by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (Worthy News) – Persecution against Christians in Muslim-majority Turkey has intensified, with attacks on churches, threats against believers, and the deportation of missionaries, according to a new rights report.

Advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC) said incidents include a January shooting at Eskişehir Salvation Church, when a gunman fired at the building while it was empty, and another case at the end of 2024, when a man opened fire from his car at a Salvation Church association building in Istanbul.

“We will not allow you to brainwash our Muslim youth! Oh, infidels, you will be defeated and swept up into hell!” the shooter shouted, according to ICC.

The incidents add to a broader climate of hostility, watchdogs say. In early 2025, Turkey rose five places to 45th on Open Doors’ World Watch List, which ranks 50 countries where Christians face the most persecution for their faith.

Amid the reported incidents, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged the U.S. State Department to place Turkey on its Special Watch List for religious freedom violations.

In March, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), Open Doors International, and other groups raised concerns at the United Nations Human Rights Council about reported restrictions on registering and recognizing non-Muslim places of worship.

CHURCHES TARGETED

“Turkish churches face many difficulties and much discrimination, and unfortunately, when we have tried to address those issues with the Turkish authorities, we have most often been ignored because Christians are the religious minority in Turkey,” said Pastor Ramazan Arkan of Antalya Evangelical Churches.

Less than 1 percent of Turkey’s population identifies as Christian, while roughly 99 percent of its 85 million people are Muslim.

The ruling government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promotes an Islamist-rooted political identity, with policies critics say have increasingly sidelined Christians and other religious minorities.

Under Erdoğan’s leadership, once-symbolic churches such as Hagia Sophia and Chora in Istanbul were reconverted into mosques, moves critics view as signaling Turkey’s shift away from religious pluralism.

The report noted that foreign missionaries are increasingly targeted.

Residence permits are not renewed, with many labeled as security threats, Christians say. Fearing deportation, at least some reportedly avoid church activities altogether.

CHURCHES CLOSED

Local Christians also face online abuse and harassment, Worthy News learned.

“We encounter speech filled with insults and profanity directed at official church social media accounts, church leaders, Christianity, Christian values, and Christians in general,” the Turkish Association of Protestant Churches said in its latest Human Rights Report.

As a result, several churches have shut their doors, while more Christian leaders are voluntarily leaving the country. Many congregations are left without pastors.

There continues to be a great need for Christian workers, the Protestant Churches’ report concluded, highlighting what it called a growing spiritual vacuum in Turkey.

Turkey is formally a candidate for European Union membership and is a key member of the NATO military alliance, factors that advocacy groups say make its human rights record especially significant for Western policymakers.

Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.

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