Introduction and Summary

The Turkish Protestant community is made up of over 150 small and large fellowships, the majority of which are found in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

The Protestant fellowships have established 6 religious foundations, 4 foundation representative branches, 37 church associations and over 30 representative branches tied to those associations. The remaining fellowships have no legal entity status. Approximately 25 of them are house fellowships. Approximately 10 churches meet in historical church buildings. The rest use public places for worship but they are congregations that do not possess legal status.

The Protestant community did not have the opportunity in 2018 to train its own religious personnel within the Turkish National Education system. In most cases, the Protestant community trains its own religious leaders. A small percentage obtain education at theological schools abroad. Some gain the necessary knowledge and skills for pastoral leadership through seminars given in-country. Because there are not enough local Protestant leaders the spiritual leadership of some churches is provided by foreign pastors.

The Protestant community does not have a hierarchical or centralized structure. Every local church acts independently. However, church pastors began meeting together in the late 80’s for the purpose of unity, solidarity and partnership between the Protestant churches. In the mid 90’s this unity gained structural momentum, so they formed The Alliance of Protestant Churches, also known as TeK (Representative Committee). Due to limitations in the previous legislation relating to associations, TeK continued to experience difficulties in being able to be a representative body before the official government institutions in Turkey. As a result of the change in the Law of Associations, TeK chose to become an association. The Association of Protestant Churches was officially formed on Jan. 23, 2009. The Association of Protestant Churches continues to act as the Turkish Protestant community’s representative and institution for unity.

Since 2007 the Association of Protestant Church has published these monitoring reports which explain the Protestant community’s situation in Turkey.^[1] The Association of Protestant Churches attaches great importance to freedom of religion and belief and strives to ensure these freedoms become a reality for everyone, everywhere. The Association desires to prepare and distribute this annual monitoring report, that describes the Protestant community’s situation, in order to serve this purpose and not a political one.

Freedom of religion and belief, as one of the basic rights found in national and international laws, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is secured under national and international laws and the constitutional authority in our country. However, from the perspective of the Protestant community some basic problems still continued in 2018. For the purpose of contributing to the development of freedom of belief in Turkey, this report has been prepared to present some of the experiences and problems as well as positive developments that have been experienced in 2018 by the Protestant community in the area of religious freedom.^[2] The situation in 2018 can be summarized briefly as follows:

• There was a clear reduction in 2018 in hate crimes committed against Protestant Christians that resulted in physical attacks against Protestants and Protestant churches. However there was a significant increase in public hate speech designed to incite the public to hatred of Protestants and in written or verbal hate attacks on Protestants and Protestant churches purely due to their beliefs.

• There was an increase in hate speech directed toward churches and Christians in some national media outlets, in local media and in social media. Even more concerning, there was an increased coupling together of churches and terror organizations in news reports without any evidence of substantiation, and despite declarations to the contrary by churches and church leaders. In particular, some churches, and local and foreign church members became the direct subject of news reports. Despite the passing of the Personal Data Protection Law, photographs, names and activities of churches were published in this context and this created concern for targeted individuals, target churches and their members.

• Problems continued to be faced with regard to requests to establish a place of worship, to continue using a facility for worship, and to use an existing church building.

• During the Christmas and New Year season, there was some apprehension because of billboard and poster notices with hate filled slogans, brochures distributed on the street containing hate language, newspaper articles and television programs which were directed at Christmas and New Year celebrations.

• The trend for gaining legal status for the Protestant community through establishing associations continued in 2017. However, even though the establishment of associations has helped congregations gain legal status, it has not provided a complete solution. In 2018, the pressure on church associations did not prevent churches from worshiping. During this period one church became a religious foundation and the application for another church to become a religious foundation is ongoing.

• There was no movement forward in 2018 in regards to protecting the rights of Christians to train their own religious workers. Some foreign church leaders were deported, were denied entry back into Turkey and/or faced problems with getting their residence permits renewed. A foreign church leader in Izmir was incarcerated for a long period of time on the grounds of being a member of the FETÖ/PDY terror organization.

Hate Crimes and Speech, Verbal and Physical Attacks

• On 4 April 2018, the pastor of Diyarbakır Protestant Church, Ahmet Güvener, received repeated threatening and abusive telephone calls. After reporting the incident to security forces the prosecutor decided that as the suspect’s telephone had been used by others and the perpetrator was a minor there was no need to open a case.
• In June 2018 the signs erected by Mardin Metropolitan Municipality identifying Mardin Protestant Church as a historic building and directing visitors to the church were broken or removed several times by persons unknown. The incidents were reported to the security forces but the perpetrator(s) were never apprehended.
• During the 2018 Christmas season, the Diyarbakır Protestant Church was stoned repeatedly by minors. No attempt was made to investigate those who were inciting or encouraging the children to do this, and because the perpetrators were minors no action was taken. The church has stated that these attacks were as a result of the increased hate speech that occurs at Christmas time.
• During 2017 Christmas and New Year season, various anti-Christmas and anti-New Year campaigns were carried out. Antagonistic posters were hung on the streets, brochures were distributed, social media campaigns were conducted, and news was published in newspapers and on social media; the participation in these campaigns by various public institutions created an intense atmosphere of hate. In particular there was a significant increase in abusive and insulting comments from users of social media and newspaper websites towards Christianity and Christians. These campaigns created apprehension during the various Christmas celebrations. The silence of the Government and the State in the face of such hate campaigns aimed at inciting hatred has caused deep disappointment within the Protestant Community.
• It has been observed that members of the Protestant community are reluctant to complain to the security forces or report incidents due to hate-speech and perpetrators going unpunished, to being unable to get a satisfactory result from investigations by authorities, and due to the perpetrators usually remaining unidentified.

Problems Related to Places of Worship

Problems with regard to establishing a place of worship or continuing to use an established place of worship, an important part of freedom of religion and belief, continued in 2018.

Because the number of historic church buildings available for use by the Protestant community is so limited, Protestant communities try to overcome the problem of finding a place to worship by establishing an association or gaining representative status with an existing association or religious foundation and then renting or purchasing a property such as a shop or depot that has not traditionally been used for worship. However, in this case, requests by the churches to redesignate these properties as places of worship are rejected by municipalities or not even tabled as an agenda item for the municipal council to discuss. As a result, meeting places are not recognized as a place of worship, but as the locale for the association. Thus, they cannot make use of the advantages given to an officially recognized place of worship. When they introduce themselves to the authorities as a church they receive warnings that they are not legal and may be closed down. During 2018 many churches or church associations were visited by security forces. Information was given about their activities but no negative result occurred.

• The legal problems experienced by the Diyarbakir Protestant Church continued in 2018. Summary: along with other churches within the Diyarbakir Sur district, and 6300 other parcels of land were declared national property by a Cabinet decision announced in the Official Newspaper on March 25, 2016. Legal proceedings against this decision have begun. The problem concerning the current church building has been solved. But the  concern over the building owned by Diyarbakir Protestant Church next to the main church building along with 3 parcels of land that the church uses for a garden continues as does the legal proceedings associated with them. On February 15, 2017, the 6. Section of the Department of the State Council decided to block the implementation of the decision to nationalize church buildings. The petition to overturn the decision to nationalize the church’s annex and garden was rejected however. This decision created great frustration. The Diyarbakir Protestant community is still using their church building and worship continues there. But the failure to resolve the problems related to their adjacent property gives rise to fears that they could lose their main church building.

Place of worship issues continue to be a serious problem. The Protestant community consisting of over 150 congregations has only 10 official church buildings, of which the majority are historical buildings.

The Right to Propagate Religion

In 2018, apart from Üsküdar Yaşam Church being unable to gain permission from the Üsküdar Municipality to open a marketing stand, no problems were experienced in this area.

Problems Faced in Education and Compulsory Religious Knowledge Classes

During 2018 there has been no reported case of any negative incident with regard to Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes (RCMK) and the right of exemption from this class. The Right of Exemption has been applied based on the decision by the Education and Learning Higher Board of the Religious Education General Directorate on July 9, 1990. The decision’s first article reads: “It has been decided that those Turkish citizens of Christian and Jewish persuasion who are receiving education in primary and middle schools outside of minority schools who can document that they are members of those religions are not required to attend Religious, Cultural and Moral Knowledge classes. If they want to participate in those classes a written request is required from their parents.”  Although the mandatory Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes have been declared by local courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as being in infringement of religious freedom and the principles of a secular and scientific education and that they should no longer be mandatory, this practice continues.^[3]

Despite propagation of the faith being a constitutional right, having not been listed as a crime in the national laws and being protected by national and international legislation, “Missionary Activity” continues to be a heading under the section related to National Threats in the 8th Grade Elementary School textbook entitled ‘Revolutionary History and Kemalism’^[4]. This teaching continues to be referenced in supplementary textbooks and tests related to this subject.^[5]

The Problem of Being Unable to Train Religious Leaders, and Problems Faced by Foreign Protestants

In 2018, the laws in Turkey continued to not allow the training of religious leaders and the opening of religious training schools to teach religious communities in any way. Yet the right to train and develop religious leaders is a foundation stone of the freedom of religion and faith. The Protestant community presently solves this issue by providing apprentice training, giving seminars within Turkey, sending students abroad or using the support of foreign church leaders.

In 2018, there were cases in which foreign religious workers and church members were deported, denied entry into Turkey, refused residence permits, or denied entry visas.

• David Byle, a member of a Protestant fellowship, is a foreigner who has lived with his family in our country for nearly 19 years. In 2009 he was arrested in order to be deported for alleged “missionary” work, but following the intervention of the courts he was released. In 2015 it was once more proposed to deport him, but it was decided by the Constitutional Court in 2017 that this deportation would be delayed until the legal process that had started came to a final hearing and judgement. On 14 October 2018 he was arrested when traveling in Ankara and was released 2 days later. He was informed that he had to leave Turkey within 15 days or he would be deported. He was also told verbally that he would be able to re-enter Turkey on a tourist visa. David Byle exited Turkey within 15 days and attempted to re-enter three weeks later, but he was not allowed to enter the country and was turned back from the airport. A court case has been opened concerning this situation.

In 2018, even though they were not pastors, Protestant foreign church members from Istanbul, İzmir and Mersin and other cities were deported or told to leave the country within 10 days after their residence permits were not renewed. In recent years more than 50 foreign Protestant families have had to leave our country as a result of similar operations.

The Andrew Brunson Case

Summary: Andrew Brunson had lived in Turkey for 23 years and was the spiritual leader of the İzmir Diriliş Church. On 7 October 2016 the Brunsons went to their local police station, thinking that a summons left at their home by police was in relation to their application for long term residence. Once there Brunson and his wife Norine were arrested and sent to the repatriation center pending deportation. His wife was released two weeks later, but the custody period was extended so Andrew Brunson continued to be held in this center. During this period he was not advised why he was being held in custody and he was not allowed access to his lawyer. On 9 December 2016 a sudden decision was made to take his statement and he was arrested and accused of being a member of the FETÖ/PDY terrorist group following claims by a secret witness. His case file was declared to be secret thereby blocking any information from being given to the accused, his lawyer and the public.

In August 2017, while in prison, he once more appeared in court accused of “obtaining State secrets for political or military purposes”, “attempting to overthrow the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey”, “attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey” and “attempting to overthrow the Constitution” and was arrested for these crimes. Right from the start Pastor Brunson rejected these accusations and declared himself to be innocent. Nearly 18 months after his arrest the indictment was prepared and the court case opened.

In the opinion of Pastor Brunson and his lawyer, these accusations had no proof whatsoever and the court case had been opened on the unsubstantiated accusations of a number of secret witnesses who did not even know him, as well as some people who had left Diriliş Church under a cloud and who bore a grudge against Pastor Brunson. These secret and named witnesses accused many people in the wider Protestant community and Diriliş Church in particular, and throughout the file of accusations nearly the whole church fell under suspicion. Later this would mean that the court would block those who, unlike those false witnesses knew what happened inside the church and who would be able to prove that the false witnesses were lying, from testifying on Pastor Brunson’s behalf, stating that they were under suspicion too.

Pastor Brunson was subjected to accusations of evangelism, helping refugees, leading worship in several languages, and teaching the faith, all of which are regular activities for any church. It was claimed that he took part in these ministries in order to help the terrorist organization or as part of espionage activities.

As a result of these baseless serious accusations he was refused bail and the issue became an international incident. The case ceased to be limited to the legal realm and became an international struggle. This damaged the case severely.

On 25 July 2018 Pastor Brunson was released into house arrest, as a result of health problems, and on 12 October at a closed hearing he received a custodial sentence of 3 years 1 month for terrorism offences and the case was closed. Taking into account the period of time he had already served, he was released and the ban on him leaving the country was lifted. Following these developments, Pastor Brunson returned to his country. His appeal against his conviction continues.

Result; Pastor Brunson’s case was closely watched by the Protestant community with great sadness and concern. The Protestant community was shocked that someone who had lived in our country for nearly 25 years without any criminal record, without having been involved in any illegal activity and who had spent his whole life and ministry in the church could be incarcerated for so long on the basis of such serious accusations from false-witnesses. During this period many churches and individual Christians were made targets (See the sections on Media and Hate Crimes). A number of foreign Protestant families have left our country due to the great concern these events caused. As a result of this case a climate of insecurity has reigned in the small Protestant community.

Legal Entity / Right to Organize

The lack of Legal Entity is a problem for all religious groups as well as minority groups in Turkey. This problem continues in 2018, despite some positive developments. The Protestant community has mostly tried to solve this issue by establishing associations or becoming a representative of an already existing association. As of 2018, members of the Protestant community have established 6 religious foundations, 5 foundation representative branches, 37 church associations and over 30 representative branches connected to these associations. This trend towards forming associations continues. However, associations are not accepted as a “church” or a “place of worship.” The problem of a religious congregation becoming a legal entity has not been completely solved. The present legal path does not allow for a congregation to obtain a legal identity as a “religious congregation.” In addition, for small churches, the present “association formation” path appears complex and hard to implement. Small congregations continue to lack the means to become an association and a legal entity. They try to resolve this problem through becoming a representative branch of an existing church association or religious foundation.

In 2018 a Protestant church was able to form a religious foundation, for the first time since the year 2000. One other Protestant church’s application to become a religious foundation is ongoing. If this application is approved it is expected that many other churches would apply for religious foundation status. No legal difficulties were reported by church associations in 2018.

Obligatory Declaration of Faith

The new identity cards that have begun to be distributed in 2017 do not have a section for religious affiliation but instead contain this information on a chip; this is regarded as a very positive step to minimize the risk of discrimination. However, we would like to see the complete removal of the religion section from official documents, being replaced instead by an individual’s verbal declaration. While it is possible to be considered exempt from obligatory religion classes by showing a photocopy of an identity document, how this exemption will be provided through the new identity cards remains unclear. Furthermore, the requirement to declare one’s faith in order to be exempt from Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes, or even to prove this faith, continues to be a violation of human rights. Decisions taken by the Constitutional Court and local courts need to be implemented for this problem to be solved.^[6]

Discrimination

Apart from a mobbing complaint made by a female member of a church in Izmir, no rights violations were reported in 2018.

Media and Hate Speech

A large increase was seen in publications that included hate speech towards churches and their members, in particular in relation to the Pastor Andrew Brunson case. Because these publications were similar to publications made just before the 2007 Malatya Zirve Publishing House Massacre, these new publications have created serious concern and apprehension among the churches specifically named. In both local and national publications the distribution of photographs of many churches and individuals, the reporting of secret false-witnesses as if they were true, and the refusal to allow use of the constitutional right of reply or correction in these publications causes serious concern to the named churches and individuals.

Allegations in a national newspaper that an individual who visited a church in Van as a supporter of a terrorist association, coupled with publication of his name and the name of his company led to the loss of a number of business contracts.

Similarly, many church leaders in Diyarbakır, Mardin, İzmir and Manisa were targeted by newspapers and were the subject of insidious propaganda. In all these cases legal action was attempted but either they were deemed not worthy of investigating or the publications were not punished on the basis of freedom of the press or freedom of speech. This lack of punishment has resulted in a daily increase in the level of hate speech in this type of publication. There is a difference between the attitudes and decisions of the investigating authorities when this type of inciteful hate speech is directed at the faith, place of worship, leaders or members of the majority religion and religious minorities. This concerning lack of neutrality of the judiciary damages the trust of the Protestant community in the justice system.

Dialogue

In 2018, the Protestant community or church representatives were not invited to meetings of religious groups organized by the government or by official organizations. This shows that the tendency to discount or ignore the presence of the Protestant Community of Turkey continues and demonstrated the importance of gaining a religious legal identity.

During 2018, the best dialogue churches had was with the Police and Security forces. The Protestant community was able to continue to worship and celebrate religious holidays  without incident as a result of dialogue between the police and churches relating to security issues, carrying out security precautions in a way that did not disturb or abuse members and increasing security precautions.

The Protestant community continues to attach great importance to the development of relationships with public institutions, especially the government, the Parliament and municipalities.

Recommendations

• Government or public institution dialogue with the Protestant community on issues that involve us would go a long way toward overcoming prejudice and solving problems. Experience in this area shows that when the channels of communication are open, many problems are quickly solved.

• It is saddening that hate crimes and intolerance against Christians continued in 2018. In particular reported crimes going unpunished creates serious concern and insecurity. An important step to solve the problem would be to revise existing laws so they are no longer ambiguous and to clearly define hate speech and hate crimes in legislation, while public broadcasting to raise awareness of the issue and educate the public concerning hate speech and hate crimes would create a paradigm shift in the education and cultural sensitivities of the public.

• The issue of establishing places of worship for the Protestant community which does not have a historical church building has been a problem for years and has not been solved. This is considered a basic right of religious expression. There need to be immediate steps taken by local and central authorities on this issue. Christians need to have the opportunity to open small places of worship (chapels) made available to them, similar to the masjid concept. Municipalities, the Ministry of Culture and other government institutions that own church buildings but use them for other purposes should at the very least allow church congregations to use the buildings for Sunday or holiday worship services. Publication of a directive by a government department would be sufficient to achieve this. We call on the relevant government department to take action to achieve this.

• In light of the problems some church associations have experienced, rights to worship and propagate religion, in particular, need to be made more secure.

• The door to establishing religious foundations needs to be opened as another way for churches to achieve legal status.

• Within the framework of human rights education, relevant public officials should be instructed in freedom of religion and conscience issues.

• In light of the risk of stigmatization and social pressure faced by Christian families and students, the Ministry of Education is expected to proactively inform schools regarding non-Muslims’ rights in schools and classrooms, as well as the issue of exemption from religion classes without waiting for the families to complain. A culture of living together and showing respect for faiths needs to be developed beyond wishful thoughts, with further steps taken and inspection of its application.

• Exemption from Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge lessons should be based on an individual’s self-declaration.

• Central and local government officials, especially through the Ministry of Education, need to actively place on the agenda and encourage the idea of a shared culture where understanding is shown to people of other religions and recognition that these people are citizens of the Republic of Turkey who possess the same rights.

• Within the framework of freedom of expression and press, there needs to be an effective and rapid oversight mechanism established with regard to the intolerance which occurs in the media and which can deal with visual and written publications which use hate speech, inciteful rhetoric and prejudice. Justice offices need to start official actions against hate crimes and speech without needing an official complaint to be filed.

With our respect and regards,
                                           Association of Protestant Churches

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^[1] http://www.Protestankiliseler.org/?page_id=638

^[2] Our society defends freedom of religion and belief for all. This includes the freedom to choose not to believe anything.

^[3] https://www.hukukihaber.net/egitim/mahkeme-zorunlu-din-dersinden-muafiyet-sartini-hukuka-aykiri-buldu-h344451.html

^[4] MEB İlköğretim 8. sınıf “Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılap Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük” ders kitabı, Devlet Kitapları Yayınları. ISBN: 978975-11-3073-0 

^[5] MEB İlköğretim 8. sınıf “Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılap Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük” Atatürk’ten Sonra Türkiye-2 Kazanım Kavrama Testleri 31.-32. testler 9. ve 10. sorular

^[6] https://www.hukukihaber.net/egitim/mahkeme-zorunlu-din-dersinden-muafiyet-sartini-hukuka-aykiri-buldu-h344451.html

Introduction and Summary

The Turkish Protestant community is made up of over 150 small and large fellowships, a majority are found in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

The Protestant fellowships have established 5 religious foundations, 3 foundation representative branches, 36 church associations and over 30 representative branches tied to those associations. The remaining fellowships have no legal entity status. Approximately 25 of them are house fellowships. Approximately 10 churches meet in historical church buildings. The rest use public places for worship but they are congregations that do not possess legal status.

