Resources
Protestant Christians in Turkey Exposed to Discrimination, Deportations, Hate Speech
Author: Uzay Bulut
Publication Date: 16/5/2022
Source: Providence
Only 0.1 percent of Turkey’s population is Greek, Armenian, or Assyrian Christian. The collapse of Turkey’s Christian communities is a result of decades-long persecution that includes genocide, expulsions, pogroms, and official discrimination.
There is also a growing Christian demographic group in the country: Turkish converts to Christianity, many of whom converted to a Protestant church. This community has struggled with many problems, including a lack of official recognition by the government.
Remarkable culture of religious tolerance in northeast Syria: former official
Publication Date: 6/6/2022
Source: Rudaw
Former Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Nadine Maenza spoke to Rudaw on Wednesday about her recent trip to northeast Syria (Rojava) and the current situation of religious freedom in the region, specifically for Muslims who have converted to Christianity.
Iranian Church Leader’s 10-Year Prison Sentence Upheld
Publication Date: 10/6/2022
Source: Persecution - International Christian Concern
Recently on May 29, an appeal court in Iran upheld a decade-long prison sentence for a house-church leader. The Iranian government is imprisoning the Iranian-Armenian Christian solely for teaching Christianity, which the notorious appeal court judge in charge of his case referred to as “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam.” The Christian leader originally received his 10-year prison sentence on April 11, along with a sentence of 10 subsequent years’ “deprivation of social rights.” This additional penalty, to be enforced after his release from jail, will restrict his possible employment.
How Syria made Putin's Russia an Orthodox power
Author: Kamal Alam
Publication Date: 11/5/2022
Source: Middle East Eye
When Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Damascus to meet his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, in January 2020, it was viewed as a significant entrenchment of Russian support for Assad.
However, some - more precisely Eastern Christians, but also the Greek Orthodox Church - saw the two leaders' lighting of candles on Orthodox Christmas Day as a much-needed boost to Christianity.
Three Christians sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran for hosting worship at home
Publication Date: 9/5/2022
Source: Syriac Press
Iran’s policy of repression and marginalization against Christians continues, with Iranian Christians arrested under various pretexts.
London-based “Article 18”, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of religious freedom in Iran, stated that the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced three Christians for 10 years in prison on charges of forming hosting religious worship in their homes, or what a notorious judge called “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam.”
Unholy politics and a Christian exodus
Ιn Baghdad, shortly after the 2003 war, I visited the place which the city’s Jews had used as their community centre and school. All was quiet in the street as we approached; only a slight movement in a window opposite showed that the neighbours were watching. Inside, dust awaited us and the feel of a place hurriedly abandoned. From a great pile of books I tried to extract one. The others slid and crashed into an antique typewriter. The book, a schoolbook introduction to Hebrew for Arabic speakers, had been printed in the 1950s.
Iranian Christians Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison and “Deprivation of Social Rights”
Publication Date: 12/5/2022
Source: Persecution - International Christian Concern
Iranian-Armenian Anooshavan Avedian was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He, alongside two members of his house church, Abbas Soori and Maryam Mohammadi, were also given a 10-year “deprivation of social rights” upon their release. Abbas and Maryam were fined $2000 USD each and also face two-year international travel bans, membership of any political or social group and of their homes in Tehran.
Iranian Christian explains the plight of women
Author: Omeed Jouyandé
Publication Date: 12/5/2022
Source: Metro Voice News
Iranians have recently been shocked by the news of two “honor killings” of women, including one woman believed to have been killed for her faith in Christ. Iranian Christian Omeed Jouyandé discusses these brutal crimes and explains how Iran’s laws reinforce the discrimination that can underly them. He also shows how the Christian satellite ministry SAT-7 PARS offers an alternative in the Christian message of freedom.
