Report on Human Rights Violations 2009

Prepared by Association of Protestant Churches
Committee for Religious Freedom and Legal Affairs

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion" (UDHR – Article 18). In Turkey, our greatest wish is that this right can be enjoyed everywhere by everyone. In our country, many problems and difficulties continue even though freedom of religion and belief is generally under the protection of international human rights and constitutional law. We have provided below a report on the problems experience by the Protestant Community in Turkey during 2009 in the areas of freedom of religion and belief.

Problems that have come to the forefront can be summarized as follows: Hate crimes directed toward Christians continued in 2009. Protestants are faced with serious barriers in their efforts to establish places of worship. Establishing associations has not provided a complete solution, even though it has helped gain legal status to some degree. And finally, intolerance toward different religious continues to be a problem in Turkey. It is hoped that the removal of this backdrop of intolerance is urgently taken up as a priority.

Download the full report here.

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