The Protestant community does not have capability within the Turkish National Education system to train its own religious personnel. In most cases, the Protestant community trains its own religious leaders. A small percentage obtain education at theological schools abroad. Some gain necessary knowledge and skills for pastoral leadership through seminars given domestically. Because there are not enough local Protestant leaders some church’s spiritual leadership is done by foreign pastors.

The Protestant community does not have a hierarchical or centralized structure. Every local church acts independently. However, church pastors began meeting together in the late 80’s for the purpose of unity, solidarity and partnership between the Protestant churches. In the mid 90’s this unity gained structural momentum, so they formed The Alliance of Protestant Churches, also known as TeK (Representative Committee). Due to the limitations in the old association laws, TeK continued to have problems as a representative body before the official government institutions in Turkey. As a result of the change in the Law of Associations, TeK chose to become an association. The Association of Protestant Churches was officially formed on Jan. 23, 2009. At this time the Association of Protestant Churches acts as the Turkish Protestant community’s representative and institution for unity.

Since 2007 the Association of Protestant Church has published these monitoring reports which explain the Protestant community’s situation in Turkey.[1] The Association of Protestant Churches attaches importance to the freedom of religion and belief and makes the effort to ensure these freedoms becomes a reality for everyone, everywhere. In order to serve this purpose and not a political one, the Association desires to prepare and distribute this annual monitoring report that describes the Protestant community’s situation.

The freedom of religion and belief, as one of the basic rights found in national and international laws, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is secured under national and international laws and constitutional authority in our country. However, from the perspective of the Protestant community some basic problems still continued in 2017. For the purpose of contributing to the development of freedom of belief in Turkey, this report has been prepared to present some of the experiences and problems as well as positive developments that have been experienced in 2017 by the Protestant community in the area of religious freedom.[2] The situation in 2017 can be briefly summarized as follows:

 

• In 2017 hate crimes committed against Protestant Christians continued, as well as physical attacks against Protestants and churches.
• Problems continued to be faced with regard to requests to establish a place of worship, to continue using a facility for worship, and to use an existing church building.
• During the Christmas and New Year season, there was some apprehension because of billboard and poster notices with hate filled slogans, brochures distributed on the street containing hate language, newspaper articles and television programs which were directed at Christmas and New Year celebrations.
• There was an increase in hate speech directed toward Christians in some national media outlets, in local media and in social media. In addition, there was an increased coupling together of churches and terror organizations in news reports. Some churches became the direct subject of a news report and this raised concern in those churches and among their members.
• The trend for gaining legal status for the Protestant community through establishing associations continued in 2017. However, even though the establishment of associations has helped congregations gain legal status, it has not provided a complete solution. There was an increased pressure on church associations in 2017.
• There was no movement forward in 2017 in regards to protecting the rights of Christians to train their own religious workers. Some foreign church leaders were deported, were denied entry back into Turkey or faced problems with getting their residence permits renewed. A foreign church leader in Izmir remains incarcerated on the grounds of being a member of the FETÖ/PDY terror organization

 

Hate Crimes and Speech, Verbal and Physical Attacks

• On March 27, 2017, a threatening letter was sent to Radio Shema, a radio station that broadcasts Christian programming in Ankara. The incident was reported to security forces and the protective measures for the director of the radio and the station itself were increased.
• On July 20, 2017, a New Testament was burned in front of the Izmir Yeni Dogus church and the burned New Testament left at the church’s door. The incident was reported to the security forces but, since the church camera system was broken, the perpetrator or perpetrators of this attack were not able to be identified.
• On the night of July 28, 2017, an Islamic slogan was written on the wall of the Balikesir Church. Suspicious individuals were quickly caught when the incident was reported to the police. The suspects were released by the court pending their trial on December 5, 2017. At their trial they apologized and said they were sorry for the incident. The church withdrew its complaint.
• On August 6, 2017, the leader of a civil organization in Balikesir demanded that the sign of the Balikesir Church be pulled down. The complaint against this individual was retracted after talking with him and receiving his apology.
• On November 23, 2017, the window of the Malatya Kurtulus Church office was broken by someone. The perpetrator was shortly apprehended after the church informed the security forces. After the perpetrator’s family apologized, paid for the repair of the window and a report received that the person in question was mentally unstable, the complaint was withdrawn.
• On November 27, 2017, the sign of the Bahcelievler Lutuf Church was stolen. The incident was reported to the security forces. Legal proceedings are ongoing.
• On December 5, 2017, the windows of the Istanbul Kadikoy International Church were broken by someone. After reporting the incident to the security forces, the perpetrator was quickly apprehended. The attacker was subsequently released by the prosecutor. The legal process continues.
• On December 7, 2017, a death threat was left under the Balikesir Church door. The threat was directed at the church leader and the assistant working at the church. The issue was reported to the security forces and the prosecutor. After this threat was given, the assistant’s home windows were broken. The security forces have increased their security precautions. The investigation continues.
• During 2017 Christmas and New Year season, there were various anti-Christmas and anti-New Year campaigns carried out. Antagonistic posters were hung on the streets, brochures were distributed, and the participation in these campaigns by various public institutions created an intense atmosphere of hate. These campaigns created apprehension during the various Christmas celebrations.

 

Problems Related to Places of Worship

Problems with regard to establishing a place of worship or continuing to use an establish place of worship, an important part of freedom of religion and belief, continued and increased in 2017 in comparison to previous years.

Protestant communities try to overcome this issue by establishing an association or gaining representative status with an existing association or religious foundation. However, in this case, meeting places are not recognized as a place of worship, but as the locale for the association. Thus, they cannot make use of the advantages given to an officially recognized place of worship

• On August 25, 2017, Istanbul Bahcelievler Lutuf Church, was in the process of renovating an additional rented meeting room, when the Bahcelievler Municipality sealed the room without giving any explanation or documentation. During discussions with municipal authorities, it was verbally indicated that they would not permit a church or a church association to be there. However, if the intent to establish a church was abandoned, they would remove the seal. After remaining sealed for about a month, in order to protect the landlord from unfair treatment through this process, the church notified the city that the room would not be used as a church meeting place. After this, the room was opened by municipal crews. The idea of establishing a church association and forming a new meeting place has been abandoned.
• On September 5, 2017, the Izmir Cigli Church, which is associated with the Isevi Topluluklar Association, had its sign removed, was sealed and closed by the Izmir Cigli Municipality in response to negative press coverage concerning the church as well as the word “church” being written on its sign. The result of talks with the municipality was that the church, which had remained closed for one week, would be reopened with the removal of the “church” sign and that the place was to be used as an association. The church’s activities continue at this place.
• On October 25, 2017, the Izmir Karataş Church, which is associated with the Isevi Topluluklar Association, was going to be closed by the Izmir Konak Municipality because of negative press coverage and the word “church” being written on their sign. But when informed that the place was an association and as a result of the removing of the “church” sign, the building was not closed and no negative incident occurred.
• On November 3, 2017 despite having gone through a proper procedure to obtain a permit, just before the Samsun Protestant Church opened their new ministry center, the building was sealed by the Atakum Municipality. After discussions the building was unsealed, the official procedures were completed, and the building was opened for use by the Samsun Protestant Church.
• The Diyarbakir Protestant Church, other churches within the Diyarbakir Sur district, and 6300 other parcels of land were declared national property by a Cabinet decision announced in the Official Newspaper on March 25, 2016. Legal proceedings against this decision have begun. Officials have told the church leaders during this period that the church will be returned to the owners. However, the Diyarbakir Protestant Church had recently obtained the building next to the church along with 3 parcels of land they use for a garden; their concern over that real estate continues as does the legal proceedings associated with them. On Feb 15, 2017, the 6. Section of the Department of the State Council decided to block the outworking of the decision to nationalize church buildings. The demand to stop the nationalizing of the church’s annex and garden was rejected however. This decision created great frustration. The Diyarbakir Protestant community is still using their church building and worship continues there.

Place of worship issues continue to be a serious problem. The Protestant community consisting of over 150 congregations has only ten official church buildings, with most of them being historical buildings.

 

The Right to Propagate Religion

After the attempted coup on July 15, 2016 the Association of Protestant Churches sent a letter to all the Protestant fellowships. In order to avoid provocation or give an opportunity for people to create a provocation during this sensitive time for our country, the letter stated that it would be good and beneficial to not do evangelism or hand out brochures in public areas. Outside of a few exceptions, the Protestant churches have continued to abide by this request.

 

Problems Faced in Education and Compulsory Religious Class

During 2017 there has been no reported case of any negative incident with regard to Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes (RCMK) and with the right of exemption from this class. The Right of Exemption has been applied based on the decision by Religious Education General Directorate’s Education and Learning Higher Board on July 9, 1990. The decision’s first article reads: “It has been decided that those Turkish citizens of Christian and Jewish persuasion who are receiving education in primary and middle schools outside of minority schools who can document that they are members of those religions are not required to attend Religious, Culture and Moral Knowledge classes. If they want to participate in those classes a written request is required from their parents.”

In 2017 in İzmir, Ankara and İstanbul some Protestant children were harassed due to their faith by their school mates whom we will call ‘peer bullies.’ The problems were handled through conversations with school authorities and respective parents.

 

The Problem of Training Religious Leaders

 In 2017, the current laws in Turkey still do not allow the training of religious leaders and the opening of religious training schools to teach religious communities in any way. Yet the right to train and develop religious leaders is a foundation stone of the freedom of religion and faith. The Protestant community presently solves this issue by providing apprentice training, giving seminars within Turkey, sending students abroad or using the support of foreign church leaders.

In 2017, there were cases in which foreign religious workers and church members were deported, denied entry into Turkey, refused residence permits, or denied entry visas.

• On March 25, 2017 the South Korean pastor of the Izmir Karsiyaka Protestant Church, Shinhyung Kang, was fined as an illegal religious worked and was deported. Pastor Shinhyung Kang had lived and served as pastor in Turkey for almost 9 years.

In 2017, even though they were not pastors, Protestant foreign church members from Istanbul, Mersin, Gaziantep, Trabzon, Izmir, Erzurum, Bursa and other cities were deported or told to leave the country within 10 days after their residence permits were not renewed. There were several cases like these, but people involved did not want to be included in the report or we were unable to obtain solid information regarding them. In the past several years we have often run across similar operations.

The pastor of the Izmir Dirilis Church, Andrew Brunson, was incarcerated October 2016 on the charge of being a member of the FETÖ/PDY terror organization and remains in jail today. There has been no legal indictment prepared and the decision to keep his folder confidential remains in effect.

These incidents have caused great concern among foreign church members and leaders. For this reason, some have left, and many continue to leave Turkey on their own volition.

 

Legal Entity / Right to Organize

 The Legal Entity problem is a problem for all religious groups as well as minority groups in Turkey. In 2017, the Protestant community has mostly tried to solve this issue by establishing associations or becoming a representative of an already existing association. As of 2017, members of the Protestant community have established 5 religious foundations, 3 foundation representative branches, 36 church associations and over 30 representative branches connected to these associations. This move towards forming associations continues. However, associations are not accepted as a “church” or a “place of worship.” The problem of a religious congregation becoming a legal entity has not been completely solved. The present legal path does not allow for a congregation to obtain a legal identity as a “religious congregation.” In addition, for small churches, the present “association formation” path appears complex and hard to implement. Small congregations continue to lack the means to become an association and a legal entity. This problem is trying to be resolved through forming church association representative branches.

In 2017, churches began to discuss the establishment of religious foundations and two churches applied to become foundations. If these applications receive positive answers it is expected that many other churches would apply for religious foundation status.

 

• A fine for illegally employing someone was given to Izmir Bornova Protestant Church Association on March 3, 2017, for illegally employing South Korean Shinhyung Kang who voluntarily served as the Izmir Karsiyaka representative. The fine was protested. The legal process is continuing.
• The Kilise Association which works under the name Istanbul Cayir Kardesligi had an official announcement pronounced against them from the Association Directorate as a result of its routine inspection. Along with some of the association’s other deficiencies, it was stated ‘these activities must cease, because Sunday worship meetings were being held and Turkish and Korean New Testaments were found at the center. If these activities do not cease, then the association would be forbidden from all activity.’’ This document caused great concern for the Protestant Community. The shortcomings discovered during the inspection were remedied and an application to the Association Directorate was made within the legal time limit. The process is ongoing.

 

Obligatory Declaration of Faith

 The new identity cards that have begun to be distributed in 2017 do not have a section for religious affiliation but instead have a chip that will minimize the risk of discrimination. This is regarded as a very positive step. However, the complete removal of the religion section from documents simply at the verbal request of people is requested. While it is possible to be considered exempt from obligatory religion classes by showing a photocopy of an identity document, how this exemption will be provided through the new identity cards remains unclear.

 

Discrimination

In 2017, some Protestant community members who work as public officials in Izmir, Istanbul and Diyarbakir were told that because they were Christians and missionaries that their work contracts would not be renewed. Some began legal proceedings. No other details are recorded here because they did not want their names included in this report.

 

Media

In 2017, a serious increase of negative local press coverage against churches and their members was noted. Because these publications were similar to publications made just before the 2007 Malatya Zirve Publishing House Massacre, these new publications have created serious concern and apprehension among the churches mentioned in the publication.

Publications were observed inciting the public by connecting churches with terror organizations or foreign countries. In particular this happened in Izmir, Balikesir, Samsun and Van. Some of these had legal proceedings begun against them but these complaints were rejected by the court on the basis of freedom of the press.

Where inciting news occurred, it was noted that there was an increase in attacks along with administrative actions against churches. In addition, some public officials declared that they were moved to action as a result of the news in the press.

 

Dialogue

In 2017, Protestant community or church representatives were not invited to meetings of religious groups organized by the government or by official organizations.

During 2017, police security forces have continued dialogue with churches about security issues, carrying out security precautions in a way that did not disturb or abuse members and increasing security precautions resulting in the freedom of the Protestant community to worship and celebrate without incident.

The Protestant community continues to attach great importance to the development of relationships with public institutions, especially the government, the Parliament and municipalities

 

Recommendations

• Government or public institution dialogue with the Protestant community on issues that involve us would go a long way toward overcoming prejudice and solving problems. Those experiences that have been lived out show that when the channels of communication are open, many problems are quickly solved.
• It is saddening that hate crimes and intolerance against Christians continued in 2017. Especially in regard to crimes where complaints have been registered, it is important that information about the ongoing process be given to the victims and to the public.
• The problem of establishing places of worship for the Protestant community which does not have a historical church building has been a problem for years and has not been solved. This is considered a basic right of religious expression. There need to be immediate steps taken by local and central authorities on this issue. Christians need to have the opportunity to open small places of worship made available to them, similar to the masjid concept. Municipalities, the Ministry of Culture and other government institutions that own church buildings but use them for other purposes should at least allow church congregations to use the buildings for Sunday or holiday worship services.
• In light of the problems some church associations have seen, the rights to worship and propagate religion, in particular, need to be made more secure.
• The door to establishing religious foundations needs to be opened as another way for churches to achieve legal status.
• Within the framework of human rights education, respective public officials should be instructed in freedom of religion and conscience issues.
• In light of the possibility of stigmatization and social pressure faced by Christian families and students, the Ministry of Education is expected to proactively inform schools regarding non-Muslims’ rights in schools and classrooms, as well as the issue of exemption from religion classes without waiting for the families to complain. A culture of living together and showing respect for faiths needs to be developed beyond wishful thoughts, with further steps taken and inspection of its application.
• Central and local government officials, especially through the Ministry of Education, need to actively place on the agenda and encourage the idea of a shared culture where understanding is shown to people of other religions and recognition that these people are citizens of the Republic of Turkey who possess the same rights.
• Within the framework of freedom of expression and press, there needs to be an effective and rapid oversight mechanism established with regard to the intolerance which occurs in the media and which can deal with visual and written publications which use hate speech, inciteful rhetoric and prejudice. Justice offices need to start official actions against hate crimes and speech without needing an official complaint to be filed.

With our respect and regards,
Association of Protestant Churches

[1] http://www.Protestankiliseler.org/?page_id=638

[2] Toplumumuz, herkes için inanç özgürlüğünü savunmaktadır. Bu hak inanmama özgürlüğünü de içermektedir.

Introduction and Summary:

The Turkish Protestant community is made up of over 140 small and large fellowships, mostly in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

The Protestant fellowships have established 5 religious foundations, 3 foundation representatives, 34 church associations and over 30 representatives tied to those associations.  The remaining fellowships have no official/legal status.  Approximately 25 of them are house fellowships, the rest use public places for worship but do not have official/legal status.

The Protestant community does not have capability within the Turkish National Education system to train/develop its own religious personnel.  The Protestant community in the majority of cases train their own religious leaders, a small percentage obtain education at theological schools overseas while others gain necesssary knowledge and skills for pastoral leadership through seminars given here in Turkey.  Because there are not enough local Protestant leaders some church’s spiritual leadership is done by foreign pastors.

The Protestant community does not have a hierarchical or centralized structure.  Every local church acts independently.  However, church pastors began meeting together in the 80’s for the purpose of unity, solidarity and partnership between the Protestant churches, and in the mid 90’s they formed TeK (Turkish Pastors Association, throughout the document called TeK) in order to structurally improve unity. Because of the former Association Rule’s limits, TeK continued to have problems as a representative body before the official bodies in Turkey;  as a result of the change in the Association Rule, TeK chose to become an association.  The Association of Protestant Churches was officially formed on Jan. 23, 2009. At this time the Association of Protestant Churches acts as the Turkish Protestant community’s representative and institution for unity.

Since 2007 the Association of Protestant Church has published these monitoring reports which explain the Protestant community’s situation in Turkey.[1] The Association of Protestant Churches attaches importance to the freedom of religion and belief for all people everywhere, and makes an effort to ensure this becomes a reality. In order to serve this purpose, the Association desires to prepare and distribute this annual monitoring report that describes the Protestant community’s situation.

In 2016 Turkey as a whole faced a wave of terror and violence on every front, in particular through a significant coup attempt on July 15th. For all these reasons a state of emergency was declared which continues in Turkey today. The Protestant community, just like the rest of Turkey, has been affected by these difficult developments.  Yet the Protestant community from the first day has stood for democracy against terrrorism and the coup attempt and it continues to do so.

The freedom of religion and belief as one of the basic rights found in national and international laws, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is secured under national and international laws and constitutional authority in our country. However, from the perspective of the Protestant community some basic problems still continue in 2016. For the purpose of contributing to the development of freedom of belief in Turkey, this report presents some of the experiences and problems as well as positive developments that have been experienced in 2016 by the Protestant community in the area of religious freedom.[2]   2016 can be briefly summarized as follows:

• In 2016 hate crimes committed against Protestant Christians continued, as well as physical attacks against Protestants and churches. In 2016 chuches faced serious terror threats and took heavy security precautions.

• Requests related to establishing a place of worship, to continuing to use a facility for worship, and to use an existing church building were met with problems.

• During Christmas and the period around New Years, the following caused apprehension during Christmas celebrations: billboard notices with hate filled slogans, brochures distributed on the street which also contained hate language, newspaper and television programs, and especially a street show featuring a Santa Claus with a gun pointed at his head.  Christmas celebrations, due to this language and terror threats, were carried out under heavy security.

• In some national media organizations, local media and social media hate speech directed against Christians showed a marked increase, along with an increase of using churches and terror organizations together in publications. Some churches became a direct news item and this raised concern in those churches and among their members.

• The trend for gaining legal status for the Protestant community through establishing associations continued in 2015. However, even though the establishment of associations has helped congregations gain legal status, it has not provided a complete solution.

• There were still problems experienced with compulsory participation in the Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes (RCMK) in schools along with the elective classes in Islamic religion recently added to the curriculum.

• A textbook has been prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Education for Christian pupils as an elective course of Basic Religious Knowledge. Even though it has been approved by the Ministry of Education, there has not been any further progress at this point.

• There was no movement forward in 2016 in the area of protecting the rights of Christians to train their own religious workers. Some foreign church leaders were deported, were denied entry back into Turkey or faced problems with getting their residence permits renewed.  A foreign church leader in Izmir was arrested for being a member of the Fetö/PDY terror organization.

• The use of the religion section on identity cards continued in 2016, thus continuing the risk of discrimination.

• The first court case regarding the killing of 3 Christians in Malatya in 2007 was concluded.

• Public celebrations of Christmas and Easter in 2016 were not allowed due to security reasons.

