By Asbarez | Tuesday, 14 May 2019
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
Last week, I reported on Azerbaijan’s violations of religious freedom as documented in the most recent Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. My article this week covers religious violations in Turkey as reported by USCIRF, a U.S. Federal government agency.
The Annual Report revealed that, “in 2018, the state of religious freedom in Turkey remained deeply troubling, raising serious concerns that the country’s current trajectory will lead to the further deterioration of conditions in the year ahead. The lack of any meaningful progress on the part of the Turkish government to address longstanding religious freedom issues was continued cause for concern.”
“Many serious limitations on the freedom of religion or belief continued, threatening the continued vitality and survival of minority religious communities in the country; in addition, increased demonization and a smear campaign by government entities and pro-government media contributed to a growing climate of fear among religious minority communities. The Turkish government continued to interfere in the internal affairs of religious communities, disallowing patriarchal elections for the Armenian Apostolic Church and maintaining its requirement that Greek Orthodox metropolitans obtain Turkish citizenship in order to participate in the church’s Holy Synod,” read the report.
Furthermore, the USCIRF stated that, “followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen,” who was the political supporter of President Recep tayyip Erdogan earlier in his career, “continued to be dismissed from public service, detained, and arrested in the tens of thousands for alleged complicity in the July 2016 failed coup attempt or involvement in terrorist activity. The Turkish government has indiscriminately designated those affiliated with Gülen as part of a terrorist organization. Government officials also continued to engage in anti-Semitism in the form of public statements and comments made on social media platforms, while pro-government newspapers and media outlets propagated hate speech directed against both Christians and Jews.”
In the past three years, since the failed coup attempt of July 2016 to overthrow Erdogan, the Turkish government dismissed over 150,000 public servants, and arrested tens of thousands accusing them of plotting the coup and being involved in terrorism. In addition, 68 journalists—the most in any country—have been jailed, over 150 media outlets were closed down, and the government took control of most independent media companies.
Furthermore, the USCIRF reports the following religious violations in Turkey:
The USCIRF urged the US government to pressure Turkey to comply with all provisions of religious freedom and take appropriate corrective measures!
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