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Pastor Brunson and wife Norine arrested in Izmir
for "activities against national security" |
The Globalist recently
reported that Turkish police on October 7 detained the American pastor
Andrew Brunson and his wife Norine – residents of Turkey for the last
twenty years – for “activities against national security.” Authorities
held the couple in isolation for twelve days, with no access to an
attorney or U.S. consular officials.
Pastor Andrew Brunson had been leading the Izmir Resurrection Church,
Although Turkey’s Directorate of Migration Management ultimately
released the pastor’s wife, Brunson has been held in solitary
confinement with no access to legal counsel for over 40 days.
As appalling as the couple’s treatment is, it is best understood as part
of a wider campaign by the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and
Development Party (AKP) to intimidate and scapegoat Turkey’s Christians.
In the aftermath of the July 15 failed coup, government-held rallies and
pro-government media have incited violence against Turkey’s religious
minorities.
Pro-government dailies slandered the Greek-Orthodox ecumenical patriarch
for “plotting” the coup with the CIA, and published a fabricated
Vatican passport to show that the coup’s alleged mastermind was a
Catholic cardinal.
In the ensuing wave of violence, vigilantes targeted Protestant and Catholic churches and Armenian schools.
The AKP government’s involvement in the crackdown is disconcerting. On
October 8, authorities banned the Protestant church in Antioch – an
ancient cradle of Christianity – for conducting Bible study “without a
permit.”
Soon after, two officials of Turkey’s Association of Protestant Churches
reported that they had been questioned by the police concerning their
pastoral work.
On October 17, airport officials denied entry to an American Protestant
who headed the Ankara Refugee Ministry, insisting that – like the
accusations against the Brunsons – he was a “national security threat.”
Earlier this month, authorities handed control of the Syriac church in
the city of Urfa to a nearby university’s Faculty of Islamic Theology.
Turkey’s Christians are no strangers to intimidation. Brunson himself
was the target of an armed attack in 2011. Assailants killed a Roman
Catholic priest and bishop in 2006 and 2010 respectively.
A German Protestant and two Turkish converts were tortured and brutally
massacred in a Bible publishing house in 2007, three months after the
assassination of the editor of Turkey’s main Armenian weekly.
Authorities have also been lenient towards assailants who target
Christians. The five culprits of the publishing-house massacre were
released in 2014, and the murderer of the priest walked free last year.
The Armenian editor’s assassin received a hero’s welcome when brought
into the police station, where officers praised his courage and asked
him to pose with the Turkish flag.
Unless the AKP government introduces safeguards against hate crimes,
tackles the culture of impunity, and stops incitement against
Christians, Turkey risks joining the long list of Middle Eastern states
where ancient Christian communities are disappearing.
Religious minorities are historically canaries in a country’s coal
mine. Once Turkey’s religious pluralism disappears, it likely will not
take long for its political pluralism to evaporate alongside it, if it
is not already happening at a very fast pace.
Almere-Digest