 

Hate Crimes and Speech, Verbal and Physical Attacks:

• On Feb. 14, 2016, Valentines Day, in Adana’s Yüreğir district the members of the church were distributing flowers to neighbors and passers by. After the church members left the church a group came to the front of the church with threats and protests.  After saying they would return on Sunday, they left. The issue was reported to the security forces, and since then the police force has provided security and there have been no other negative incidents.
• On Feb. 23, 2016 the Diyarbakır Province Police Directorate gave written notice to the Diyarbakır Protestant church leader Ahmet Güvener that he and his famiily had been threatened by a radical religious group, that security would be increased and that he and his family should be careful in their own personal security.
• On the evening of Feb. 25, 2016 a group broke the security camera at the Samsun Protestant church and tried to kick in the door of the church but failed. After an official complaint was registerd 4 people were captured and they informed people they were drunk. A court case was opened against the four for property damage and damage to a place of worship.  The property damage complaint has been retracted, but the court case regarding damage to a place of worship continues.
• On March 31, 2016 a document purportedly from the Join Chiefs of Staff claiming a future attack on churches in Ankara by ISIS was circulated in the news and on social media. A similar document in 2015 with similar threats caused concern and fear in the Protestant community.  After this document appeared, the police force has significantly increased security precautions in churches in Turkey and at various Protestant organizations starting with Protestant churches in Ankara as well as Radio Shema in Ankara, a Christian radio station.  Some churches experienced police searches before entering the building, during worship and other meeting times. Serious physical precautions were taken during organization work hours.  This period of time has ended due to good communication with police forces.  There are still physical barriers at some churches.
• On July 16, 2016, during the chaos caused by the attempted coup, a group wanting to bring about a provocation broke the windows of the Malatya church. Through the intervention of neighbors and the arrival of the police the group fled before they could enter the church.
• On July 22, 2016 the pastor of the Çanakkale Peace Church received a threatening phone call which he made known to the authorities.
• During 2016 some national media, local media and social media saw an increase in in publications designed to demean, disgrace and provoke the Protestant community. It was especially saddening to see the finding of our book the New Testament in terrorist hideouts mentioned in the press and other official announcements as well as it being displayed as if it was terrorist propaganda. Legal proceedings have started against some of these publications.
• During Christmas and New Years of 2016 there was an increase from previous years in anti-Christmas celebration campaigns. Most significant was having posters hung on streets and brochures distributed of a Santa Claus with a gun pressed against his head and his being circumcised. Having certain groups and organizations participate in this campaign caused an environment of hate.  There was little evidence of response to this hate campaign by the justice and public authorities.

The social media attacks which had increased in 2015 decreased in 2016.  There were several legal steps taken against these threats in 2015; some perpetrators were captured, some were penalized and others’ court cases continue.   These perpetrators, rather than being connected to some group, appear to be young people affected by our country’s pain that it experiences due to our geography.  For that reason several victims have retracted their complaints.

 

Problems Related to Places of Worship:

The ability to legally establish a place of worship, an important part of freedom of religion, continued to be a problem for Protestants in 2016, just as it was in previous years.

One of the significant problems with this issue is the administration officials’ fear of losing votes and not wanting to be perceived as approving the establishment of churches. This causes applications for opening a place of worship to be rejected or to be left in a never-ending bureaucratic process. A clear indication of this situation is the fact that previous applications have received no response or a negative response.

Besides all of this, apart from some exceptions,[3] Christian congregations are prevented from using historical church buildings for Sunday services or holiday celebrations; these buildings are held by government institutions and are being used for purposes other than as a church. Protestant communities try to overcome this issue by establishing an association or gaining representative status with an existing association or religious foundation. However, in this case, meeting places are not recognized as a place of worship, but as the locale for the association. Thus they cannot make use of the advantages given to an officially recognized place of worship.

• The ‘French Church Cultural Center’ in Bursa, connected to the Religious Foundation General Directorate, based on the assignment and protocol of the Greater Bursa Municipality has been used by Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox fellowships since 2004. However at the end of 2015, unbenounced to the church, the Greater Bursa Municipality closed the Foundation’s assignment and thus the church was faced with the problem of no place to worship. As a result of discussions, the process of solving this in a way that prevents the place from being closed to worship began.  Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox fellowships have been using the church without a problem since then.
• There are approximately 1000 Christians living in the Yalova province and they have no official church building. A worship place has been requested from the Yalova Municipality for years.  The Yalova Municipality Parliament on Jan 6, 2016 with a majority vote approved land and the moving of the Yalova Light church, a decision that was greeted with great joy.  However, on the last day of the time period available for objection one was raised by a parliament member.  A new vote was taken and this time the majority vote was to overturn the previous decision.   This decision was received with great sadness in the Protestant community.  The discussions with the Yalova Municipality are ongoing. We believe there will be positive steps taken shortly to solve this issue.  The Yalova Light Church continues its worship in the present church association building.
• The Yalova Protestant community’s long standing request for a cemetery was granted by the Yalova Municipality on Oct 27, 2016.
• The Protestant church which represents approximately 250 Christians in the Ordu province, applied for the opening of the historical Taşbaşı church which was being used as a cultural center. The application was denied by the Ordu Provincial Tourism Directorate on the grounds that the church was to be used as an archaeology museum.
• The Diyarbakır Protestant Church, other churches within the Diyarbakır Sur district, and 6300 other parcels of land were declared national property by a Cabinet decision announced in the Official Newpaper on March 25, 2016. Legal proceedings against this decision have started.  Officials have told the church leaders during this period that the church will be returned to the owners.  However the Diyarbakır Protestant Church had recently obtained the building next to the church along with 3 parcels of land they use for a garden;  their concern over that real estate continues as does the legal proceedings associated with them.  The Diyarbakır Protestant community is still using their church building and worship continues there.

Place of worship issues continue to be a serious problem.  The over-140-member Protestant community has only ten official buildings.  Outside of 3 of these, all of them are historical buildings.

 

The Right to Propagate Religion:

In 2016 the legal use of this right faced various problems. The propagation of faiths outside the majority belief is still perceived to be a threat.

• On April 7, 2016 after obtaining all permissions, a stand was set up and invitations distributed for the Easter celebration in Yalova. While the invitations were being distributed, a group came to the stand, swearing at and threatening the personel, tearing up and throwing the invitations on the ground. When the police came the attackers fled.  The police took security precautions.  Despite the police protection and the permission to distribute invitations, the distribution was cancelled so that no other negative incident would occur. There was no complaint registered against the perpetrators.

• In Antep and Çanakkale some Turkish and foreign believers who were sharing their faith publically were hindered and detained; afterwards all were released.

After the attempted coup on July 15, 2016 the Association of Protestant Churches sent a letter to all the Protestant fellowships. During this sensitive time for our country, in order to avoid provocation or giving an opportunity for people to create a provocation, not doing evangelism, not handing out brochures in public areas was believed to be proper and useful.  Outside of a few exceptions, the Protestant churches have abided by this request.

 

Problems Faced in Education and Compulsory Religious Class:

During 2016, problems continued to be experienced with Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes (RCMK) and with the right of exemption from this class.

The exemption right has been applied based on the decision by Religious Education General Directorate’s Education and Learning Higher Board on July 9, 1990.  The decision’s first article reads:  “Those Turkish students of Christian and Jewish persuasion who are receiving education in primary and middle schools outside of minority schools who can prove that they are members of those religions are not required to attend Religious, Culture and Moral Knowledge classes;  if they want to participate in those classes the decision to require a written request from their parents was accepted.’ 

 

The National Education Ministry, in a missive sent to the provincial governor’s offices on Feb 3, 2015, stated that only those who have Christian or Jew written on their identity cards are exempt from the RCMK classes. Those whose religion section on their identity cards is blank or Christian refugees cannot use this exemption and must attend this class

.[4]

 

In 2016, despite Christian being written in the religion section on the student’s identity cards, in addition to the decision above some school administrators and some province and district National Education Directorates  required that  “Christian and Jewish students need to document the place of worship to which they are connected.”

 

In three schools in İzmir, in one school each in İstanbul and Ankara a similar request was made.  In one school a baptismal certificate was verbally requested.  Discussions with either the schools or the Education General Directorates have led to a solution.  But all of this shows that the exemption right’s use is being made more difficult.  On this issue the National Education Ministry will take responsibility to ensure that the exemption right is protected, made easier and that the National Education Directorates are informed so that no rights are violated.

 

In 2016 several incidents of the following were made known to us.  Students who use the exemption right, because they leave the classroom during the religion class, had to explain their faith, were abused by fellow students and were pressured to become Muslims. For school administrators and RCMK teachers to take responsibility to explain religious pluralism and the normalcy of religious differences in a way that the students understand would be an important step in seeing this problem solved.

 

Even though 5th and 6th grade Christian students had a curriculum and book prepared in 2014 for elective classes to learn their faith, and despite all of this being submitted to the National Ministry of Education, there was no development in this area in 2016.

 

The Problem of Training Religious Leaders:

In 2016, the present state of laws in Turkey still does not allow the training of religious leaders and the opening of schools to teach religious communities in any way. Yet the right to train and develop religious leaders is a foundation stone of the freedom of religion and faith. The Protestant community presently solves this issue by providing apprentice training, giving seminars within Turkey, sending students abroad or using the support of foreign church leaders.

In 2016 foreign religious workers and church members were deported, denied entry into Turkey or refused residence permits.

-On August 26, 2016 the leader of the Gaziantep church, Patrick Jensen, was    denied entry into Turkey and returned to his country on the grounds that he was            listed as a “threat to national security.” In previous years attempts had been made         to deport Patrick Jensen;  even though he has won a court case in this regard.            The grounds for this present decision were stated to be the present state of   emergency in Turkey.

• The leaders of İzmir Resurrection Church, Andrew Craig Brunson and his wife Norine Brunson went to the local police station in response to an invitation left at their house on October 7, 2016. They were detained on the grounds of “threat to national security” and sent to the expulsion center.  Norine Brunson was released approximately 2 weeks later. Andrew Craig Brunson was held for 64 days at the expulsion center, his voluntary desire to leave the country was refused and on Dec 9, 2016 he was taken to court, arrested on the grounds of being a part of the FETÖ/PDY terror organization and sent to prison.  He is still in prison and his court case is ongoing.  Because his file is labeled top secret and limited, no information on the grounds of his accusation has been obtained up to now.
• Ankara Salvation Church member Ryan Keating, while leaving for a conference on Nov. 8, 2016 was told that his residence permit had been cancelled due to “threat to national security” and that he could not return. Because his family and children were in Ankara, he obtained a visa and tried to return on Nov 17, 2016 but was denied entry.

There were several other incidents like the ones listed above, but are not in this report due to lack of information or the desire to not appear here.  There have been other incidents over the past years, but we have no solid statistics.

These incidents have caused great concern among foreign church members and leaders.  For this reason some have left and many continue to leave Turkey on their own volition.

 

Legal Entity / Right to Organize:

The legal entity problem is the concern of all religious groups as well as minority groups in Turkey. The Protestant community has generally tried to solve this issue by setting up associations or becoming a representative of an already existing association. As of 2015, members of the Protestant community have 1 religious foundation, 35 church associations and 18 representative offices connected to these associations. This association forming process continues. Associations are not accepted as a “church” or a “place of worship.” The problem of a religious congregation becoming a legal entity has not been completely solved. The present legal path does not allow for a congregation to obtain a legal personality as a “congregation.” In addition, the present “association formation” path appears complex and hard to work out for small churches. Thus, small congregations continue to be helpless in becoming either an association or a legal entity.  This problem is trying to be resolved through forming church association representatives.

• The İstanbul Family Life Church Association’s Üsküdar Representative, because of and after some negative and slanderous coverage in local and national news outlets, was inspected outside of normal working hours in a way that was contrary to the Association Rule by Üsküdar Province Kaimakam and police forces.[5] The matter was announced to the Interior Ministry’s Association General Directorate.[6]

 

Obligatory Declaration of Faith:

The problem of the religion section on people’s identification cards continued in 2015. The section for religious affiliation on the identity cards forces people to declare their faith and increases the risk of facing discrimination in every area of life. The new identity cards that will begin to be distributed in 2017 will not have a section for religious affiliation but instead will have a chip that will minimize this risk; this is regarded as a very positive step.  Yet the complete removal of the religion section from documents simply at the verbal request of people is requested.

 

Malatya Court Case:

After 3 Christians were viciously murdered in Malatya on April 18, 2007 it has taken 9 years and 115 court appointments for the first court to bring the case to a conclusion. The 5 accused of the murder, after being caught at the scene and after 2 years of being free while awaiting sentencing, each received a triple life sentence. 14 suspects, most of them public employees, were acquitted, while 2 military commanders received a 6 year prison sentence each for illegal wire tapping on phones.  The 5 suspects who received triple life sentences were still allowed to be free until the Higher Court process is completed.  This decision was greeted with great sadness and negative reaction by the victim’s relatives and the community.  One day after official objection was filed, the 5 suspects were again arrested and sent to prison. In addition, despite being presented the idea that these 5 could not have done this act on their own and that there had to be an organization behind them, the court did not give the suspects any penalty tied to a terror organization due to lack of any such evidence.

Generally, despite taking 9 years, the decision was happily received, but not labeling the incident an act of terror was not appreciated by the victim’s relatives and hurt the public conscience.  The court process is ongoing. The first step is the Regional Administrative court, and afterwards the Supreme Court.  The possibility of going to the Constitutional Court as well as the European High Court of Human Rights also continues.

 

Dialogue:

In 2016 no Protestant community or church representative was invited to meetings of religious groups organized by the government or by official organizations. Dialogue over the problem of the Bursa Protestant Church’s place of worship and the positive steps taken by the Religious Association Directorate and the State Minister over Religious Associations was postively received by the church.

During 2016, when the risk of terror incidents was high, police forces were in dialogue with churches about security issues, carried out security precautions in a way that did not disturb or abuse members and the resulting freedom of the Protestant community to worship and celebrate without incident continues today.

The Protestant community continues to attach great importance to the development of relationships with public institutions, especially the government, the Parliament and municipalities.

 

Suggestions:

• Government or public institution dialogue with the Protestant community on issues that involve us would go a long way toward overcoming prejudice and solving problems. The experiences this year clearly show that when the channels of communication are open, many problems are solved quickly.

• It is sad that hate crimes and intolerance against Christians continued in 2016. It is important that especially in regard to crimes where complaints have been registered, that information about the ongoing process be given to the community and the victims.

• The problem of establishing places of worship for the Protestant community which does not have a historical church building has been a problem for years and has not been solved. This is considered a basic right of religious expression. There need to be immediate steps taken by local and central authorities on this issue. Christians need to have the opportunity to open small places of worship made available to them, similar to the masjid concept. Municipalities, the Culture Ministry and other government institutions that own church buildings but use them for other purposes should at least allow church congregations to use the buildings for Sunday or holiday worship services.

• Within the framework of Human Rights, certain public officials should be instructed in freedom of religion and conscience issues.

• In light of the possibility of stigmatization and social pressure faced by Christian families and students, the Ministry of Education is expected to proactively inform schools regarding non-Muslims’ rights in schools and classrooms, as well as the issue of exemption from religion classes without waiting for the families to complain.  A culture of living together and showing respect for faiths needs to be developed beyond the foundations, with further steps taken and inspection of its application.

• While regulations are being written with regard to elective classes, schools need to consider the non-Muslim students in the school and provide elective classes that do not contain Muslim content.

• Central and local government officials, especially through the Ministry of Education, need to actively place on the agenda and encourage the idea of a culture where understanding is shown to people of other religions and recognition that these people are citizens of the Republic of Turkey who possess the same rights.

• Within the framework of freedom of expression, the media needs to create its own “code of ethics”. Quick and effective control mechanisms should be established against discrimination and intolerance in print and broadcast media. Justice authorities should be encouraged to officially respond to hate crimes and speech without having to receive an official complaint.

Sincerely,
Association of Protestant Churches

 

[1]  http://www.Protestantkiliseler.org/?page_id=638

[2]  Our community defends religious freedom for all.  This right includes the right to not believe.

[3] Orthodox churches are granted permission once a year in some historical churches. For example, Sümela Monastery, Ahtamar Church, etc.

[4] In our country a great part of the Protestant community has Islam written on their identity cards or leave the section empty. The diminishing of the exemption right affects many families deeply. It is noteworthy that Christian refugees are forced to take this course.

[5] Number 5253 article of the Association Rule reads: Article 19-  …At times of necessity whether an activity is done in accord with Association constitution purposes or not, whether notebooks and records have been keep in accordance with laws will be inspected/supervised by the Interior Ministry or the property administration commander.   No police force member can be involved in this inspection.  Inspections by the Interior Ministry or the Property Administrative commander will be done during work hours.   This association will be notified of the inspection at least 24 hours prior to the inspection.

[6] During the process of writing the report, despite the activities being in accord with the constitution and in accord with the rules, a declaration from the Istanbul Governorship was officially presented to the association which declared that the association and its representative’s actiivites were not in accord with the rules and declaring up coming sanctions against the association.

Introduction and Summary
The Association of Protestant Churches[1] has published reports[2] since 2007 which explain the situation of Protestant churches in Turkey. The Association of Protestant Churches gives importance to the freedom of religion and belief for all people everywhere, and makes an effort to ensure this becomes reality. In order to serve this purpose, the Association desires to prepare and distribute this annual monitoring report which describes the Protestant community’s situation. In particular, we hope this report will provide insight to discussions during this time when a new constitution is beginning to be considered.

The freedom of religion and belief as one of the basic rights found in national and international laws, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is secured under national and international laws and constitutional authority in our country. However, from the perspective of the Protestant community some basic problems still continue in 2015. For the purpose of contributing to the development of freedom of belief in Turkey, this report presents some of the experiences and problems as well as positive developments that have been experienced in 2015 by the Protestant community in the area of religious freedom.[3] 2015 can be summarized as follows:

• In 2015 hate crimes committed against Protestant Christians continued, as well as physical attacks against Protestants and churches. Serious and wide spread threats were faced through the internet and social media.

• Requests related to establishing a place of worship, to continuing to use a facility for worship, and to use an existing church building were met with problems

• The trend for gaining legal status through establishing associations continued in 2015. However even though the establishment of associations has helped congregations gain legal status, it has not provided a complete solution.

• There were still problems being experienced with compulsory participation in the Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes (RCMK) in schools along with the elective classes in Islamic religion recently added to the curriculum.

• The students excused from RCMK classes had their TEOG tests graded improperly. Even though the grades were corrected, the families had to deal with the stress and losing time in choosing a school.

• A textbook has been prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Education for Christian pupils as an elective course of Basic Religious Knowledge. Even though it has been approved by the Ministry of Education, there has not been any further progress at this point.

• There was no movement forward in 2015 in the area of protecting the rights of Christians to train their own religious workers.

• The use of the religion blank of identity cards continued in 2015, thus continuing the risk of discrimination.

• The court case involving the killing of three Christians in Malatya in 2007 continues in an ambiguous manner.

• Several requests to hold Christmas celebrations open to the public and in the community faced problems. Several permissions that were granted the previous year were refused this year due to security issues.

• There was apprehension during Christmas and New Years because of hate filled content directed towards Christmas and New Year celebrations found in billboards, posters, newspaper reports and television programs. However, no obstacles or harassments occurred during closed celebrations.

 

Hate crimes, physical and verbal assaults

• On March 30th, 2015, a paper with the words “Turkish Islam Alliance” was posted on the door of the Balıkesir Protestant Church. On the empty building wall across the street from the church the words “God is one” were painted in 25 cm letters. The incident was reported to the Police Department, the police examined the paper and the writing but there has been no development in capturing the perpetrators.
• On May 16th, 2015, a man with a club came to the door of the Samsun Agape Church and uttered profanities and other insults. When he buzzed the doorbell, the police were notified. The police came, took the man’s club and arrested him. The man came to the door one other time and then left. The church has not pressed charges. It is unknown whether any further action has been taken.
• The İskenderun İncil Church puts their brochures that explain the church activities and Christianity in an information box which resembles a post box. On June 27th, 2015, this information box was broken into and the brochures torn up by unknown people. The church did not register a formal complaint.
• On Sept 3, 2015, the pastor of the Izmir Torbalı Baptist Church, was shot at several times with a hunting rifle from the forest while he and his family worked in the field his family owns. On August 21, during the Friday sermon at the mosque in the village where the field is found, the use of hate speech from the loudspeaker, loud enough for the pastor to hear, led the pastor to believe that the shots fired were deliberate and he informed the police. Nothing resulted from the investigation. If the pastor is attacked again, the police were encouraged to do more searching. There has not been another incident.
• On Sept 10, 2015, a man came to the Ankara Batıkent Bereket Church, used profanity and other insults and struck the church leader. The incident was reported to the security forces who came and took the man to the local police station. The man was released with no official action taken. The man came to the church again after leaving the local police precinct and threatened the church leader in order to shut down the church. Police were again notified, but no one came. The pastor closed the church, went to the precinct and explained the incident. But no official action was taken. The incident did not occur again.
• There was apprehension during Christmas and New Years because of hate filled content directed towards Christmas and New Year celebrations found in billboards, posters, newspaper reports and television programs. However, no obstacles or harassments occurred during closed celebrations.
• Beginning in the middle of August, many threatening messages were received that were directed at Protestant churches. These threats came via SMS, e-mail, internet sites and social media.

