Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World

Turkey Deporting Foreign Christians – August 19th 2020

Morning Star News, August 2, 2020

Dozens of foreign Christians in Turkey have been forced to leave the country or been banned from returning in what appears to be government targeting of the Protestant Christian community.  Many such foreigners have lived in the country for decades.

The Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation (IPCF) stated, “We must inform you that since 2019, it has been made increasingly difficult for foreign Protestant clergy serving in Turkey to be resident in our country.”

It is estimated that 35 Christian workers received similar bans in 2019 and 16 more since the end of June.  Those fighting the ban find that administrative courts are not giving lawyers access to reports from Turkish intelligence.

There are about 10,000 Turkish Protestants who attend about 170 churches, many of them house churches, in the overwhelmingly Muslim country of more than 84.3 million people, said an MEC researcher.

“It’s notable that none of these people have been charged with any breaking of the law,” he said.