No Coup for Christians in Turkey

Jul 20, 2016 by

by Tony Perkins, FRC:

The failed coup attempt against the government of Turkish President Recip Erdogan will have several negative effects and consequences for the people of Turkey. Erdogan appears likely to increase his suppression of civil liberties which began as Prime Minister in 2003 and continued in 2014 when he was elected the 12th President of Turkey. Jailing judges and other officials in the judicial system has been routine for Erdogan. Journalists and media personalities have also been imprisoned in record numbers, and since the failed attempt last week to topple his regime he has arrested and incarcerated over six-thousand military and police who are believed to be complicit in the attempted coup. Today we learned through a media report that the Ministry of Education fired 15,200 people and the Board of Higher Education has requested the resignation of 1,577 university deans, akin to dismissing them.

What should be of concern to all are the implications for the future of the Christians (and other minorities) in Turkey. Given Turkey’s history of genocide against the Armenian Christians between 1915-1923 (an atrocity which Pope Francis recently recognized), with an estimated death toll of 1.5 million, the 120,000 Christians now living in Turkey are most certainly concerned.

Fast forward to the modern era, and we observe that the persecution and even killing of Christians in Turkey continues. Just under a decade ago, several Christians were lured into a house and horrifically tortured and slaughtered. The accused have more recently walked free due to a change in laws governing the detention of suspects. Elsewhere, churches have been shut down. According to one recent report, “the Christian minority in Turkey suffer discrimination, slander, personal attacks and attacks against churches on a daily basis.”

Read here

See also:

Turkey purge: is military coup a lesser evil than Erdogan’s Islamism?, by Archbishop Cranmer

 

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