Around Turkey the 15 churches and the approximately 20 church leaders listed below were exposed to these threats:

• Kadıköy International Protestant Church (KUT), İstanbul was threatened 3 separate times via SMS, e-mail, Facebook and through YouTube videos. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Zeytinburnu İsa Mesih Church, İstanbul received a threat via Facebook and faced an egg attack. While the congregation was inside, from time to time they heard chants of “Allahuekber” outside. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Diri Su Protestant Church, İstanbul was threatened via Facebook. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Antalya İncil Church: Was threatened via SMS. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Bursa Protestant Church: They were threatened via E-mail.
• Kayseri Protestant Church was threatened via telephone and SMS. The necessary complaints were registered
• İstanbul Yeni Umut Church was threatened via E-mail, Facebook and SMS. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Ankara Umut Church was threatened via SMS. A verbal notification was given to the security forces.
• İzmir Diriliş Church was threatened via Facebook. No complaint registered.
• Bakırköy Baptist Church, İstanbul was threatened via Facebook, e-mail and SMS. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Ümraniye Church, İstanbul was threatened vis SMS. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Tanrı Evi Baptist Church, İstanbul was threatened via Facebook. The necessary complaints were registered.
• Harikalar ve Belirtiler Church, İstanbul was threatened via SMS. No complaint was registered.
• Son Buyruk Church, İstanbul was threatened via Facebook. No complaint was registered.
• Müjde Church, İstanbul was threatened via SMS, E-mail and Facebook. No complaint was registered.

No development with regard to uncovering the perpetrators of these actions has occurred despite making known the content of the threats, the telephone numbers, email addresses, Facebook profiles and YouTube links of those making the threats in an official complaint and despite the topic being addressed on September 7th in a press release at the Parliament[4] and a request for action. Access to the threatening video on YouTube is still possible.

Examples of the threatening content:

• Date: Tue, 25 August 2015 20:38:11 +0000
  Subject: Your end is near perverted pagans, deniers of the truth
  From: cihadagidenler@gmail.com
  To: ……
• Date: Wed, 26 August 2015 16:52:19 +0000
  Subject: You perverted pagans, the time for us to shoot you in the neck is near. We swear by Allah cc.
  From: ihvangrubu@gmail.com

• From: cihadagidenler@hotmail.com
  To:
  Subject: You will see Allah’s wrath from our hands, pagan apostates…
  Date: Thu, 27 August 2015 20:10:48 +0000

• SMS 05……. ‘You have deceived our youth with your perversions. We swear to Allah, by Allah’s command we will be wrath to you”

• Facebook: 19 September 21:36

Your end is year, your end, pagan apostates…

Quran, Women: 76 – Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan.[5]
The threatening content, the images used, the anthems and the names used show that these threats originate with the radical terror organization ISIS. After the bombing in Ankara that killed 102 people on Oct 10, 2015 which occurred after these threats received by the churches, two ISIS suicide bombers were captured in Ankara on Dec 30. According to news reports about the confession of the two caught, they had done reconnaissance of churches in Ankara.[6] This clearly shows that these threats should not be taken lightly, but should be given importance in investigations.

 

The Problems with Right to Establish Places of Worship[7]
The ability to legally establish a place of worship, an important part of freedom of religion, continued to be problem for Protestants in 2015, just as it was in previous years. In 2003, the changes to Zoning Law number 3194 as part of the European Union’s 6th Harmonization Package was intended to meet the needs of non-Muslim citizens for places of worship by replacing the word “mosque” with the words “place of worship.” But the negative experiences Turkish Protestants have in obtaining places of worship demonstrate the serious hindrances and rights violations that the Protestant community faces with regard to interpretation and application of this positive legal development as well as their inability to use their legal rights.

One of the significant problems with this issue is the administration officials’ fear of losing votes and not wanting to be perceived as one who approves the establishment of churches. This causes applications for opening a place of worship to be rejected or to be left in a never ending bureaucratic process. Previous applications receiving either no response or a negative response is a clear indication of this situation.  In addition, it is noteworthy that the institutions that request to start a church or have one approved are directed to either go to the Directorate of Religious Affairs, which expressly represents and works within the Islamic faith, or request an opinion from the Directorate of the Presidency.

Besides all of this, apart from some exceptions[8], Christian congregations are prevented from using historical church buildings for Sunday services or holiday celebrations; these buildings are held by government institutions and being used for purposes other than as a church. Protestant communities try to overcome this issue by establishing an association or gaining representative status with an existing association or foundation. However, in this case, meeting places are not recognized as a place of worship, but as the locale for the association. Thus they cannot make use of the advantages given to an officially recognized place of worship.

• The Istanbul Protestant Church has officially requested that the Meryem Ana Church in the hands of the City of Kayseri and in the past used as a sports center, to be assigned to Christians living in Kayseri to meet their needs for a place for worship. No written response to this request has been given. However, meetings with the City have indicated that, although not official, the church will be turned into a mosque or used as a museum. The church has continued efforts on this issue in 2015.
• Ankara Kurtulus Church’s years long effort to obtain a place of worship came up empty in 2015. Despite the positive response from the Cankaya Municipality and even being shown a place, the Çankaya District office looked with disfavor on the request and the National Real Estate General Directorate, along with the Religious Affairs Directorate indicated that the place which would become a church, drew attention to the fact that it could be a mosque and decided to build a mosque there instead. Kurtuluş Church is continuing the legal process of obtaining a church property with the European Court of Human Rights. (ECHR).
• İstanbul Pendik Protestant Church’s request to open and use the historic church located in the Pendik district did not receive a positive outcome in 2015. The church continues its efforts.
• A chapel in the shopping center in the İnegöl district of Bursa was shut down due to heavy pressure.

Similar experiences over many years have rooted the belief in the Protestant community that following the legal procedure to establish or build a church is practically impossible and that this right only exists on paper. For this reason, attempts to obtain places of worship in accordance with official procedures have diminished. Instead temporary solutions like forming legal associations (dernek) have picked up in intensity.

 

The Right to Propagate Religion
In 2015 the legal use of this right experienced various problems. The propagation of faiths outside the majority belief is still perceived to be a threat. The Primary School 8th Grade textbook “History of the Turkish Republic Reforms and Ataturkism,”[9] in the section on National Threats under the heading “Missionary Activities” shows that missionary activity continues to be described as a national threat.

• On March 16, 2015, İzmir Işık Church’s request to set up a stand to distribute brochures and explain their faith to those interested was rejected by the Karşıyaka Muncipality, even though it was granted the previous year.
• The İskenderun İncil Church puts their brochures that explain the church activities and Christianity in an information box which resembles a post box. On June 27th, 2015, this information box was broken into and the brochures torn up by unknown people.
• On Nov. 12, 2015, during Christmas, the İzmir Işık Church’s request for a place to celebrate Christmas for both members and guests was rejected by the Bornova Municipality. The reason given for the rejection was there was no appropriate place.

Permissions granted in previous years for stands or celebrations in open areas were deemed inappropriate and not granted in 2015 due to particular security concerns or other reasons.

 

Problems Faced in Education and Compulsory Religious Class
During 2015, problems continued to be experienced with Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes (RCMK) and with the right of exemption from this class.

The National Education Ministry, in a missive sent to the provincial governor’s offices on Feb 3, 2015, stated that only those who have Christian or Jew written on their identity cards are exempt from the RCMK classes. Those whose religion section on their identity cards is blank or Christian refugees cannot use this exemption and must attend this class.[10]

At the beginning of 2015, several students who had been exempt from the RCMK lessons in the previous year, despite passing the class, were shown to need to re-take the class according to the system. The systematic problem was solved when the report cards were sent to the National Education Ministry.

In 2015 the complaints made by families to us included several instances of Christian children finding difficulty in using their right of exemption, families being encouraged to have their children participate in the RCMK lessons, school administration’s ignorance of the exemption right. Discussions between the families, our association and school administration solved the issues.

During 2015 families reported concerns over questions included in the middle school (TEOG) and the higher education entrance exams whose content reflected the RCMK lessons as well as having their children who used their exemption right be told that they would be negatively affected.

Children who were exempt from the RCMK lessons had their TEOG tests wrongly graded. Even though the problem was resolved, the families and children were stressed and lost valuable time in choosing a school.

During 2015 we were informed of more than one case of a Christian student being forced to choose an Islamic content elective class because there was no teacher, no class, or not enough students who chose the other classes to offer a Christian elective class. In some cases, at the initiative of school administrators, even though the student did not actually take the class, the student was recorded as taking and passing the class.[11]

Even though 5th and 6th grade Christian students had a curriculum and book prepared in 2014 for elective classes to learn their faith, and despite all of this being submitted to the National Ministry of Education, there was no development in this area in 2015.

 

The Problem of Training Religious Leaders
In 2015, the present state of laws in Turkey still does not allow the training of religious leaders and the opening of schools to teach religious communities in any way. Yet the right to train and develop religious leaders is a foundation stone of the freedom of religion and faith. The Protestant community presently solves this issue by providing apprentice training, giving seminars within Turkey, or sending students abroad.

 

Legal Entity / Right to Organize
The legal entity problem is the problem of all religious groups as well as minority groups in Turkey. The Protestant community has generally tried to solve this issue to setting up associations or becoming a representative of an already existing association. As of 2015, members of the Protestant community have 1 foundation, 35 church associations and 18 representative offices connected to these associations. This association forming process continues. Associations are not accepted as a “church” or a “place of worship.” The problem of a religious congregation becoming a legal entity has not been completely solved. The present legal path does not allow for a congregation to obtain a legal personality as a “congregation.” In addition, the present “association formation” path appears complex and hard to work out for small churches. Thus, small congregations continue to be helpless in becoming either an association or a legal entity

 

Obligatory Declaration of Faith
The problem of the religion blank on people’s identification cards continued in 2015. The section for religious affiliation on the identity cards forces people to declare their faith and increases the risk of facing discrimination in every arena of life. The problem is not solved by allowing the registration of one’s belief to be elective. For example, those who want to be exempt from mandatory religious instruction do not have the right to leave the religion line blank because they have to prove they are Christian in order for their children to be exempt from religion classes. We were terribly disappointed when it was announced that the religion section will continue on the new identity cards.

 

Malatya Court Case
It has been 9 years since the violent murder of three Christians in Malatya in 2007 and almost 8 years since the beginning of court proceedings. As of this report 109 court sessions have been held.

In March 2014 with the new law limiting custody to 5 years, the 5 suspects who were caught at the crime scene with weapons in hand, as well as all other suspects in the crime are free of custody while continuing to be prosecuted.[12]. As the court case proceeds, the Protestant community is worried that the case will end with no conclusion. In addition, the lack of punishment in these type of cases are reasons for people to worry similar cases might occur and other perpetrators to feel encouraged to do further actions. In light of the economic burden of this ongoing case, both the families and the Protestant community expect the case to be concluded shortly.

 

Dialogue
In 2015 no Protestant community or church representative was invited to meetings of invited religious groups organized by the government or by official organizations. The Protestant community continues to attach great importance to the development of relationships with public institutions, especially the government, the Parliament and municipalities.

 

Recommendations

• Government or public institution dialogue with the Protestant community on issues that involve us would go a long way toward overcoming prejudice and solving problems.

• It is sad that hate crimes and intolerance against Christians continued in 2015. It is important that especially with regard to crimes where complaints have been registered, that information about the ongoing process be given to the community and the victims.

• The problem of establishing places of worship for the Protestant community, which does not have historical church buildings, has been a problem for years and has not been able to be solved. This is considered a basic right of religious expression. There needs to be immediate steps taken by local and central authorities on this issue. Christians need to have the opportunity to open small worship places made available to them, similar to the masjid concept. Municipalities, the Culture Ministry and other government institutions which own church buildings but use them for other purposes should at least allow church congregations to use the buildings for Sunday or holiday worship services.

• The religion section on identity cards and other written records opens the way for discrimination and needs to be removed.

• Within the framework of Human Rights, certain public officials should be instructed in freedom of religion and conscience issues.

• All information and explanations that express hatred or prejudice against Christians, in particular textbook chapters that have discriminatory headings like “missionary activity,” need to be removed. Steps and the application of policies needs to be supervised in regard to forming a culture where differing faiths can live together in respect of one another.

• In light of the possibility of stigmatization and social pressure faced by Christian families and students, it is expected that the Ministry of Education proactively inform schools regarding non-Muslims’ rights in schools and classrooms, as well as the issue of exemption from religion classes without waiting for the families to complain.

• While regulations are being written with regard to elective classes, schools need to consider the non-Muslim students in the school and provide elective classes that do not contain Muslim content.

• Central and local government officials, especially by means of the Ministry of Education, need to actively place on the agenda and encourage the idea of a culture where understanding is shown to people of other religions and recognition that these people are citizens of the Republic of Turkey who possess the same rights.

• Within the framework of freedom of expression, the media needs to create its own “code of ethics”. Quick and effective control mechanisms should be established against discrimination and intolerance in the printed and broadcast media.

Sincerely,
Association of Protestant
Protestan Kiliseler Derneği

[1] As of Jan 2009, the “Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey”, which started in 1989, became an association and has been carrying on its work under the title “Association of Protestant Churches”.

[2]  http://www.ProtestanKiliseler.org/?page_id=638

[3]  The report is limited to the Protestant community due to our limited resources and we are most familiar with this group. Our community defends the freedom of belief for everyone. This also includes the right to not believe.

[4] http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/tehdit-var-onlem-yok-30012630

[5] The Quran verses used in the threatening messages were written in Turkish, English and Arabic.  In addition, the YouTube video link is not given to prevent it from spreading further.

[6] http://www.haberler.com/isid-den-turkiye-ye-karsi-intikam-operasyonu-8018347-haberi/

[7] You can learn more about the problem of places for Protestant worship from our long report found at this link:  http://www.ProtestanKiliseler.org/?p=802.

[8] Orthodox churches are granted permission once a year in some historical churches. For example, Sümela Monastery, Ahtamar Church, etc.

[9] National Education Ministry Primary School 8. grade “Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılap Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük” lesson book, page 205, Devlet Kitapları Yayınları. ISBN: 978-975-11-3073-0

[10] In our country a great part of the Protestant community has Islam written on their identity cards or leave the section empty. The diminishing of the exemption right affects many families deeply. It is noteworthy that Christian refugees are forced to take this course.

[11] Details are not given to prevent negative consequences for the school administration, family and the child.

[12] Bülent Varol Aral, one of the accused, still remains in prison. But that is not because of the case, but rather his threatening and insulting the judges.

Introduction and Summary

The Association of Protestant Churches[1] has published reports[2] since 2007 in order to monitor the position of the Protestant community in Turkey. The Association of Protestant Churches gives importance to the freedom of religion and belief for all people everywhere, and makes an effort to ensure this becomes reality. In order to serve this purpose, the Association desires to prepare and distribute this monitoring report which describes the Protestant community’s situation.

The freedom of religion and belief as one of the basic rights found in national and international laws, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is secured under international human rights and constitutional authority in our country. However some basic problems of the Protestant community still continue in 2014. For the purpose of contributing to the development of freedom of belief in Turkey, this report presents some of the experiences and problems as well as positive developments that have been experienced in 2014 by the Protestant community in the area of religious freedom[3]. 2014 can be summarized as follows:

• Hate crimes directed at Christians continued in 2014 and there were physical attacks carried out against Protestants and churches.
• Protestants’ ability to establish and continue to use places of worship and to be able to use existing church buildings remained as a problem.
• Even though the establishment of associations has helped congregations gain legal status, it has not provided a complete solution. However, the trend for gaining legal status through establishing associations continued in 2014.
• There were still problems within the framework of the compulsory Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge classes (RCMK) in schools along with the elective classes recently added to the curriculum.
• A textbook has been prepared and submitted to Ministry of Education for Christian pupils as an elective course of Basic Religious Knowledge. Even though it has been approved by the Ministry of Education, there has not been any further progress at this point.
• There was no movement forward in 2014 in the area of protecting the rights of Christians to train their own religious workers.
• Some foreign religious workers and congregation members had to leave Turkey because their visa was denied or they were deported. Some court cases were opened to protest this and a few were won.
• The religion category remained on identity cards in 2014 which continues to increase the risk of discrimination.
• The court case involving the murder of three Christians in Malatya in 2007 muddled through 2014. The five suspects who were caught in the act on the crime scene have been released under supervision because of their long custody. This had a traumatic effect on the Protestant community and undermined confidence in the justice system.

There were not any problems related to receiving permission for Christmas celebrations in open public space.  We rejoice that there were no attempts to hinder or harass the holiday celebrations which were done in a format open to the public. Some of the municipalities supported these celebrations and allocated their large meeting rooms for free. Some city officials also attended the celebrations. All of these are reported as positive and hopeful developments for the Protestant community.

Hate Crimes, Verbal and Physical Assaults

• On January 19, 2014 a threatening letter was attached to the door of an apartment in which Istanbul Atasehir Yeni Umut Church members gather. The sign of the church was broken and needed to be renewed three times throughout the year.
• On March 9, 2014 the windows of Istanbul Kadikoy International Church were broken. The incident happened right after the murder suspects of Malatya Zirve Publishing House court case were released under supervision. This caused uneasiness in the community. The suspect was apprehended by the help of security cameras. It became apparent that the attacker was drunk when he broke the windows so no complaint was filed.
• On April 28, 2014 an instructor from the Mardin Artuklu University threatened, cursed and insulted a Protestant church leader because of his brother’s conversion into Christianity. In spite of the church leader’s warnings, the instructor continued to insult and threaten; therefore an official complaint was filed. A few weeks later, the instructor apologized and the church leader retracted his complaint.
• On May 23, 2014 Istanbul Bahçelievler Presbiteryen Lütuf Church was threatened through social media that there would be an attack on the church. The law enforcement authorities were informed about this but the source of the threat was not determined.
• On May 28, 2014 one of the members of parliament in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) tried to view the website of the Diyarbakir Church but could not access it. When he researched the reason, he discovered that the website of the Diyarbakir Church and some of other churches’ websites were censored because of “pornographic” content. The censoring of a church website, as well as attributing it as pornography, deeply offended the Protestant community. In response to the negative reaction, the TBMM stated that there was a systemic problem and it was solved.
• On June 15, 2014 a Christian student in the Kayseri Erciyes University was threatened by a group comprised of both students and non-students because of what he wrote on the social networking websites. They accused him of doing Christian propaganda. They tried to put him in a car and threatened him. He filed a legal complaint to the attorney general but there has been no progress in the case. The Christian student left the school because of the threats and inability to adapt to school.
• On December 7, 2014 a fire started in the building of Kadikoy International Church and the Kutsal Kitap Bilgilendirme Association in the evening hours. Since the fire spread slowly firemen arrived in time to fight the fire. There was a lot of damage and a huge financial loss on the floor on which the fire started. Even though the fire department reported that the fire started by accident, a suspicious person was seen on the security cameras and the door had been forced open. Therefore a suspicion of arson was raised and an official complaint was filed. However, the suspect has not been apprehended yet.
• In Mardin, during 2014, the signs of the Diyarbakir Protestant Church’s Mardin Representative office were attacked five different times and needed to be renewed. The vandals have not been identified. Security cameras have been set up to prevent such incidents in the future. The same church organized a showing for “The Life of Jesus Christ” in a movie theater but a large portion of the announcement posters were torn down.[4]
• During 2014, some people introduced themselves as Christians in the Agape Church in Samsun. They took photographs and personal identifying information of church members. They then went to the families and the work places of the church members in order to put pressure on them.[5]
• On July, 2014 in Mardin, it was discovered that two people who had been attending the church, one for 4 years and the other for 6 years, were inserted into the church by Jitem to gather intelligence on the congregation. This was discovered through the confession of one of them. The other one then admitted it as well and they both left the church. It became apparent that congregation members were blacklisted and some of the foreign members were deported because of false information provided by these two people.
• Apart from these violations which were officially recorded, many other threats, incidents of abuse and attacks in Istanbul were communicated to us. Since they were not officially reported to police forces or investigative units, the details of these violations were not mentioned in this report.

