Turkey still imposes restrictions on religious freedom, report says

Turkey still imposes restrictions on religious freedom, report says - Turkish Daily News Sep 17, 2007

The U.S. State Department announced that the Turkish government generally respects the freedom of religion but still imposes some restrictions on Muslim and other religious groups and on Muslim religious expression in government and state-run institutions, including universities.

"There were reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious belief or practice. Violent attacks and threats against non-Muslims during the reporting period created an atmosphere of pressure and diminished freedom for some non-Muslim communities. Although proselytizing is legal in the country, some Muslims, Christians, and Bahais faced a few restrictions and occasional harassment for alleged proselytizing or unauthorized meetings," the report said.

The report also touched on the killings of a German protestant in Malatya and said: "There were reports of religiously motivated killings during the reporting period.

On April 18, 2007, three members of a Protestant church in Malatya, including a German citizen, were tortured and killed in the office of a company that publishes books on
Christianity. The suspects of the killings had notes on their persons claiming, "we did it for our religion. May this be a lesson to the enemies of religion.'"

"Death threats against Christian American citizens continue to be a concern. For example, Christian American citizens living in the country received religion-based death threats via letters and voicemails, stating that if they did not return
to America they would be killed," the report said.

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