Christians still second-class citizens under Turkish secularism

Decades of experience of a Turkish Christian leader

Authors

  • Behnan Konutgan

Keywords:

Turkey, history of the church, Christian-Muslim relations, Islamic nationalism, religious freedom, discrimination against Christians

Abstract

As the Turkish government seeks entrance into the European Union, human rights, including religious freedom will be a key issue. The author, a Turkish Christian and Church leader for over 3 decades, after touching briefly on the past history of Christianity in Turkey, provides a first-hand glimpse into the present situation of believers in that Muslim country. He explores several arenas of persecution, discusses various causes and relates some of his first-hand experiences, evaluations and concerns about his home country.

Author Biography

Behnan Konutgan

Behnan Konutgan, M.A.; M.Div., is currently studying for a Ph.D. degree through the Martin Bucer Seminary in Bonn, on the subject of Anatolian Church History, and on the church under an Islamic government. For 26 years he worked for the Turkish Bible Society, mostly as a Bible translator (The New Turkish Bible 2001). He also served for 28 years as volunteer pastor, and is a past president of the Turkish Evangelical Alliance. Presently he is the director of Tree of Life Ministries, which forms part of INNETWORKUSA, and is the president of the Martin Bucer Academy, Turkish Study Centre.

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Published

2023-01-11

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2009): Volume 2, Issue 1

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2009 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)