Problems with the Establishment of Places of Worship[6]

The legal and important religious freedom issue of being unable to establish a place of worship continues for Protestants in 2014 as similar as in the previous years. In 2003, the changes to Zoning Law number 3194 as part of the European Union’s 6th Harmonization Package was intended to meet the needs of non-Muslim citizens for places of worship by replacing the word “mosque” with the words “place of worship.”  But the negative experiences Turkish Protestants have in obtaining places of worship demonstrate the serious hindrances and rights violations that the Protestant community faces with regard to interpretation and application of this positive legal development as well as their inability to use their legal rights. One of the significant problems with this issue is the administration officials’ fear of losing votes and not wanting to be perceived as one who approves the establishment of churches. This causes applications for opening a place of worship to be rejected or to be left in a never ending bureaucratic process.  Previous applications receiving either no response or a negative response is a clear indication of this situation. In addition, it is noteworthy that requests for establishing a church or having a church officially recognized are directed by the institution to which the application was made to either make an appointment with the Directorate of the Presidency or go to the Directorate of Religious Affairs. Besides all of this, Christian congregations are prevented from using historical church buildings for Sunday services or holiday celebrations; buildings which are held by government institutions and being used for purposes other than as a church. Protestant communities try to overcome this issue by establishing an association or gaining representative status with an existing association or foundation. However, in this case, meeting places are not recognized as a place of worship, but as the locale for the association.  Thus they cannot make use of the advantages given to an officially recognized place of worship.

• Meryem Ana Church is under the authority of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality and it was used as sports hall in the previous years. Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation applied to allocate the Meryem Ana Church to the Christian citizens in Kayseri to meet their need of a place of worship. But a response has not been given to the application yet. In a meeting with Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality it was stated that the Meryem Ana Church will be convert into either a museum or a mosque. However, this was not a formal response.
• Uskudar District Governorship sent an official notice that Istanbul Uskudar Son Buyruk Church’s building is not suitable for worship and they would help in the process when the church applies for an official place of worship. When the church had to vacate their building, it filed an official application for a place of worship to the Uskudar Municipality and included a copy of the letter that said they would help with the process. Uskudar Municipality responded that all the places of worship are in use, so the church needs to apply to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. The church applied to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality but have not received a response. The church continues to have difficulty finding a place to worship.
• On August 25, 2014 the foreign national leader of Gaziantep Yeni Yaşam Church was fined and asked to leave the country because he was preaching and leading the church even though he does not legally work at the church. The church building was declared an illegal work place then it was closed and sealed by the officials of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality. The decisions of working illegally and deportation were contested through the court and won. However, the church has continued to be kept closed.

For many years, by watching the legal procedures, similar experiences have rooted the belief in the Protestant community that the right to establish or build a church is practically impossible and that this right only exists on paper.

Right of Religious Propagation

There were some problems in the use of this right during the year 2014. The propagation of faiths outside the majority belief is still perceived to be a threat. One of the clearest examples of this situation is the Primary School 8th Grade textbook “History of the Turkish Republic Reforms and Ataturkism,”[7] in the section on National Threats under the heading “Missionary Activities.” It is here that missionary activity continues to be described as a national threat. There has been written communication with the Ministry of Education concerning the removal of this chapter in 2010, but despite protests that the chapter increases the intolerance against Christians and opens the way for various attacks against them, a negative answer was received.[8]

• On October 4, 2014 a group of foreigners in Izmir were taken into custody for the reason of “missionary activity”. While in custody, they were told that they should not share their beliefs or they would be deported. They were then released.
• On December 22, 2014 the bookstand with Christianity related books which is in front of the Istanbul Ataşehir Yeni Umut Church was torn down and thrown away by unidentified people.
• On December 24, 2014 during a pre-approved public Christmas celebration which was organized by Antalya İncil Church police and city authorities stepped in and removed a Bible bookstand because they were distributing Bibles. The church was allowed to carry on the celebration.

Compulsory Religious Education

In 2014 the complaints with regard to the exemption requests from the compulsory Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge (RCMK) class increased.

In many cases from Istanbul, Izmir, and Antalya families communicated to us about difficulties in using their right of exemption, pressuring the families regarding their student taking the RCMK class, and making the children say the shahadah. The majority of the problems are solved by our Association helping the families communicate with the school administration.

In Istanbul, Sancaktepe, a Christian student in 5^th grade did not want to take the RCMK class. School management asked for an official request from the family in spite of this not being required in the legislation. The family submitted the request to the school administration on September 18. The school administration told them that they cannot decide by themselves so they will defer the decision to the Ministry of Education district office. They also said to the family that the student should take the class until they have a response. The family continually sought information from the school regarding developments but the assistant principal kept saying, “we didn’t have the response yet. You can write another request and the student should keep taking the class.” When the exams started and the report card day approached, nearly 2.5 months after the initial request was submitted, the family went to Ministry of Education district office and asked about the official request. They found out that a day after they filed the request the district office wrote a response to the school that the student can be exempt from the class. However, the assistant principal decided not to apply the response as it should be and forced the student to take the RCMK class. The family filed a complaint against the assistant principal. The principal of the school apologized to the family and the student used her right of exemption from the class.

Families continued to express their concern that the Middle School and High School entrance exams would contain questions from the RCMK lessons and how this would negatively affect students who had exercised their right to be exempt from those courses in 2014. The Ministry of Education and the Student Selection and Placement Center should make a clear and satisfying statement about the issue.

Many incidents from Izmir, Kayseri, Van, and Diyarbakır were communicated to us about Christian students being required to select Muslim content elective courses because other elective courses did not have a teacher, did not have a classroom or did not have enough students who chose the course.

The work preparing materials and curriculum for Christian students in the 5th and 6th grades to be able to learn their own faith through elective courses was begun, the course textbook and curriculum was finished in 2014 and then submitted to the Ministry of Education. However, there has been no movement forward. We expect this project to be put into practice in the shortest possible time.

The Problem of Training Religious Leaders

In 2014, the present state of laws in Turkey still does not allow the training of religious leaders and the opening of schools to teach religious communities in any way. Yet the right to train and develop religious leaders is a foundation stone of the freedom of religion and faith. The Protestant community presently solves this issue by providing apprentice training, giving seminars within Turkey, or sending students abroad.

Legal Entity / Right to Organize

The legal entity problem is the problem of all religious groups as well as minority groups in Turkey. The Protestant community has generally tried to solve this issue to setting up associations or becoming a representative of an already existing association.  As of 2014, members of the Protestant community have 1 foundation, 32 church associations and 16 representative office connected to these associations. This association forming process continues. Associations are not accepted as a “church” or a “place of worship.” Rather, as pointed out in 2004 by the Minister of Justice, Cemil Çiçek, in order to set up a church there must be a legal entity.[9] The problem of a religious congregation becoming a legal entity has not been completely solved.  The present legal path does not allow for a congregation to obtain a legal personality as a “congregation.” In addition the present “association formation” path appears complex and hard to work out for small churches. Thus, small congregations continue to be helpless in becoming either an association or a legal entity.

Obligatory Declaration of Faith

The problem of the religion section on people’s identification cards continued in 2014.  The section for religious affiliation on the identity cards forces people to declare their faith and increases the risk of facing discrimination in every arena of life. The problem is not solved by allowing the registration of one’s belief to be elective. For example, those who want to be exempt from mandatory religious instruction do not have the right to leave the religion line blank because they have to prove they are Christian in order for their children to be exempt from religion classes. We are requesting and expecting that the new identification cards have no section for religion.

Discrimination

Discrimination directed towards Christians continues to be broadly felt by both the individual and by congregations. The religion section on the identity cards continues to be a factor that increases the risk of discrimination. The internalizing of discrimination by the Protestant community, the difficulty of certifying one’s faith, and the inadequacy of present laws and policies explains the absence of complaints or lawsuits with regard to discrimination. The Battle against Discrimination and Equality Law Plan is a positive development and is expected to be codified as law as soon as possible. In 2014, The Association of Protestant Churches gave seminars in 6 cities to create a public awareness about discrimination.

• On December 2014 Istanbul Protestant Churches Foundation applied in Adapazari for permission to hold a Christmas celebration open to the public and they rented space at a public cultural center. However, later on the church was notified that the meeting hall would be remodeled during that date and the celebration was cancelled.
• On December 2014 Istanbul Aile Yaşam Church Association submitted written notice to the Sancaktepe District Governorship that they would organize a Christmas celebration in their association’s building. However, they were told verbally that they would not receive permission and that the district governor did not approve it. During a meeting with the district governor the church was told the subject would be reconsidered but there has been no progress on this.

Malatya Court Case

It has been 8 years since the violent murder of three Christians in Malatya in 2007 and almost 7 years since the beginning of court proceedings. On December 25, 2014, the 100^th court session was held.

By the enacting of a law that limits custody to five years, the five suspects who were caught in the act at the crime scene, have been released under supervision because of their long custody. This had a traumatic effect on the Protestant community and undermined confidence in the justice system. The release of the murder suspects and at the same time the change of the panel of judges when considered with the 140,000 page court file creates concern in the Protestant Community that the process will extend indefinitely and the court case will never end. These concerns have been shared in various arenas beginning with the Ministry of Justice. By showing the ongoing case’s material evidence, the families of the victims and the Protestant community are hoping for a swift conclusion.

Dialogue

In 2014, The Protestant Community gave importance to the development of relationships with the non-governmental organizations, the Government, the public institutions especially the municipalities.

Another positive and significant development in 2014 was the lack of any problem obtaining permission to celebrate Christmas and Easter throughout the country, sometimes even publicly outdoors. The number of celebrations increased and most of them were carried out without incident. Some of the municipalities supported these celebrations and they allocated their large meeting rooms for free. Some city officials also attended the celebrations. All of these are reported as positive and hopeful developments for the Protestant community

The suspension work on the new Constitution was disappointing.

 

Recommendations

• Government or public institution dialogue with the Protestant community on issues that involve us would go a long way toward overcoming prejudice and solving problems.

 

• It is sad that hate crimes and intolerance against Christians continued in 2014. All hate crimes (including those in which congregations were targeted) should be effectively recorded by the Ministry of Justice and the reasons that establish the basis for perpetrating these crimes must be removed.

 

• The Hate Crimes Law needs to be written, effective police investigation needs to be done, and impunity for hate crimes should not be allowed.

 

• An effective and comprehensive law against discrimination needs to be written.

 

• The problem of establishing places of worship for the Protestant community, which does not have historical church buildings, has been a problem for years and has not been able to be solved. This is considered a basic right of religious expression. There needs to be immediate steps taken by local and central authorities on this issue.  Christians need to have the opportunity to open small worship places made available to them, similar to the masjid concept. Municipalities, the Culture Ministry and other government institutions which own church buildings but use them for other purposes should at least allow church congregations to use the buildings for Sunday or holiday worship services.

 

• The religion section on identity cards and other written records opens the way for discrimination and needs to be removed.

 

• Security forces need to continue to be informed about non-Muslim rights, including the right to propagate faith. These basic rights and freedoms should not be allowed to be stolen by public officials or anybody else on the grounds of “missionary activity.”

 

• The denial of visas or the deportation of foreign church members on the grounds of “missionary activity” must stop.

 

• Public officials need to continue to be educated with regard to freedom of conscience and religion in the framework of Human Rights training.

 

• All information and explanations that express hatred or prejudice against Christians, in particular textbook chapters that have discriminatory headings like “missionary activity,” need to be removed. Steps beyond good intentions need to be taken and the application of policies needs to be supervised in regard to forming a culture where differing faiths can live together in respect of one another.

 

• In light of the possibility of stigmatization and social pressure faced by Christian families and students, it is expected that the Ministry of Education proactively inform schools regarding non-Muslims’ rights in schools and classrooms, as well as the issue of exemption from religion classes without waiting for the families to complain.

 

• While regulations are being written with regard to elective classes, schools need to consider the non-Muslim students in the school and provide elective classes that do not contain Muslim content.

 

• Central and local government officials, especially by means of the Ministry of Education, need to actively place on the agenda and encourage the idea of a culture where understanding is shown to people of other religions and recognition that these people are citizens of the Republic of Turkey who possess the same rights.

 

• Within the framework of freedom of expression, the media needs to create its own “code of ethics”. Quick and effective control mechanisms should be established against discrimination and intolerance in the printed and broadcast media.

 

Respectfully,

  Association of Protestant Churches

[1] As of Jan 2009, the “Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey”, which started in 1989, became an association and has been carrying on its work under the title “Association of Protestant Churches”.

[2]  http://www.protestankiliseler.org

[3] The report is limited to the Protestant community due to our limited resources and we are most familiar with this group.  Our community defends the freedom of belief for everyone.  This also includes the right to not believe.

 

[4] Norway Helsinki Committee, July 2013-June2014 Freedom of Belief Initiative The right to religion or belief in Turkey Monitoring Report, p.23

[5] Ibid, p.12

[6] The Protestant Community’s problems with regard to places of worship can be seen in the November 2008 report on our website. The problems listed in that report in 2008 continue to this day.

http://protestankiliseler.org/index.php/raporlar/7-turkish-protestants-places-of-worship-question

[7] Ministry of Education Primary Education 8th grade “History of the Turkish Republic’s Reforms and Atatürkism” textbook. Page 205 (MEB İlköğretim 8. sınıf “Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılap Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük”) State Book Publishers – ISBN: 978-975-11-3073-0

[8] You can access the written communication with regard to this subject in the announcement section of our website. www.protestankiliseler.org

[9] Çiçek: Kilise için dernek kurun 22.06.2004 http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2004/06/22/siyaset/siy05.html

PDF formatındaki bu bilgilendirmeyi okumak için tıklayın!

Giriş ve Özet
Protestan Kiliseler Derneği,[1] ulusal ve uluslararası yasalarda, İnsan Hakları Evrensel Beyannamesi’nde yer verilen en temel insan haklarından olan inanç ve fikir özgürlüğünün herkes için ve her yerde hayata geçmesini temenni etmekte ve bunun için çaba sarf etmektedir. Ülkemizde din ve inanç özgürlüğü, genel olarak uluslararası insan hakları ve anayasal güvence altındadır. Son yıllarda bu konuda önemli ve bazı alanlarda olumlu gelişmeler yaşanmakla birlikte, bazı temel sorunlar varlığını sürdürmektedir. Türkiye’de inanç özgürlüğünün gelişmesine katkı sağlaması amacıyla, Protestan toplumunun 2013 yılında din ve inanç özgürlüğü açısından yaşamış olduğu bazı deneyimleri, sorunları ve olumlu gelişmeleri ortaya koyan bir rapor hazırlanmıştır.[2] 2013 yılındaki durum kısaca şöyle özetlenebilir:

Hristiyanlara yönelik nefret suçları 2013 yılında da devam etmiş, Protestanlara ve kiliselerine yönelik fiziksel saldırılar görülmüştür. İbadet yeri kurma ve ibadet için kullanılan mekânların kullanımını sürdürme konusunda sorunlar devam etmektedir. Dernekleşme, toplulukların tüzel kişilik kazanmasına kısmi bir yarar sağlamış olsa da tam bir çözüm getirememiştir. Bazı olumlu gelişmeler olmakla birlikte, okullarda Din Kültürü ve Ahlak Bilgisi (DKAB) dersleri ve müfredata yeni koyulan seçmeli dersler çerçevesinde bazı sorunlar yaşanmaya devam etmektedir. Ayrıca, 2013 yılında da, Hristiyan din görevlisi yetiştirme hakkının korunması yönünde herhangi bir ilerleme olmamıştır. Bazı yabancı uyruklu din adamları ve cemaat üyeleri vize alamamaları veya sınır dışı edilmeleri nedeni ile Türkiye’yi terk etmek zorunda bırakılmıştır. Kimliklerde bulunan din hanesi 2013 yılında da varlığını sürdürmeye ve ayrımcılık açısından risk oluşturmaya devam etmektedir. Malatya’da üç Hristiyan’ın 2007 yılında öldürülmesi ile ilgili dava devam etmektedir.

Öte yandan umut verici bazı olumlu gelişmelere dikkat çekmek gerekir. Önceki yıllarda Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’nın okulları konuyla ilgili bilgilendirmesinin neticesinde, 2013 yılında zorunlu DKAB dersine Protestan öğrencilerin katılımının zorlanması ile ilgili şikâyetler azalmıştır. Ayrıca, 2012 yılında okullarda Hristiyan öğrencilere Hristiyanlık dersi verilmesi ile ilgili çalışmalar başlamış ve cemaatlerin katılımı ile ders kitabı ve müfredatı hazırlanmaya başlanmıştır. Ancak 2013 yılında kitap hazırlanmakla birlikte bu konuda henüz bir ilerleme olmamıştır. Protestan toplumu, diğer dini liderler ile birlikte Başbakanlığa davet edilmiş, Başbakan’a sorunlarını ve görüşlerini doğrudan ifade etme fırsatı bulmuştur. 2013 yılında, ibadet amaçlı kullanılan yerlere yönelik kapatılma girişimi olmamıştır.  2013 yılında bazı Doğuş Bayramı (Noel) kutlamalarının kamuya açık alanda ve toplum içinde yapılması talebine karşılık izin konusunda sorun yaşanmamıştır. Kutlamalar sırasında herhangi bir taciz veya engelleme ile karşılaşılmamış olması ve bayram kutlamalarının halkla iç içe gerçekleştirilmiş olması son derece sevindiricidir.

Nefret Suçları Kapsamında Sözlü ve Fiziksel Saldırılar
–      14 Ocak 2013 tarihinde, İstanbul Protestan Kilisesi Vakfı’na bağlı İzmit Protestan Kilisesi önderine yönelik bir suikast hazırlandığı gerekçesiyle, İzmit’te, bir kısmı kilise toplantılarına devam eden 9 kişi gözaltına alınmıştır. Daha sonra bu şüphelilerden biri tutuklanmış, ikisi adli kontrol tedbirleri uygulanarak serbest bırakılmış, diğer şüpheliler de serbest bırakılmıştır. Olayın üstünden bir yıl geçmiş olmasına rağmen iddianame hazırlanmamış ve dosyaya gizlilik kararı verilmiştir. Dosyanın durumu hakkında bilgi alınamamakla birlikte dosyanın görevsizlik kararları ile İstanbul, İzmit savcılıkları arasında gidip geldiği, anlaşmazlığın giderilmesi için dosyanın Yargıtay’a gönderildiği belirtilmiştir. Kilise önderine koruma tahsis edilmemiştir. Bu bilinmezlik ve gizlilik kararı toplulukta tedirginlik yaratmaya devam ettirmektedir.

–      27 Nisan 2013 tarihinde, Kurtuluş Kiliseleri Derneği’nin İstanbul Ataşehir temsilciliğine 30-40 kişilik bir grup taşlar ve yumurtalar ile saldırmıştır. İçeriye girmeye çalışmalarına rağmen kapı kapalı olduğu için içeri giremeyen grup, kilise tabelası, cam ve temsilcilik girişine zarar vererek uzaklaşmıştır. İçerde dernek gönüllüsü bir bayan yalnız olduğundan dolayı büyük korku ve panik yaşamıştır. Dernek temsilciliği onarım yaparak çalışmalarına devam etmekle birlikte saldırganlardan kimse yakalanmamıştır. Koruma tahsis edilmemiştir.

–      05 Kasım 2013 tarihinde, Samsun Agape Kilisesi önderi, geçmişte kilise toplantılarına katılan bir genç tarafından telefon ile tehdit edilmiştir. Daha sonra bu kişinin silah teminine çalıştığı ve kilise önderine yönelik saldırı planladığı polis tarafından tespit edilmiş ve kişi gözaltına alınmıştır. Bu durum üzerine kilise önderi şikâyette bulunmuş ama yapılan aramalarda herhangi bir suç aleti bulunamadığından kişi serbest bırakılmıştır. Kişinin e-posta yolu ile tacize devam etmesi üzerine şikâyet yenilenmiştir. Ancak henüz bir gelişme olmamıştır. Kilise önderinin koruması devam etmektedir.

–      28 Kasım 2013 tarihinde, geçmişte Malatya Zirve katliamının tanıklarından ve mağdurlarından olan Protestan toplumu üyesi bir kişiye yönelik tehdit ve taciz telefonları üzerine suç duyurusunda bulunulmuş, numaralar gizli ve ankesörlü telefonlardan yapıldığı için henüz şüpheliler tespit edilememiştir. Savcılığın soruşturması devam etmektedir.

–      28 Kasım 2013 tarihinde, Ankara Kurtuluş Kilisesi önünde bir kişi bağırıp küfür ederek kiliseye girmeye çalışmış, polise haber verilmiş, ancak polisin geç gelmesi nedeni ile kişi yakalanamamıştır. Suç duyurusunda bulunulmuştur.

–      15 Aralık 2013 tarihinde, Ankara Kurtuluş Kilisesi’ne hırsız girmiş ve güvenlik kayıtlarının tutulduğu bilgisayar çalınmıştır. Suç duyurusunda bulunulmuş, ancak şüpheliler henüz yakalanamamıştır.

