Turkish authorities have ignored and rejected repeated applications from the Diyarbakir Protestant Church Foundation to acquire land zoned for religious buildings, and a court recently turned down a legal challenge. The church needs to build a new worship centre large enough to accommodate its congregation of over one hundred Christians, who currently meet in a very overcrowded space (pictured).

ADF International reports that the Foundation has submitted numerous applications to different authorities but state institutions have passed them back and forth, claiming they lack authority to grant the land usage request. Urban planning documents dictate where churches may be built, so applicants must receive approval to use a location designated for religious purposes to build a church.

In 2023 the Diyarbakir Protestant Church Foundation brought a legal challenge to secure permission to build on a designated religious plot but in 2024 the Diyarbakir 4th Administrative Court ruled against the church. The court told church leaders that they could buy undesignated land and apply for a religious use designation, but such a request has never been granted. The Foundation plans to appeal the court’s decision.

Kelsey Zorzi, ADF International’s Director of Advocacy for Global Religious Freedom, explained: “The Diyarbakir Protestant Church Foundation is simply asking to use land that has already been designated for religious use, in order to build a facility large enough to safely accommodate their congregation; but authorities keep finding ways to deny their request since they are Christians. The land in question has been specifically designated for religious use, but the government is discriminating against the church because it is not associated with the state’s preferred religion. The systemic and bureaucratic persecution is not only in direct violation of the basic human right to religious freedom but also Türkiye’s international human rights obligations. The discrimination must stop.”

Lead lawyer on the case Orhan Kemal Cengiz commented, “Having a legally recognised worship place in Türkiye has always been a major issue. This problem, in my opinion, causes serious infringements of one of the most fundamental human rights, namely, freedom of religion. Unfortunately, Christians face numerous legal and practical barriers when they wish to establish a legally recognised worship place in Türkiye.”

Diyarbakir Protestant Church

Diyarbakir Protestant Church began meeting over twenty years ago in the home of Pastor Ahmet Güvener (pictured) in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir. It later moved into a recognised church building and became a legally recognised Foundation in 2019. Its membership is comprised of Turks and Kurds who are converts from Islam.

Pastor Güvener and his church have suffered persistent opposition from the authorities. In 2002 the pastor was accused of making illegal architectural alterations to a worship and ministry centre and obstructing a historical site. He was tried at Diyarbakir Criminal Court but after several hearings a judge ruled that the charges were unfounded and dismissed the case. Had the pastor been convicted, he could have faced a prison sentence of two to five years.

In 2013 US citizen Jerry Mattix, who had done voluntary work with the Diyarbakir church for twelve years, had to leave Turkey when the government blacklisted him, deeming him a “threat to national security”.

Discrimination

Tukey has a secular constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, despite being 99% Muslim, but there is great tension between secularists and Islamists and the country has become increasingly Islamic and nationalistic. Many Turks believe that to be a real Turk one must be Muslim and this has led to hate speech against religious minorities.

Protestant seminaries have been shut down, forcing Turkish churches to rely on foreign missionaries trained outside Turkey, but it is estimated that since 2018 around 185 foreign Protestant ministers living in Turkey have been deported or refused re-entry to the country, the authorities designating them “a threat to national security”.

Read the Church in Chains Turkey Country Profile.

(ADF International, Church in Chains)

Photos: ADF International