Seven months after the newly constructed Diyarbakir Evangelical Church opened in southeast Turkey, a local council under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has again protested against the building’s use as a place of worship.
Two major hurdles face evangelical churches in Turkey: lack of trained leadership and suitable buildings. A Turkish church planter says conditions are now right to do something about both.
“What’s needed is …something analogous to the ancient acropolis, where today’s diversity of national and ethnic customs and religious traditions can be celebrated and upheld for the enrichment of everybody….The new acropolises will… provide opportunity for sacred expression needed to bind the people of the planet into a viable, meaningful, and sustainable solidarity.”[2] [Dean James Morton, Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, 1996 UN Conference on Human Settlements]
SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) — Turkish security police ordered a Protestant Christian congregation meeting for 40 years in the southeastern port city of Iskenderun to close its doors in mid-June, declaring the church had “no legal basis” and that its activities were harmful to society, Compass Direct reported today.
ISTANBUL, May 7 (Compass) — Protestant pastor Ahmet Guvener goes on trial in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir in late May, accused by the state prosecutor of making illegal changes in the architectural plan of his nearly completed church building.
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) — The German based Charity Shelter Now has warned the trial of its eight detained foreign Christian staff members in Afghanistan seems to have been put on hold. “No progress is being made,” the evangelical news agency Idea quoted Shelter Now’s Chairman, Joachim Jaeger, as saying.
Protestant pastor Ahmet Guvener goes on trial in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir in late May, accused by the state prosecutor of making illegal changes in the architectural plan of his nearly completed church building.
URGENT REQUEST
“Things here are not looking too great now and we may not be able to stay here much longer. There are already some problems that we are definitely aware of here,” wrote the correspondent.
WASHINGTON (BP)–The State Department’s second report on global religious liberty presents a challenge for the U.S. government to act against persecution, the chairman of a federal commission said.
ISTANBUL, August 7 (Compass) — Canadian authorities issued written verification yesterday that its embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara has begun the immigration application process for an Iranian Christian family stranded in eastern Turkey for more than two years.
An Assyrian Christian arrested a month ago for taking home videos in an ancient churchyard in Turkey’s heavily militarized Southeast was ordered released today by Diyarbakir’s State Security Court.
ISTANBUL, July 5 (Compass) — An Assyrian Christian arrested a month ago for taking home videos in an ancient churchyard in Turkey’s heavily militarized Southeast was ordered released today by Diyarbakir’s State Security Court.
An American Christian working in Turkey has called for open dialogue on the issue of persecution of churches in that country.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (ANS) — An American Christian working in Turkey has called for open dialogue on the issue of persecution of churches in that country.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (ANS) — Christian workers in Istanbul, Turkey, who distribute Bibles and New Testaments in the Turkish language, have had their offices raided by police and are currently under investigation by local authorities.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (ANS) — Operation Mobilization workers in Istanbul, Turkey, report that Bible distribution efforts have been well received in that country.
ISTANBUL, July 5 (Compass) — An Assyrian Christian arrested a month ago for taking home videos in an ancient churchyard in Turkey’s heavily militarized Southeast was ordered released today by Diyarbakir’s State Security Court.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO (ANS) — The US office of Turkish World Outreach has received an invitation from the International Turkey Network for churches to participate in an “International Concert of Prayer for Turkey.”
ISTANBUL, (Compass) — Four security police from Gaziantep’s anti-terrorism division raided a Turkish Christian’s home on the night of April 11, placing him under arrest for five days pending investigation of accusations against him.
ISTANBUL, April 7 (Compass) — Two Turkish Christians imprisoned near Izmir for a month on concocted charges of insulting Islam were ordered released March 30, after prosecution witnesses admitted that local gendarmarie officials pressured them to sign prepared complaints.