–      29 Aralık 2013 tarihinde, Mardin’de Hristiyanlığı seçen 24 yaşındaki bir genç erkek, akrabaları ve Suriye uyruklu bir kişi tarafından kaçırılarak ıssız bir yere götürülmüştür. Burada darp edilmiş ve boğazına bıçak dayanarak kelime-i şahadet getirip Müslümanlığa dönmemesi durumunda öldürüleceği belirtilmiştir. Korkuya kapılan genç kelimeyi şahadet getirip tekrar Müslüman olduğunu beyan ettikten sonra ailesine teslim edilmiştir. Hristiyan olduğu bilgisi akrabalarına ailesi tarafından bildirdiği için genç ailesine tepki göstermiş ve evden ayrılmak istemiş ve Mardin’de Protestan toplumuna önderlik eden E.P.’yi aramış, durumu anlatması üzerine kilise önderi genci almak için gencin yanına gitmiştir. Genci arabaya aldıktan sonra iki araba etraflarını sarmış ve kilise önderi polisi aramıştır. Polis gelene kadar kilise önderi darp edilmiş ve darp edilirken defalarca ölümle tehdit edilmiştir. Darp eden kişiler çevredeki insanları tahrik etmeye çalışmış ve bir linç ortamı oluşturulmak istenmiştir. Polisin gelmesi üzerine kilise önderi ve genç kurtarılmış ve darp olayına karışan bazı şahıslar gözaltına alınmıştır. Kilise önderi tehditler üzerine koruma talebinde bulunmuştur. Ancak henüz bir cevap verilmemiştir.

–      Protestan topluluğunun 3 önderinin olası saldırılara karşı polis koruması 2013 yılında da devam etmiştir.

–      Yargıya yansımış yukarıdaki ihlaller dışında Ankara, İstanbul, Şanlıurfa ve Gaziantep’te tehdit, taciz ve saldırı haberleri tarafımıza iletilmiş, adli birimlere ve kolluk güçlerine resmi olarak yansıtılmadığından rapor içinde ayrıntısına yer verilmemiştir.

İbadet Yeri Kurma Hakkına İlişkin Sorunlar[3]

İnanç özgürlüğünün önemli bir parçası olan yasal olarak ibadet yeri kurma konusunda sorunlar 2013 yılında da Protestanlar için devam etmiştir. 2003 yılında Avrupa Birliği 6. Uyum Paketi çerçevesinde, 3194 sayılı İmar Kanunu’nda yapılan değişikliklerde, ‘cami’ kelimesi yerine kullanılan ‘ibadet yeri’ sözcüğü ile gayrimüslim vatandaşlarımızın ibadet yeri ihtiyaçlarının karşılanabilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Ancak, Türkiye’deki Protestan toplumunun ibadet yeri edinmedeki olumsuz tecrübeleri, bu olumlu yasal gelişmelerin yorum ve uygulanmasında Protestan toplumunun ciddi engeller ve hak ihlalleri ile karşılaştığını ve yasal haklarını kullanamadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Konu ile ilgili önemli sorunlardan biri de, belediyelerin oy kaybetme korkusu ve idarecilerin ‘kilise yapılmasını onaylayan kişi’ olmak istememesi nedeniyle, ibadet yeri başvurularının reddedilmesi veya bürokratik süreç içinde sonuçsuzluğa terk edilmesidir. Geçmiş yıllarda yapılan başvuruların olumsuzlukla sonuçlanması veya hala sonuçlanmaması bu durumun belirgin kanıtıdır. Ayrıca kilise kurulması veya onaylanması taleplerinin, başvurunun yapıldığı kurumlar tarafından, sadece İslam inancının temsilcisi olduğunu belirten ve bu konuda çalışmalar yürüten Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’na yönlendirilmesi veya Başkanlıktan görüş istenmesi de dikkat çekmektedir. Tüm bunların yanında, resmi kuruluşların tasarrufunda bulunan ve amacı dışında kullanılan tarihi kilise binalarından pazar günleri ve/veya bayram günlerinde dahi Hristiyan toplulukların yararlanması engellenmektedir. Protestan toplumunun önemli bir kısmı bu sorunu dernekler kurarak veya var olan derneklerin veya vakfın temsilciliğini alarak aşmaya çalışmaktadır. Ancak bu durumda bu mekânlar ibadet yeri olarak tanınmamakta, dernek yeri olarak kabul edilmektedirler. İbadet yeri statüsüne sahip mekânlar için sağlanan kolaylık ve avantajları kullanamamaktadırlar.

–      2013 yılı başında, Diyarbakır Protestan Kilisesi ve Gedikpaşa Ermeni Protestan Kilisesi, Diyarbakır’da restore edilen Ermeni Protestan Kilisesi’ni (Surp Pirgiç) kullanmak için başvurmuş, ancak başvurularına sözlü olarak olumsuz cevap verilmiştir. Kilise, kadınların el becerilerinin geliştirilmesi için Sur ilçesi kaymakamlığına kiraya verilmiştir.

–      29 Kasım 2013 tarihinde, Kayseri Büyükşehir Belediyesi kullanımında olan ve geçmişte spor salonu olarak kullanılan tarihi Meryem Ana Kilisesi’nin, Kayseri’de yaşayan Hristiyan vatandaşların ibadet yeri ihtiyaçlarının karşılanması için kullanım tahsisi konusunda İstanbul Protestan Kilisesi Vakfı’nın başvurusuna henüz bir yanıt verilmemiştir. Ancak basında çıkan haberlere göre yanıt olumsuz olacaktır.[4]

–      Kurtuluş Kiliseleri Derneği’nin uzun yıllardır Ankara Çankaya Belediyesi’ne yaptığı başvurular, bu yıl farklı bir mecraya doğru ilerlemiştir. Belediye, ilçe sınırları içinde ibadet için ayrılmış yerlerin listesini şifahen Kurtuluş Kiliseleri Derneği ile paylaşmıştır. Kurtuluş Kilisesi Derneği kendi ulaşım imkanlarına ve cemaatin dağılımına uygun olabilecek iki yer belirlemiştir. İlki için başvuruda bulunarak yerin tahsis edilmesini talep etmiştir, ancak daha sonra söz konusu arsanın daha önceden başka bir cami vakfına verildiği açıklaması yapılmıştır. Kurtuluş Kiliseleri Derneği bunun üzerine ikinci yer için ada parsel bilgisi vererek yeniden başvuruda bulunmuştur. Ancak ikinci yerin hazineye ait olmadığı yanıtı verilmiştir. Bunun üzerine başta Çankaya Belediyesi, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, çeşitli bürokrat ve milletvekilleri ile birçok görüşmeler yapılmış, Cumhurbaşkanı Genel Sekreteri ile yapılan görüşmede konu dile getirilmiştir. Ne var ki tüm bu görüşmelerden de bir sonuç alınamamıştır.

–      08 Ağustos 2012 tarihinde, İstanbul Güngören Protestan Kilisesi, ibadet yeri için Güngören Belediyesi’ne yazılı başvuruda bulunmuştur. Dilekçeyi işleme koymak istemeyen yetkililer, belediyenin siyasi bir kuruluş olduğunu ve böyle bir şeyin mümkün olamayacağını sözlü olarak kilise önderine iletmişlerdir. Kilise önderinin ısrarı üzerine dilekçe bir gün sonra işleme konmuş ve Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’na görüş alınması için yönlendirilmiştir. 2013 yılı Mart ayında talebe olumsuz yanıt verilmiştir.

Uzun yıllardır yaşanan benzer tecrübeler, Protestan toplumunda, hukuki prosedürü izleyerek kilise kurma veya inşa etme hakkının pratikte mümkün olmadığı, bu hakkın sadece kağıt üzerinde kaldığı inancını kökleştirmiştir.

Dini Yayma Hakkı

2013 yılı içerisinde bu hakkın yasal olarak kullanılmasında geçmiş yıllara göre olumlu gelişmeler olmakla birlikte, çoğunluğun inancı dışındaki grupların inançlarını yayma girişimleri tehdit olarak algılanmaya devam edilmektedir. Bazı durumlarda bu tehdit devlet eli ile inşa edilmektedir. Bu durumu gösteren en belirgin örneklerden biri, İlköğretim 8. Sınıf  ‘İnkılap Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük’ kitabının[5], Ulusal Tehditler kısmında yer alan ‘Misyonerlik Faaliyetleri’ başlığı altındadır. Burada misyonerlik faaliyetleri ulusal tehdit olarak yer almaya devam etmektedir. Bu bölümün kaldırılması ile ilgili 2010 yılında Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı ile yazışmalar yapılmıştır. Bu ve benzeri bölümlerin toplumda Hristiyanlara karşı hoşgörüsüzlüğü arttırdığının, çeşitli saldırılara yol açtığının ifade edilmesine rağmen talebimizle ilgili olumsuz yanıt alınmıştır[6].

–      28 Mart tarihinde, Yalova Işık Kilisesi, Diriliş Bayramı (Paskalya) öncesi halkı Hristiyanlık hakkında bilgilendirmek ve tanıtım yapmak için izin alarak üç günlük stant açmıştır. İlk gün sorunsuz geçmesine rağmen, ikinci gün bazı kişilerin tepki göstermesi üzerine dernek yetkilileri emniyete çağrılmış ve 30 Mart’ta Başbakan’ın Yalova’yı ziyaret edeceği ifade edilerek, provokasyonlar yaşanmaması için standın kaldırılması istenmiştir. Bu istek üzerine stant, yasal izine sahip olmasına rağmen dernek yetkilileri tarafından kaldırılmıştır.

–      12 Nisan tarihinde, Diyarbakır Protestan Kilisesi Hristiyanlık hakkında halkın bilinçaltına yerleşmiş olan önyargıları ve yanlış anlamaları gidermek için Diyarbakır, Ofis semti, Sanat Sokağı olarak bilinen yerde belediyeden izin alarak stant açmıştır. Ancak bazı kişiler tekbir getirerek orada kilise görevlilerinin üzerlerine yürüyerek, “Sizin ibadetlerinize tahammül ediyoruz ama fazla ileri gitmeyin. Size burada stant açtırtmayız. Kan dökülecek, çabuk kaldırın” gibi tehditler savurmuşlardır. Zabıtanın standın yanında duran Diyarbakır Kilisesi görevlilerine ricada bulunarak, “Evet, izin aldınız ama lütfen masanızı kaldırın, gerçekten çok kötü şeyler olacak” ifadesi üzerine standı kaldırmışlardır. Daha sonraki izin talepleri uygun görülmemiştir.

–      05 Mayıs 2013 tarihinde, Samsun Agape Kilisesi Derneği’nin önünde duran kitap standı 10 kişilik bir gençlik grubu tarafından dağıtılmış, İnciller yırtılarak kiliseye fırlatılmıştır. Güvenlik kameraları olayı tespit etmiş ve olay adli makamlara bildirilmiştir.

2013 yılında kiliselerin gerekli izinleri alarak birçok tanıtım faaliyeti yaptıkları bildirilmiştir. İzin verme konusunda bazı olumsuz yaklaşımlara rağmen kamu görevlilerinin 2013 yılında daha açık olduğu görülmüştür. Bunun yanında birçok kilise ve bireyin inancını paylaşma ve yayma hakkını kullanımında kendilerine oto sansür uyguladıkları, izin verilmeyeceğini düşündükleri ve çevrenin baskı yapmasından, bir olay çıkmasından endişe ettikleri belirtilmiştir.

Zorunlu Din Dersi

2013 yılında Din Kültürü ve Ahlak Bilgisi Dersi (DKAB) ile ilgili muafiyet hakkını kullanma konusunda bildirilen şikâyetler azalmıştır.

Ortaöğretim ve Yükseköğretim giriş sınavlarında DKAB dersi içeriğinden soru geleceği ve muafiyet hakkını kullanan öğrencilerin bu durumdan olumsuz etkileneceği endişeleri aileler tarafından sıklıkla bildirilmektedir.

Okullarda 5-6 ve 9-10. sınıf Hristiyan öğrencilerin, kendi inançlarını öğrenebileceği seçmeli ders çalışmalarının başlaması ve dersin, müfredatın ve materyallerin hazırlanmasında cemaat temsilcilerinin görev alması önemli ve olumlu bir gelişme olarak görülmektedir. 5. ve 6. sınıflar için ders kitabı hazırlanmış olup Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı onayına sunulmuştur. Ancak bu konuda henüz bir ilerleme sağlanmamıştır. Bu projenin en kısa zamanda uygulamaya geçirilmesi beklenmektedir.

Din Görevlisi Yetiştirememe Sorunu

2013 yılında da, Türkiye’deki mevcut yasalar, Hristiyan din görevlisi yetiştirilmesine veya herhangi bir şekilde dini topluluk üyelerinin eğitilmesi amacıyla dinsel eğitim verecek okullar açılmasına olanak vermemektedir. Oysa din görevlisi yetiştirme hakkı, din ve inanç özgürlüğünün temel taşlarından biridir. Protestan toplumu bu sorunu şimdilik usta çırak yöntemi, yurt içinde verilen seminerler ve yurt dışına öğrenci gönderme gibi yöntemlerle çözmeye çalışmaktadır.

Tüzel Kişilik / Örgütlenme Hakkı

Protestan toplumu ağırlıklı olarak bu sorunu dernekler kurarak veya kurulu bir derneğin temsilciliğini alarak çözmeye çalışmaktadır. 2013 yılı itibariyle, Protestan toplumu üyelerinin kurduğu 1 vakıf 26 kilise derneği ve bunlara bağlı 12 temsilcilik bulunmaktadır. Dernekleşme süreci devam etmektedir. Dernekler ‘kilise’ veya ‘ibadet yeri’ olarak kabul edilmemektedir. Ancak kilise kurmak için tüzel kişiliğe sahip olma zorunluluğunun olduğu, 2004 yılında dönemin Adalet Bakanı Cemil Çiçek tarafından belirtilmiştir.[7] Dini toplulukların tüzel kişilik kazanma sorunu tam olarak çözüme kavuşturulamamıştır ve mevcut yasal yol, toplulukların ‘topluluk’ olarak yasal bir kimliği olmasına fırsat vermemektedir. Buna ek olarak, mevcut ‘dernekleşme’ yolu, pek çok küçük kilise için karmaşık ve uygulaması zor görünmekte ve küçük topluluklar dernekleşme yolu ile yasal bir kimlik edinme konusunda çaresizlik yaşamaya devam etmektedirler. Protestanlar dışındaki diğer gayrimüslim grupların da tüzel kişilik kazanmak için dernekleşme eğiliminde oldukları dikkat çekmektedir.

İnancı Açıklama Zorunluluğu

2013 yılında da kimliklerdeki din hanesi varlığını sürdürmüştür. Kimliklerdeki din hanesi, kişileri inançlarını açıklamaya zorlamakta ve yaşamın her alanında ayrımcılıkla karşılaşma riskini artırmaktadır. İnancın kaydettirilmesinin seçmeli olması da sorunu çözmemektedir. Örneğin, din derslerinden muafiyet hakkını kullanmak isteyenler bu haneyi boş bırakma olanağına sahip değildir, çünkü bu kişiler çocuklarının din derslerinden muaf olması için Hristiyan olduklarını kanıtlamak zorundadırlar. Yeni oluşturulacak kimliklerde din hanesinin olmamasını beklemekte ve talep etmekteyiz.

Ayrımcılık

Hristiyanlara yönelik ayrımcılık, hem bireysel hem de topluluk düzeyinde devam etmektedir. Kimliklerde bulunan din hanesi, gündelik yaşamda ayrımcılık riskini artıran bir unsur olmaya devam etmektedir. Ayrımcılığın Protestan toplumu tarafından içselleştirilmiş olması, kanıtlamaya dair zorluklar, bu konuda mevzuat ve uygulamanın zayıf olması, ayrımcılık konusunda şikayet ve davaların yokluğunu açıklamaktadır. Ayrımcılık ile Mücadele ve Eşitlik Kanun Tasarısı olumlu bir gelişme olarak görülmektedir. Bir an önce yasalaşması beklenmektedir.

–      2013 yılında da Türkiye’deki birçok yabancı uyruklu Protestan toplumu üyesi birey ve aile, oturum vizesini yenilememe veya sınır dışı etme yöntemiyle ülkeden çıkmaya zorlanmıştır. Bu kişiler yıllardır ülkemizde yaşamakta ve çoğunun burada evleri ve yatırımları bulunmaktadır. Birçoğunun çocukları eğitim hayatlarına devam ederken bu uygulamalara maruz kalmışlardır. Bu durumdaki bazı ailelerin, din görevlisi vizesi başvurularının ve vatandaşlık başvurularının reddedilmesi ve sebep gösterilmeksizin oturum izinlerinin yenilenmemesi düşünüldüğünde, bu uygulamaya sadece inançlarından dolayı maruz kaldıkları sonucu ortaya çıkmaktadır.

Medya

Ulusal medyada Hristiyanlara yönelik karalayıcı ve yanlış bilgiler içeren, objektiflikten uzak yayınların 2013 yılında yaygın olmaması olumlu karşılanmaktadır. Ancak 2013 yılında yerel medyada ve İnternet haberlerinde kışkırtıcı ve karalayıcı haberlerde artış gözlemlenmekte ve endişe ile takip edilmektedir.

Malatya Davası

2007 yılında Malatya’da üç Hristiyanın acımasızca katledilişinin üzerinden neredeyse 7 yıl, davanın başlamasının üzerinden 6 yıl geçmiştir. 2012 yılında mahkemeye sunulan yeni iddianame ve süren dava, olayı azmettirmekle suçlanan kişiler, gayrimüslimlere karşı nefret ortamının nasıl oluşturulduğunu, bu süreçte kamu görevlilerinin, medyanın ve sivil toplumun rolünün ortaya çıkarılması açısından detaylı bilgiler vermektedir. Süren davanın maddi gerçeği ortaya çıkararak kısa sürede sonuçlanmasını, gerek aileler, gerekse Protestan toplumu beklemektedir.

Diyalog

Protestan toplumunu temsilen Protestan Kiliseler Derneği’nin diğer dini liderler ile birlikte Başbakan ile doğrudan görüşmesi ve sorunlarını birinci elden iletme fırsatı bulması, Cumhurbaşkanlığı Genel Sekreteri ile görüşme, önemli ve olumlu gelişmeler olarak görülmektedir.

Yine, 2013 yılında, yurt genelinde ve bazıları açık havada kamuya açık olarak yapılan Doğuş Bayramı (Noel) kutlamalarında artış yaşanmıştır. İzin konusunda bir problem yaşanmaması ve etkinliklerin çoğunun sorunsuz geçmesi önemli ve olumlu bir gelişmedir.

Yeni Anayasa çalışmalarının durdurulması hayal kırıklığı yaratmıştır.

Tavsiyeler

• Hükümet veya kamu kuruluşlarının Protestan toplumunu ilgilendiren konulardaki çalışmalarında toplumumuz ile diyalog halinde olması, önyargıların aşılmasına ve sorunların çözülmesine katkı sunacaktır.

• Hristiyanlara karşı hoşgörüsüzlük ve nefret suçlarının 2013 yılında da devam etmiş olması üzücüdür. Nefret suçlarının (hangi topluluklara yönelik olduğu da dahil olacak şekilde) Adalet Bakanlığı’nca etkin bir şekilde kaydedilmesi ve her şeyden önce bu suçların işlenmesine zemin hazırlayan nedenlerin ortadan kaldırılması gerekmektedir.

• Nefret Suçları Yasası çıkartılmalı, etkin soruşturma yapılmalı ve nefret suçlarında cezasızlık yaygın hale gelmemelidir.

• Ayrımcılığa karşı geniş kapsamlı ve etkili bir yasa çıkarılmalıdır.

• Türkiye’de tarihsel olarak kilise binaları bulunmayan Protestan toplumu için ibadet yeri kurma sorunu, yıllardır devam eden ve bir türlü çözüme kavuşturulamamış, dini dışa vurma hakkının temel bir unsuru olarak, güncelliğini korumaktadır. Bu konuda acil olarak merkezi ve yerel yetkililerin gereken adımları atmaları gerekmektedir. Hristiyanların da mescit benzeri küçük ibadet yeri kurulabilmesinin önü açılmalıdır. Belediyeler, Kültür Bakanlığı ve diğer resmi kuruluşlar, ellerinde bulunan ve amacı dışında kullanılan kilise binalarını en azından pazar günleri ve/veya dini bayramlarda kilise cemaatlerinin kullanımına açmalıdır.

