Persecution of Christians in Turkey: the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, calls upon the Turkish government to act swiftly and decisively to protect the nation’s Greek Orthodox community from vigilante action and other dangers that could arise from these slanders in the media. These false claims demonstrate the same contempt for the Christian community of Asia Minor that we see manifested in numerous ways, including in the conversion of ancient churches, including Hagia Sophia, to mosques. This contempt is also manifested in the ongoing denial of property rights and legal identity to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)’s 2018 Annual Report, which documents violations of religious freedom around the world, has again included Turkey among its Tier 2 violators — that is, countries where religious freedom violations are systematic, ongoing, and/or egregious. The Order reiterates our hope that the international human rights community will direct its attention to the plight of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and of all Christians and other religious minorities in Turkey, and that the Turkish government will heed the repeated calls to grant full religious freedom to its embattled Christian minority.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Turkey, see here.
“Greeks, Armenians and Christians among the most targeted groups for discriminatory Turkish media,” by Paul Antonopoulos, Greek City Times, September 23, 2020:
In what will come of little surprise, Greeks, Armenians and Christians were among the most targeted groups in the highly controlled and discriminatory Turkish media, according to a 2019 Turkish-language report.
Groups targeted in 2019 due to their national, ethnic, religious and / or sexual identity (top ten):…
Christians:
– They were targeted because of the March 2019 mosque attack in New Zealand.
– They were presented as a threat to the interests and security of Turkey during the illegal Operation ‘Peace Spring’ of the Turkish military against the Kurds in Syria.
– They were targeted in connection with the diplomatic crisis between Turkey and EU countries, but also the EU itself, in light of ‘Christian identity’.
The 10 newspapers in which most of the articles were recorded with hate speech and / or racist discrimination rhetoric:
The so-called “progressive” Kemalists, as can be seen, are among the top 10 most hateful media outlets in Turkey, demonstrating that racism and discrimination in Turkey is not just reduced to the radical policies and beliefs of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan….
