary was stabbed to death in 2019, the Hagia Sophia Cathedral was converted into a mosque in 2020 and 70 missionary families have been expelled from the country since the beginning of 2019.
I wanted to talk to Turkish Christians face-to-face about these developments, but due to COVID-19 I have to ask the questions in a video meeting to Mehmet, one of our good contacts and a key leader in the country.
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"Right now, many Christians have problems in Turkey," says Mehmet. "We don't have institutions that can train church leaders. There are no Christian independent schools we can send our children to. Only schools for foreign children can have a Christian foundation. If your ID card shows that you are a Christian, you cannot work in the police or be a teacher in a public school. As soon as the authorities find out that you are a Christian, you will be fired from your public office."
" Around 10% of Turkish Christian converts have their ID cards changed to show that they are Christian. This corresponds to about 700 people out of a total of 7000 ethnic Christians in Turkey. In contrast, Syrians and Armenians are automatically identified as Christians on their ID cards."
Missionaries are expelled
"There have also been many recent examples of foreign missionaries being deported. Not only foreign missionaries, but also Turkish church leaders who have foreign spouses who have to leave the country. So persecution is increasing in Turkey."
Mehmet believes that these trends are not only an attack on foreign missionaries, but can also be seen as a springboard to target Turkish Christians.
"The Turkish Christians are affected by the situation. It creates a great disappointment as the missionaries have been in the country for many years and the expulsions have happened so suddenly."
Are missionaries who take a leading role in the church being expelled, I ask. "Yes, absolutely. I think they are selecting the ones they want to send away. They are trying to make the church vulnerable. The missionaries have done a lot on the front lines. Now the time has come for the missionaries to step back and walk side by side with the Turks. Or maybe step back and let the Turks grow stronger."
When I was young, I was a mess, but my parents wanted me to be Muslim and a mess - rather than Christian and law-abiding - Mehmet
"There are no parents who thank their children for becoming Christians"
While expulsions of missionaries have accelerated since 2019, new Christians have faced resistance in their families for many years. Mehmet says: "There are no parents who thank their children for becoming Christians. When I was young, I was a mess, but my parents preferred me to be a Muslim and a mess - rather than Christian and law-abiding. I told my family that I was a Christian. At first they didn't believe me. But when they saw that I regularly attended meetings and read the Bible, they tried to stop me and talk me out of it. I kept going. Then they started to become more harsh in their opposition to my new faith. They took my Bible and grounded me, so all I could do was go to school."
"When I still professed to be a Christian, the consequence was that I could only stay home to sleep at night. They told me not to tell anyone else about my faith. They said: Go away. But my brother wanted to go with me to a Christian meeting. At the end of the meeting, he was moved, started crying and gave his life to Christ. My brother changed his attitude and it rubbed off on my family, who slowly began to respect my faith. Some families report their children to the police if they convert to Christianity."
"But do we complain about it? No, because God's word says that these trials will strengthen us. If you're not being persecuted, you have a problem."
The video meeting falls silent when Mehmet says this. I fall silent as I live in a country where Christians are not persecuted and have to respond: "Well, then Danish Christians have a problem." Mehmet sees persecution as an opportunity for his faith to be strengthened. In this way, he can be a role model for us in Denmark, when we are much less likely to face skepticism because of our faith.
Facts and figures
- Danish European Mission donors ensure that indigenous Christian Turks are trained to plant churches or take leadership positions in existing churches as more and more missionaries are expelled. Local Christian Turks are paid for their work as church planters.
- Danish European Mission donors ensure that Christian videos and broadcasts for satellite TV, radio and social media are produced and aired.