• Her zaman ayrımcılık riski oluşturan, kimlik kartlarındaki ve kayıtlardaki din hanesi kaldırılmalıdır.

• Güvenlik kuvvetleri, inanç yayma hakkı ve Müslüman olmayan vatandaşların hakları konusunda bilgilendirilmeye devam edilmeli, temel hak ve özgürlüklerin “misyonerlik yapılıyor” gerekçesiyle kamu görevlileri veya başka kişiler tarafından gasp edilmesine izin verilmemelidir.

• Yabancı uyruklu kilise üyelerine yönelik, “misyonerlik yapıyor” gerekçesiyle, vize yenilememe ve sınır dışı etme uygulamalarına son verilmelidir.

• İnsan Hakları eğitimi çerçevesinde, ilgili kamu görevlilerine din ve vicdan özgürlüğü hakkının içeriği konusunda eğitim verilmelidir.

• Okul kitaplarında, özellikle “misyonerlik” başlıkları altında yer alan ayrımcı ifadelerle dolu, Hristiyanlara karşı nefret ve önyargı oluşturan bütün veri ve açıklamalar kaldırılmalı, bir arada yaşamaya ve inançlara saygıya dayalı kültürün gelişmesi konusunda temenninin ötesinde adımlar atılmalı ve uygulama denetlenmelidir.

• Milli Eğitimin Bakanlığı’nın, Hristiyan ailelerin ve çocukların maruz kaldıkları ve maruz kalma riskleri bulunan sosyal baskıyı ve damgalanmayı göz önünde bulundurarak, şikayet edilmesini beklemeden, okullarda ve sınıflarda gayrimüslim öğrencilerin haklarını gözetmesi ve okulları muafiyet konusunda düzenli olarak bilgilendirmesi beklenmektedir.

• Seçmeli derslerle ilgili düzenlemeler yapılırken, okullardaki gayrimüslim öğrenciler de dikkate alınarak, İslam dini içerikli olmayan seçmeli derslere mutlaka yer verilmelidir.

• Toplum içinde farklı dinlere mensup kişilere karşı anlayış ve bu kişilerin de Türkiye Cumhuriyeti vatandaşı olarak eşit haklara sahip olduğu fikri ve bir arada yaşama kültürü, başta Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı aracılığıyla olmak üzere, merkezi ve yerel yönetimlerce aktif olarak gündeme getirilmeli ve teşvik edilmelidir.

• İfade özgürlüğü sınırları içerisinde, medyada yer alan hoşgörüsüzlüğe ve ayrımcılığa neden olabilecek yazılı ve görsel yayınlar hakkında, hızlı ve etkin bir şekilde denetim mekanizması kurulması ve medyanın kendi içinde bir ‘etik yayıncılık kodu’ oluşturması gerekmektedir.

Saygılarımızla,

                    Protestan Kiliseler Derneği

                                                                

Avrupa Birliği’nin Demokrasi ve İnsan Hakları Avrupa Aracı (DİHAA) tarafından mali olarak desteklenmektedir. Kitapçıktaki görüşler herhangi bir şekilde Avrupa Birliği’nin görüşlerini yansıtmamaktadır.
“Protestan Kiliseler Derneği”, 1989’da kilise önderlerinin ‘Temsilciler Kurulu’ olarak bir araya gelmesi ile başlayıp ‘Türkiye Protestan Kiliseler Birliği’ne dönüşmesi ve nihayet 23.01.2009 tarihinde dernekleşmesi ile oluşmuştur.

[1]                Ocak 2009 tarihinden itibaren, 1989’da kurulan ‘Türkiye Protestan Kiliseler Birliği(TeK)’, bir dernek olarak ‘Protestan Kiliseler Derneği’ adı altında faaliyetini sürdürmektedir.

[2]                Raporun Protestan toplumu ile sınırlı olmasının nedeni, kaynaklarımızın kısıtlı oluşu ve en iyi bu toplumu tanımamızdır. Toplumumuz, herkes için inanç özgürlüğünü savunmaktadır. Bu hak inanmama özgürlüğünü de içermektedir.

[3]                Protestan cemaatinin ibadet yeri sorununa ilişkin olarak Kasım 2008 tarihli ayrıntılı raporumuza web sitemizden ulaşılabilir. Maalesef bu rapordaki sorunlar güncelliğini korumaktadır. http://protestankiliseler.org/index.php/raporlar/6-turkiye-deki-protestan-cemaati-nin-ibadet-yeri-sorunu

[4]           http://emlakkulisi.com/kayseri-kilisesine-protestanlar-talip/213848

[5]            MEB İlköğretim 8. sınıf “Türkiye Cumhuriyeti İnkılap Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük” ders kitabı, sayfa 205, Devlet Kitapları Yayınları. ISBN: 978-975-11-3073-0

[6]                Bu konu ile ilgili yazışmaları İnternet sitemizde yer alan Duyurular kısmında bulabilirsiniz. www.protestankiliseler.org

[7] Çiçek: “Kilise için dernek kurun.” 22.06.2004 http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2004/06/22/siyaset/siy05.html

Kilise Dernekleri Rehberini okumak için tıklayın!

Nefret Suçları Kapsamında Sözlü ve Fiziksel Saldırılar

– 03 Şubat 2012 tarihinde, İzmir Çeşme Lütuf Kilisesi önderi Engin Duran, eşi ve çocuğu ile evinde bulunduğu sırada, evinin kapısı sabaha karşı saat üç sularında kimliği belirsiz kişi ya da kişilerce yumruklanarak ve zorlanarak açılmaya çalışılmıştır. Kısa süre önce İnternet aracılığı ile bazı radikal dini örgütlerden tehdit almış olduğu için hemen polise haber verilmiştir. Kısa sürede polislerin eve gelmesine rağmen kaçan şahıs veya şahıslar yakalanamamıştır. Savcılığa yapılan suç duyurusunun ardından, can ve mal güvenliğinde endişe eden kilise önderi ilçeden temelli olarak ayrılma kararı almıştır. İbadet için kullanılan yer kilise önderi tarafından kapatılmıştır, dolayısıyla var olan az sayıdaki Hristiyan da ibadet yerlerinden mahrum kalmış haldedir ve endişe duymaktadırlar.

– 25 Şubat 2012 tarihinde, Samsun Agape Kilisesi binasına bir kişi tarafından maddi zarar verilmiştir. Kamera görüntülerinden tespit edilen şahıs kısa sürede yakalanmıştır. Kilisenin şikayetçi olması üzerine açılan dava sürecinde, şahsın duruşmada özür dilemesi üzerine, kilise şikayetinden vazgeçmiş ve kişi serbest bırakılmıştır. Samsun’da benzer olayların sürekli tekrar etmesi dikkat çekicidir.

– 07 Mart 2012 tarihinde, Adana’da bulunan Hristiyanlık içerikli yayınlar satan Söz Kitabevi’ne gelen bir şahıs, sözlü taciz ve tehditlerde bulunmuştur. Emniyet güçlerine yapılan şikayetin ardından, kamera kayıtları incelenmiş ve üç kişinin olaya dahil olduğu belirlenmesine rağmen kimlikleri tespit edilememiştir. Olaydan sonra emniyet güçleri koruma tedbirlerini artırmıştır.

– 07 Nisan 2012 tarihinde, dört genç İstanbul Bahçelievler Lütuf Kilisesi’ne girme talebinde bulunmuşlar, ancak kilisenin önderi Semir Serkek kendilerinden, saatin geç olması ve gençlerin şüpheli davranışları nedeniyle, sabah gelmelerini rica etmiştir. Bunun üzerine, “Burası Müslüman mahallesi, burada kilisenin ne işi var, eğer kelime-i şahadet getirmezsen gebereceksin” vb. sözlerle kilise önderi Semir Serkek tehdit edilmiş ve darp edilmesinin ardından failler olay yerinden kaçmışlardır. Emniyet güçlerine haber verilmesinin ardından kısa sürede emniyet güçleri olay yerine gelmiş, sokaktaki kamera görüntülerinin incelenmesine ve görgü tanığı komşuların ifadelerine rağmen, gençlerin kimlikleri tespit edilememiş ve failler yakalanamamışlardır. Olay üzerine kilise kendi imkanlarıyla güvenlik kamera sistemi kurmuş, emniyet güçleri de güvenlik önlemlerini artırmıştır. Koruma tahsis edilmemiştir.

– 03 Haziran 2012 tarihinde, Ankara’da Hristiyanlık içerikli yayın yapan Radyo Shema’nın ofisine, ofiste kimsenin bulunmadığı akşam saatlerinde defalarca gelen şüpheli üç kişi dikkat çekmiştir. Radyonun daha önce defalarca tehdide maruz kalmasından dolayı konu emniyet güçlerine ve savcılığa bildirilmiş, yapılan inceleme neticesinde şahısların kimliği tespit edilemediğinden konuyla ilgili bir gelişme sağlanamamıştır.

– 28 Temmuz 2012’de, Denizli’de açılan kilise, kilisenin kapatılması amacıyla bir grup tarafından protesto edilmiştir. Gelen tehditler nedeniyle emniyet güçlerinin yoğun güvenlik önlemleri alması üzerine fiziksel bir saldırı yaşanmamıştır. Şu anda kilise açık olarak ibadetlerini yerine getirmektedir.

– İzmir Konak’ta bulunan ve “Dua Evi” olarak bilinen Diriliş Kiliseleri Derneği temsilciliğine, bulunduğu mahallenin 14-18 yaş arası gençleri tarafından, 2012 yılı boyunca sözlü, yumurtalı tehdit ve saldırılarda bulunulmuştur. Son olarak, silah göstererek dernek yetkilisini tehdit etmeleri üzerine konunun savcılığa ve emniyete bildirileceği mahalle büyüklerine iletilmiş, mahallenin ileri gelenleri gençleri uyarmış ve ailelerinin araya girmesi ile gençler özür dilemiştir. Dernek tarafından suç duyurusunda bulunulmasından vazgeçilmiştir.

– 12 Kasım 2012 tarihinde, Batman’da ibadet toplantılarına katılan bir bayanın, sivil polisler tarafından bu tarz toplantılara katılmaması için sözlü olarak taciz ve tehdit edilmesi ve yine bu dini toplantıların yapıldığı apartmanın kapıcısının eve gelen kişiler ve faaliyetler hakkında bilgi vermesi için sözlü olarak tehdit edilmesi üzerine, suç duyurusunda bulunulmuştur. Suç duyurusu ile ilgili bir gelişme sağlanmamıştır, ancak o günden günümüze kadar Batman’da herhangi bir taciz veya tehdit bildirilmemiştir.

– 2012 yılı içinde Denizli, Diyarbakır, Sinop ve Hatay illerinde, kendilerini sivil polis olarak tanıtan kişilerin, bazı kişileri ibadetlere katılmamaları, Hristiyanlarla görüşmemeleri veya katıldıkları toplantılar, tanıştıkları kişiler hakkında detaylı bilgi vermeleri için uyardığı, taciz ettiği ve tehdit ettiği bildirilmiştir. Ancak bu uyarı ve tehditlere maruz kalan kişiler bir sonuç alamayacaklarını düşünerek suç duyurusunda bulunmamıştır.

– 2012 yılında 5 Protestan topluluğu önderinin olası saldırılara karşı polis koruması devam etmiştir.

İbadet Yeri Kurma Hakkına İlişkin Sorunlar

Yasal olarak ibadet yeri kuramama sorunu 2012 yılında da Protestanlar için devam etmektedir. 2003 yılında Avrupa Birliği 6. Uyum Paketi çerçevesinde, 3194 sayılı İmar Kanunu’nda yapılan değişikliklerde, ‘cami’ kelimesi yerine kullanılan ‘ibadet yeri’ sözcüğü ile gayrimüslim vatandaşlarımızın ibadet yeri ihtiyaçlarının karşılanabilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Ancak, Türkiye’deki Protestan toplumunun ibadet yeri edinmedeki olumsuz tecrübeleri, bu olumlu yasal gelişmelerin yorum ve uygulanmasında Protestan toplumunun ciddi engeller ve hak ihlalleri ile karşılaştığını ve yasal haklarını kullanamadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Konu ile ilgili önemli sorunlardan biri de, belediyelerin oy kaybetme korkusu ve idarecilerin kilise yapılmasını onaylayan kişi olmak istememesi nedeniyle, ibadet yeri başvurularının reddedilmesi veya bürokratik süreç içinde sonuçsuzluğa terk edilmesidir. Ayrıca kilise kurulması veya onaylanması taleplerinin, başvurunun yapıldığı kurumlar tarafından, sadece İslam inancının temsilcisi olduğunu belirten ve bu konuda çalışmalar yürüten Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’na yönlendirilmesi veya Başkanlıktan görüş istenmesi de dikkat çekmektedir. Tüm bunların yanında, resmi kuruluşların elinde bulunan ve amacı dışında kullanılan tarihi kilise binalarından pazar günleri ve/veya bayram günlerinde dahi Hristiyan toplulukların yararlanması engellenmektedir.

– 2012 yılında, İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi envanterinde bulunan ve amacı dışında birçok etkinlik için kullanılan Aya Vukla Kilisesi’nde, Işık Kilisesi Derneği’nin Diriliş Bayramı (Paskalya) kutlaması yapma talebi gerekçe gösterilmeden reddedilmiş ve bina yapılış amacı dışında birçok etkinlik için kullanılmaya devam edilmiştir.

– 15 Mayıs 2012 tarihinde, İzmir’de, Dua Evi olarak kullanılan küçük ibadet yerine İzmir Valiliği tarafından İmar Kanunu’na aykırılık iddiasıyla kapatılma yazısı tebliğ edilmiştir. Dua Evi’nin Diriliş Kiliseleri Derneği’nin temsilciliğine dönüştürülmesiyle kapatılması engellenmiştir.

– İstanbul’un Beşiktaş ilçesinde bulunan Beşiktaş Protestan Kilisesi’nin, Büyükşehir Belediyesi’ne kullandıkları binanın ibadet yeri olarak onaylanması amacıyla yapmış olduğu başvurusu 01.09.2010 tarihinde reddedilmiştir. Daha sonra 2012 yılında toplantı salonunu genişletmek amacıyla yapmış oldukları sundurma tadilatı, Beşiktaş Belediyesi tarafından hızla mühürlenmiş, para cezaları ve yıkım kararları çıkartılmış, tartışmalı alan küçük bir yer olmasına rağmen tüm binanın elektriği ve suyu kesilmeye çalışılarak kullanılamaz hale getirilmeye çalışılmıştır. Yapılan tüm izin ve plan tadilatı müracaatlarına rağmen bir gelişme olmamış ve kilise yapmış olduğu sundurmayı 17.10.2012 tarihinde yıkarak binayı eski haline getirmiştir. Çevrede birçok binada benzer durum gözleniyorken, kilisenin üzerinde bu kadar yoğunlaşılması ve ihtiyaç duyulan izinlerin reddi ve cezalarla ilgili hızlı hareket edilmesi dikkat çekmiştir.

– 08 Ağustos 2012 tarihinde, İstanbul Güngören Protestan Kilisesi, ibadet yeri için Güngören Belediyesi’ne yazılı başvuruda bulunmuştur. Dilekçeyi işleme koymak istemeyen yetkililer, belediyenin siyasi bir kuruluş olduğunu ve böyle bir şeyin mümkün olamayacağını sözlü olarak kilise önderine iletmişlerdir. Kilise önderinin ısrarı üzerine bir gün sonra dilekçe işleme konmuş ve Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’na görüş alınması için yönlendirilmiştir. Konu ile ilgili henüz bir gelişme yaşanmamıştır.

Dini Yayma Hakkı

Ülkemizde inancını paylaşma ve yayma hakkı yasal güvence altında olmakla birlikte, çoğunluğun inancı dışındaki grupların inançlarını yayma girişimleri tehdit olarak algılanmaya devam edilmektedir. Bu durumu gösteren en belirgin örneklerden biri, İlköğretim 8. Sınıf ‘İnkılap Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük’ kitabının , Ulusal Tehditler kısmında yer alan ‘Misyonerlik Faaliyetleri’ başlığı altındadır. Burada misyonerlik faaliyetleri ulusal tehdit olarak yer almaya devam etmektedir. Bu bölümün kaldırılması ile ilgili 2010 yılında Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı ile yazışmalar yapılmış, bu ve benzeri bölümlerin toplumda Hristiyanlara karşı hoşgörüsüzlüğü arttırdığını, çeşitli saldırılara yol açtığını belirtmemize rağmen talebimizle ilgili olumsuz yanıt alınmıştır . Bu bölüm 2012 yılının kitaplarında da yer almaktadır. Ayrıca yapılan incelemelerde, bu bölümden yola çıkarak hazırlanan SBS (Seviye Belirleme Sınavı) hazırlık ve yardımcı kitaplarında da birçok aykırılık tespit edilmiştir.

– 20 Aralık 2012 tarihinde, İstanbul Marmara Üniversitesi Göztepe Kampüsü’nde bir kafeteryada İlahiyat Fakültesi öğrencileri ile Hristiyan inancı hakkında konuşan iki Protestan, kendilerini “ülkücüler” olarak tanıtan on kişilik grup tarafından darp edilmiştir. Kampus güvenliğine konu bildirilmiş ve kampusun güvenlik birimi yaşanan bu olay için özür dilemiştir. Ancak saldırıyı yapanlar hakkında herhangi bir işlem yapıldığı konusunda bir bilgiye ulaşılmamıştır.

– 2012 yılı içinde Denizli, Diyarbakır, Sinop ve Hatay illerinde, kendilerini sivil polis olarak tanıtan kişiler bazı kişileri ibadetlere katılmamaları, Hristiyanlarla görüşmemeleri veya katıldıkları toplantılar, tanıştıkları kişiler hakkında detaylı bilgi vermeleri için uyardığı, taciz ettiği ve tehdit ettiği bildirilmiştir. Ancak bu illerde kişiler bir sonuç alamayacaklarını düşünerek suç duyurusunda bulunmamıştır.

Zorunlu Din Dersi

2010 yılında, zorunlu din dersi (DKAB) ve Hristiyan ailelerin çocuklarının dersten muaf olması talebiyle ilgili sorunlar hakkında Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’yla yapılan yazışmalar ve bu yazışmaların ardından Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’nın konu ile ilgili tüm okulları bilgilendirmesi sayesinde, 2012 yılında muafiyet ile ilgili sorunların azaldığı gözlenmiştir.

– İzmir’de ikamet eden, Hristiyan inancına bağlı lise 1. sınıf öğrencisinin ve ailesinin okul müdürü ile yaptığı zorunlu DKAB dersinden muafiyet hakkındaki görüşmelerinde, okul müdürü DKAB dersinin müfredatının değişmesinden dolayı muafiyet uygulanamayacağını belirtmiştir. Ancak ailenin kanuni haklarını belirtmeleri ve Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü ile yapılan görüşmeler ardından sorun çözülmüştür. Benzer durum Diyarbakır’da da yaşanmış ve aynı yöntemle çözüme kavuşturulmuştur.

– Diyarbakır’da, Hristiyan inancına bağlı lise 1. sınıf öğrencisine, okulda İslam inancı içerikli üç seçmeli ders (Temel Dini Bilgiler, Kur’an ve Peygamberin Hayatı) dışında seçmeli ders açılmadığı için bunlardan birini seçmesi gerektiği, aksi taktirde gerekli ders sayısını doldurmadığı için sınıfta kalacağı bildirilmiştir. Diğer öğrenciler başka seçmeli ders seçmediği için söz konusu dersler dışında başka seçmeli ders açılmamıştır. Ailenin okul ile yapmış olduğu görüşmelerde, öğrencinin bu dersleri seçmek zorunda olmadığı, bunların seçmeli ders olduğu, ancak başka seçilecek ders açılmadığından öğrenci bunlardan birini seçmezse otomatik olarak ders kredisi yetmezliğinden sınıfta kalacağı aileye de bildirilmiştir. Ailenin seçmeli dersi yakın bir okuldan alma isteği de kabul edilmemiştir. Bunun üzerine aile, İlçe Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü ile görüşmeler gerçekleştirmiş, sonuç alamayınca İl Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü’ne konuyu taşımış, yapılan görüşmeler neticesinde öğrencinin okulunu değiştirmesine karar verilmiştir. Ancak birinci dönem bitmek üzere olmasına rağmen okul değişikliği daha gerçekleşmemiştir. Ayrıca öğrencinin notlarının nasıl hesaplanacağı, gideceği okula uyumu vs. konular belirsizliğini korumaktadır.
Okullarda 5-6 ve 9-10. sınıf Hristiyan öğrencilerin, kendi inançlarını öğrenebileceği seçmeli ders çalışmalarının başlaması ve dersin, müfredatın ve materyallerin hazırlanmasında cemaat temsilcilerinin görev alması önemli ve olumlu bir gelişme olarak görülmektedir. Bu projenin en kısa zamanda uygulamaya geçilmesi beklenmektedir.

