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Turkey: Christian Group Denied the Right to Buy Land for Worship Center

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – In a move that Christian leaders consider an expression of increased hostility to Christendom in their country, Turkish authorities have denied a request by an established protestant church group to buy land that has already been zoned for religious use to build a worship center, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Amid rising Turkish Islamic nationalism, Turkey has now been ranked (50) on the Open Doors World Watch List of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

Established in 2019, the Diyarbakir Protestant Church Foundation has been trying to buy land upon which to build a new worship center because its current building is too small for its congregation of more than 100 people.

“In 2023, [the Foundation] legally pursued using the zoned land to build a church building, but the Diyarbakir 4th Administrative Court recently struck down its challenge,” ICC said in its report. The court said the Foundation can buy unzoned land and apply for a religious use designation – however, this has never been allowed in Turkey.

“The land denial is just the latest move by Turkish authorities to restrict Christianity within the country,” ICC contends in its report. “Turkey’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, recently ruled that the government’s expulsion of nine foreign Christian leaders based on secret service reports does not violate their freedom of religion.”