Din Görevlisi Yetiştirememe Sorunu

2012 yılında da, Türkiye’deki mevcut yasalar, Hristiyan din adamı yetiştirilmesine veya herhangi bir şekilde dini topluluk üyelerinin eğitilmesi amacıyla dinsel eğitim verecek okullar açılmasına olanak vermemektedir. Oysa din görevlisi yetiştirme hakkı, din ve inanç özgürlüğünün temel taşlarından biridir. Protestan toplumu bu sorunu şimdilik usta çırak yöntemi, yurt içinde verilen seminerler ve yurt dışına öğrenci gönderme gibi yöntemlerle çözmeye çalışmaktadır.

Tüzel Kişilik / Örgütlenme Hakkı

İmar Kanunu’nun zorluğu, toplulukların yaşadığı hukuki problemler, tüzel bir kimlik edinme isteği ve 5253 Sayılı yeni Dernekler Kanunu’nda sınırlamaların kaldırılması gibi nedenler ile 2005 yılından itibaren kiliseler, tüzel kişilik için dernekleşme yönünde adımlar atmaya başlamıştır. 2012 yılı itibariyla, Protestan toplumunun kurduğu 25 kilise derneği ve bunlara bağlı 7 temsilcilik bulunmaktadır. Dernekleşme süreci devam etmektedir. Dernekler ‘kilise’ veya ‘ibadet yeri’ olarak kabul edilmemektedir. Ancak kilise kurmak için tüzel kişiliğe sahip olma zorunluluğunun olduğu, 2004 yılında dönemin Adalet Bakanı Cemil Çiçek tarafından belirtilmiştir . Dini toplulukların tüzel kişilik kazanma sorunu tam olarak çözüme kavuşturulamamıştır ve mevcut yasal yol, toplulukların ‘topluluk’ olarak yasal bir kimliği olmasına fırsat vermemektedir. Buna ek olarak, mevcut ‘dernekleşme’ yolu, pek çok küçük kilise için karmaşık ve uygulaması zor görünmekte ve küçük topluluklar dernekleşme yolu ile yasal bir kimlik edinme konusunda çaresizlik yaşamaya devam etmektedirler. Protestanlar dışındaki diğer gayrimüslim grupların da tüzel kişilik kazanmak için dernekleşme eğiliminde oldukları dikkat çekmektedir.

İnancı Açıklama Zorunluluğu

2012 yılında da kimliklerdeki din hanesi varlığını sürdürmüştür. Kimliklerdeki din hanesi, kişileri inançlarını açıklamaya zorlanmakta ve yaşamın her alanında ayrımcılıkla karşılaşma riskini artırmaktadır. İnancın kaydettirilmesinin seçmeli olması sorunu çözmemektedir. Örneğin, din derslerinden muafiyet hakkını kullanmak isteyenler bu haneyi boş bırakma olanağına sahip değildir, çünkü bu kişiler çocuklarının din derslerinden muaf olması için Hristiyan olduklarını kanıtlamak zorundadırlar. Yeni oluşturulacak kimliklerde din hanesinin olmamasını beklemekte ve talep etmekteyiz.

Ayrımcılık

Hristiyanlara yönelik ayrımcılık, hem bireysel hem de topluluk düzeyinde yaygın bir şekilde devam etmektedir. Bireysel olarak eğitim hakkı kullanımı, iş yaşamında ve erkekler için askerlik görevinin yerine getirilmesi sırasında ayrımcılık yaşandığına dair duyumlar vardır. Kimliklerde bulunan din hanesi, gündelik yaşamda ayrımcılık riskini artıran bir unsur olmaya devam etmektedir. Ayrımcılığın Protestan toplumu tarafından içselleştirilmiş olması, kanıtlamaya dair zorluklar, bu konuda mevzuat ve uygulamanın zayıf olması, ayrımcılık konusunda şikayet ve davaların yokluğunu açıklamaktadır.

– 2012 yılında, İzmir’in bir ilçesinde yaşayan ve kimliklerinin açıklanmasını istemeyen, aynı kurumda çalışan dört Hristiyan kamu görevlisi, kilise toplantılarına katıldıkları, başka Hristiyanlarla görüştükleri ve diğer kamu çalışanlarına “misyonerlik” yapma tehlikesi gerekçesiyle, idarecilerine emniyet ve istihbarat kuruluşlarından gelen baskı neticesinde, görev yerlerinin değiştirildiğini belirtmişlerdir. Bu durum kendilerine idarecileri tarafından açıkça sözlü olarak ifade edilmiştir. Konu ile ilgili hukuki süreç, kişilerin sonuç alabileceklerini düşünmemeleri ve istememeleri nedeniyle başlatılmamıştır.

– 2012 yılında, Türkiye’deki birçok yabancı uyruklu Protestan toplumu üyesi birey ve aile, oturum vizesini yenilememe veya sınır dışı etme yöntemiyle ülkeden çıkmaya zorlanmıştır. Bu kişiler yıllardır ülkemizde yaşamakta ve çoğunun burada evleri ve yatırımları bulunmaktadır. Birçoğunun çocukları eğitim hayatlarına devam ederken bu uygulamalara maruz kalmıştır. Bu durumdaki bazı ailelerin vatandaşlık başvurularının reddedilmesi ve sebep gösterilmeksizin oturum izinlerinin yenilenmemesi düşünüldüğünde, bu uygulamaya sadece inançlarından dolayı maruz kaldıkları sonucu ortaya çıkmaktadır.

– İnançlarını değiştiren birçok kişi, aslında Hristiyan oldukları halde, kamu hizmetlerine erişim, iş hayatı ve gündelik hayatta ayrımcılığa uğrayacakları endişesiyle, kimliklerindeki kayıtlarını “İslam” olarak bırakmaya zorlanmış hissetmektedir.

Medya

Ulusal medyada Hristiyanlara yönelik karalayıcı ve yanlış bilgiler içeren, objektiflikten uzak yayınların 2011 yılına oranla 2012 yılında azalmaya başlaması olumlu bir gelişmedir. Ancak 2012 yılında az da olsa ulusal medyada bazı terör örgütleri ile Hristiyanlığı ve/veya sembollerini bir araya getirip Hristiyanlığı veya Hristiyan olmayı topluma olumsuz bir unsur olarak gösterilmesi, toplumumuz açısından endişeyle izlenmekte, bu yayınların Hristiyanlara karşı tehlikeli sonuçlara yol açma potansiyeli bulunmaktadır.

Yerel ve İnternet haberlerinde Hristiyanlık karşıtı yayınların devam ettiği gözlemlenmiştir.

Malatya Davası

2007 yılında Malatya’da üç Hristiyanın acımasızca katledilişinin üzerinden neredeyse 6 yıl, davanın başlamasının üzerinden 5 yıl geçmiştir. 2012 yılında mahkemeye sunulan yeni iddianame ve süren dava, olayı azmettirmekle suçlanan kişiler, gayrimüslimlere karşı nefret ortamının nasıl oluşturulduğunu, bu süreçte kamu görevlilerinin, medyanın ve sivil toplumun rolünün ortaya çıkarılması açısından detaylı bilgiler vermektedir. Süren davanın maddi gerçeği ortaya çıkararak kısa sürede sonuçlanmasını, gerek aileler, gerekse Protestan toplumu beklemektedir.

Diyalog

Protestan toplumunu temsilen Protestan Kiliseler Derneği’nin TBMM Anayasa Uzlaşma Komisyonu’na davet edilmesi ve görüşlerini yazılı ve sözlü olarak aktarma fırsatı bulması, önemli ve olumlu bir gelişme olarak görülmektedir.

Yine, 2012 yılında yurt genelinde ve bazıları açık havada kamuya açık olarak yapılan Doğuş Bayramı (Noel) kutlamalarında izin konusunda bir problem yaşanmaması önemli ve olumlu bir gelişmedir.

Tavsiyeler

Yeni Anayasa ve Yasamaya Yönelik Tavsiyeler

• Yeni Anayasa yapım süreci, toplumun tüm kesimlerinin katılımıyla ve Türkiye’yi insan haklarına saygılı, hukukun üstünlüğünü ve demokrasinin tüm kurumlarını ve süreçlerini güvence altına alan bir şekilde gecikmeden tamamlanmalıdır. Anayasa’da din veya inanç özgürlüğü, Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi 9. madde hükmünün aynen alınmasıyla güvence altına alınmalıdır. Devletin tüm dinler karşısında eşit bir mesafe gözeteceğinin ve tarafsızlık ilkesine saygı duyacağının ifade edilmesi, din ve inanç özgürlüğünün korunmasını ilerletecek bir adım olacaktır.

• Hükümet veya kamu kuruluşlarının Protestan toplumunu ilgilendiren konulardaki çalışmalarında toplumumuz ile diyalog halinde olması, önyargıların aşılmasına ve sorunların çözülmesine katkı sunacaktır.

İç İşleri Bakanlığı ve Adalet Bakanlığı’na Yönelik Tavsiyeler

• 2012 yılında da Hristiyanlara karşı hoşgörüsüzlük ve nefret suçlarının devam etmiş olması üzücüdür. Nefret suçlarının (hangi topluluklara yönelik olduğu da dahil olacak şekilde) Adalet Bakanlığı’nca etkin bir şekilde kaydedilmesi ve her şeyden önce bu suçların işlenmesine zemin hazırlayan nedenlerin ortadan kaldırılması gerekmektedir.

• Nefret Suçları Yasası çıkartılmalı, etkin soruşturma yapılmalı ve nefret suçlarında cezasızlık yaygın hale gelmemelidir.

• Ayrımcılığa karşı geniş kapsamlı ve etkili bir yasa çıkarılmalıdır.

• Türkiye’de tarihsel olarak kilise binaları bulunmayan Protestan toplumu için ibadet yeri kurma sorunu, yıllardır devam eden ve bir türlü çözüme kavuşturulamamış, dini dışa vurma hakkının temel bir unsuru olarak, güncelliğini korumaktadır. Bu konuda acil olarak merkezi ve yerel yetkililerin gereken adımları atmaları gerekmektedir. Hristiyanların da mescid benzeri küçük ibadet yeri kurulabilmesinin önü açılmalıdır. Belediyeler, Kültür Bakanlığı ve diğer resmi kuruluşlar, ellerinde bulunan, amacı dışında kullanılan kilise binalarını en azından pazar günleri ve/veya dini bayramlarda kilise cemaatlerinin kullanımına açmalıdır.

• Her zaman ayrımcılık riski oluşturan, kimlik kartlarındaki ve kayıtlardaki din hanesi kaldırılmalıdır.

• Güvenlik Kuvvetleri, inanç yayma hakkı ve Müslüman olmayan vatandaşların hakları konusunda bilgilendirilmeli, temel hak ve özgürlüklerin “misyonerlik yapılıyor” gerekçesiyle kamu görevlileri veya başka kişiler tarafından gasp edilmesine izin verilmemelidir.

• Yabancı uyruklu kilise üyelerine yönelik, “misyonerlik yapıyor” gerekçesiyle, vize yenilememe ve sınır dışı etme uygulamalarına son verilmelidir.

• İnsan Hakları eğitimi çerçevesinde, ilgili kamu görevlilerine din ve vicdan özgürlüğü hakkının içeriği konusunda eğitim verilmelidir.

Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’na Yönelik Tavsiyeler

• Okul kitaplarında, özellikle “misyonerlik” başlıkları altında yer alan ayrımcı ifadelerle dolu, Hristiyanlara karşı nefret ve önyargı oluşturan bütün veri ve açıklamalar kaldırılmalı, bir arada yaşamaya ve inançlara saygıya dayalı kültürün gelişmesi konusunda temenninin ötesinde adımlar atılmalı ve uygulama denetlenmelidir.

• Milli Eğitimin Bakanlığı’nın, Hristiyan ailelerin ve çocukların maruz kaldıkları ve maruz kalma riskleri bulunan sosyal baskıyı ve damgalanmayı göz önünde bulundurarak, şikayet edilmesini beklemeden, okullarda ve sınıflarda gayrimüslim öğrencilerin haklarını gözetmesi ve okulları muafiyet konusunda düzenli olarak bilgilendirmesi beklenmektedir.

• Seçmeli derslerle ilgili düzenlemeler yapılırken, okullardaki gayrimüslim öğrenciler de dikkate alınarak, İslam dini içerikli olmayan seçmeli derslere mutlaka yer verilmelidir.

• Toplum içinde farklı dinlere mensup kişilere karşı anlayış ve bu kişilerin de Türkiye Cumhuriyeti vatandaşı olarak eşit haklara sahip olduğu fikri ve bir arada yaşama kültürü, başta Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı aracılığıyla olmak üzere, merkezi ve yerel yönetimlerce aktif olarak gündeme getirilmeli ve teşvik edilmelidir.

Yazılı ve Görsel Medyaya Yönelik Tavsiyeler

• İfade özgürlüğü sınırları içerisinde, medyada yer alan hoşgörüsüzlüğe ve ayrımcılığa neden olabilecek yazılı ve görsel yayınlar hakkında, hızlı ve etkin bir şekilde denetim mekanizması kurulması ve medyanın kendi içinde bir ‘etik yayıncılık kodu’ oluşturması gerekmektedir.

Değerli Vekillerimiz,

Ülke tarihimizin bu önemli döneminde sizlere “Toplum Sözleşmemizi” yani Anayasamızı oluşturmak gibi büyük bir görev verilmiş durumdadır. Geleceğimizi şekillendirmek anlamına gelen bu önemli adım atılırken , tüm Türkiye Cumhuriyeti vatandaşlarını ve misafirlerini içine alan, özgürlükçü ve eşitlikçi bir Anayasa oluşturabilmeniz için fikirlerimizi sizlerle paylaşmayı sorumluluğumuz olarak görmekteyiz.

Yeni Anayasa ile ilgili bizleri doğrudan ilgilendiren konularda görüşlerimiz şunlardır:

1-     Anayasanın Giriş ve Başlangıcı

Anayasanın giriş bölümü Anayasanın ruhunu ifade edeceği için çok büyük bir önem taşımaktadır. Bu nedenle giriş bölümü, ülkemizin kültürel, dinsel, etnik ve fikri zenginliğini ortaya çıkarıcı, bu farklılıkları zenginlik ve eşit değerde gören, nefret suçu ve söylemlerini reddeden, evrensel insan hakları çerçevesinde birey hak ve özgürlüklerini güvence altına alan, toplumsal barışımızı kuvvetlendirici olup,  sınırlamalardan uzak olmalıdır.

Devletin dinle ilgili konularda yansızlık ve tarafsızlık ilkelerine bağlı kalacağı ve eşitlik ilkesini gözeteceği vurgulanmalıdır.

2-     Din ve İnanç Özgürlüğü

Yeni Anyasa’da Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi’nin düşünce, din ve inanç özgürlüğünü düzenleyen 9. Maddesi, aynı şekliyle yer almalıdır.

1. Herkes düşünce, vicdan ve din özgürlüğüne sahiptir. Bu hak, din veya inanç değiştirme özgürlüğü ile tek başına veya topluca, açıkça veya özel tarzda ibadet, öğretim, uygulama ve ayin yapmak suretiyle dinini veya inancını açıklama özgürlüğünü de içerir.

2. Din veya inancını açıklama özgürlüğü, ancak kamu güvenliğinin, kamu düzenin, genel sağlığın veya ahlakın, ya da başkalarının hak ve özgürlüklerinin korunması için demokratik bir toplumda zorunlu tedbirlerle ve yasayla sınırlanabilir.

Açıklama: Mevcut Anayasa din ve inanca sahip olma, açıklama ve ibadet etme özgürlüklerini korumakta, din öğretimi konusunda ise bir hakkı tanımaktan ziyade bir düzenleme getirmektedir. Bu maddenin Anayasa’ya alınmasıyla, din ve inanç özgürlüğünün sadece ibadet etmekle sınırlı olmadığı, öğretim ve uygulama  gibi daha geniş ifadeleri kapsaması anayasal güvence altına alınmış olacaktır. Örneğin, öğretim hakkının tanınması, din görevlisi yetiştirme, dini öğretmek amacıyla öğrenim kurumları açma haklarının temeli olacaktır.

Düşünce, din ve inanç özgürlüğüne ilişkin olarak değişmesi ve daha özgürlükçü bir şekilde yeniden düzenlenmesi gereken konular ayrıca hazırlanacak bir “Din Özgürlüğü Yasası” ile  düzenlenebilir. Bu düzenlemede, dini kurumların tüzel kişilik de dahil olmak üzere, örgütlenme özgürlüğü, dini eğitim kurumları kurma özgürlüğü, ibadet yerleri kurma hakkı, vicdani ret, vb. konular, uluslararası insan hakları standartları, toplumsal talepler ve uzlaşma çerçevesinde biçimlendirilebilir.

3-     Örgütlenme Hakkı

Şiddeti kullanmayan, teşvik etmeyen, desteklemeyen ve de başkalarının inanç ve ifade özgürlüklerine engel olmayan tüm örgütlenmelerin önü açılmalı ve devlet kolaylaştırıcı bir rol üstlenmelidir. Dini yapıların, kendi inanç sistemleri ile çelişmeyecek örgütlenme ve tüzel kişilik kazanma hakkı olmalıdır.

Örgütlenme hakkı Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi Madde 11 temel alınarak düzenlenebilir.

1. Herkes asayişi bozmayan toplantılar yapmak, dernek kurmak, ayrıca çıkarlarını korumak için başkalarıyla birlikte sendikalar kurmak ve sendikalara katılmak haklarına sahiptir.

2. Bu hakların kullanılması, demokratik bir toplumda, zorunlu tedbirler niteliğinde olarak, ulusal güvenliğin, kamu emniyetinin korunması, kamu düzeninin sağlanması ve suç işlenmesinin önlenmesi, sağlığın veya ahlakın veya başkalarının hak ve özgürlüklerinin korunması amaçlarıyla ve ancak yasayla sınırlanabilir. Bu madde, bu hakların kullanılmasında silahlı kuvvetler, kolluk mensupları veya devletin idare mekanizmasında görevli olanlar hakkında meşru sınırlamalar konmasına engel değildir.

4-     Eğitim Hakkı

Her anne babanın çocuklarını kendi inanç değerleri çerçevesinde yetiştirme, eğitim verme ve eğitim alma hakkı koruma altına alınmalıdır.

Zorunlu Din dersi kaldırılmalı, velilerin ve öğrencilerin talepleri doğrultusunda kendi inançlarını öğrenmelerini sağlayacak seçmeli dersler ve bu ders saatlerinde çocuklarına herhangi bir dini eğitim vermek istemeyen aileleri dikkate alacak ahlak ve/veya sanat, felsefe dersleri seçmeli olarak var olmalıdır. Din dersi hakkında Anayasa’da bir düzenlemeye yer verilmemelidir.

Dini toplulukların kendi din adamlarını yetiştirme hakkı güvence altına alınmalıdır. Devlet kolaylaştırıcı rol üstlenmelidir.

Yüksek Öğrenime ilişkin düzenlemelerde  herkesin din görevlisi yetiştirmek amacıyla okullar açabilmesinin ve/veya mevcut Yüksek Öğretim sistemi içerisinde din adamı yetiştirmesinin yolu açılmalıdır.

5-     Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı

Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, mevcut yapısıyla, devletin yansızlık ve tarafsızlık yükümlülüyle kesinlikle uyumlu değildir.

Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, Türkiye’nin dinsel çeşitliliği temel alınarak, çoğulcu bir bakışaçısıyla, devletin tarafsızlık yükümlülüğü, eşitlik ilkesi ve ayrımcılık yasağı göz önünde bulundurularak yeniden düzenlenmelidir. Vatandaşların düşünce, din ve inanç özgürlüğü hakkının doğurduğu yükümlülükler de göz önünde bulundurularak Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’nın mevcut yapı ve faaliyetleri yeniden biçimlendirilmelidir.

Diyanetin mevcut yapısı ve amaçlarının korunması durumunda, Diyanet işleri Başkanlığı devlet yapısı içinden çıkarılmalı ve mali destek isteğe bağlı hale getirilmelidir.

Sayın Vekillerimiz, inanıyoruz ki doğru adımlarla yarın bugünden daha güzel olacaktır ve bu güzelliğin sizlerin çabaları ve bizlerin katkıları ile oluştuğunu görerek  onur ve esenlik duyacağız.

Saygılarımızla arz ederiz.

Protestan Kiliseler Derneği

Yönetim Kurulu Başkanı

H. Zekai TANYAR