“Banned” from Turkey could mean that one is living elsewhere but is no longer allowed to visit the country. This is not the case with British Christian Mario Zalma, lived in Turkey with his wife Rachel for over a decade. Mario Zalma was suddenly disallowed to re-enter Turkey, the country he had made a home. He was deported from the country while on a trip abroad. The reason? He was labeled a “security threat” after attending a Protestant conference in 2019. Many others who attended the same conference were also deported.
ADF International’s Legal Officer, Lidia Rieder, stated that “Turkish authorities continue to undermine religious freedom by deliberately attempting to stifle the spread of Christianity.” That’s despite the fact that Christianity is truly a peaceful religion.
The persecution of religious minorities in majority Muslim countries is not rare. It is the norm. All over the world, minorities are routinely rounded up, jailed, brutalized, or even murdered. In the case of Turkey, they have been deported for their beliefs. There is little or no freedom of religion in all too many majority Muslim countries. Yet Muslims and their allies everywhere scream “Islamophobia” at every turn and are free to do so, as they chip away at the cornerstone of every free society, the freedom of speech. In fact, the “Islamophobia” subterfuge was the foundation of cancel culture.
Let’s hope that Mario Zalma stands a chance at the European Court of Human Rights. The ECHR’s record:
- In 2015, the ECHR determined that a Turk had a right to deny the Armenian genocide. The court concluded that Dogu Perincek’s “conviction and punishment ‘constituted an interference with the exercise of his right to freedom of expression.'”
- In 2018, however, the ECHR determined that Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff had NO right to insult Muhammad and Islam, and upheld the Austrian citizen ‘s conviction for insulting Muhammad, effectively criminalizing the questioning of Islam and Muhammad. Her free speech was trampled by the ECHR, while Dogu Perincek’s speech was protected.
- In 2019, European judges ruled that UK airport security breached the rights of an al-Qaeda chief’s wife, Djamel Beghal, so taxpayers ended up paying her $28,000.
- On a semi-positive note, last year the ECHR “established the principle that those who convert from Islam to Christianity are at serious risk of persecution in Pakistan,” but never launched any investigation to discover why such persecution happens.
“Christian banned from Turkey appeals to European Court of Human Rights,” Christian Post, May 1, 2023:
A British woman has joined a growing list of Christians banned from entering Turkey and is now challenging her de facto ban before the European Court of Human Rights, countering the country’s unlawful practice of banning foreign Christians and missionaries by designating them as security threats.
Rachel and Mario Zalma resided in Turkey for over a decade; however, they were compelled to return to the U.K. after Turkish officials designated Mario with an “N-82” security code in 2019 and Rachel in 2020, said the human rights group ADF International, explaining that this code signifies that an individual is considered a “threat to public order and security.”
“We are filing Rachel Zalma’s case before the ECHR to challenge Türkiye’s discriminatory treatment of Christians,” ADF International’s Legal Officer Lidia Rieder said in a statement. “We hope the court will hold Türkiye accountable so Christians can once again live their lives without the threat of deportation or unchallengeable re-entry bans hanging over them.”
The Christian couple discovered that many who had attended a family conference of the Association of Turkish Protestant Churches in 2019 had also been labeled with the N-82 code.
At least one man received proof that he was classified as a security threat because he attended the conference. In documents disclosed during court proceedings in his case, the Turkish national intelligence agency revealed that it was determined that he was operating against our national security because he was one of the foreign nationals who attended the conference.
“Regrettably, Turkish authorities continue to undermine religious freedom by deliberately attempting to stifle the spread of Christianity,” Rieder said.
Both Rachel and Mario challenged their N-82 labels up to the Constitutional Court of Türkiye, but their cases were rejected, which forced them to return to live in the U.K.
At a high-level event on “Freedom of Religion in Türkiye” held at the European Parliament in October 2022, victims of faith-based discrimination highlighted human rights violations committed by the Turkish government and parts of society against Christian minorities in the country. Reflecting on his experience living in Türkiye, Mario Zalma said, “We love the country of Türkiye and want to work for the good of its people. We are not a threat to the state, the country, or the Turkish way of life.”
The number of Christians in Türkiye has dwindled from 20% to 0.2% of the population in the last 100 years, ADF International said, attributing this decline partly to the Turkish government’s systematic ill-treatment of Christians.
According to Open Doors, the Turkish government expelled at least 60 foreign Christian workers and their families between 2020 and 2022…..
Jayell1 says
So those with Protestant Christian leanings, who maybe attend Protestant conferences, are a ‘security threat’ to Turkey, are they? When was the last time there was any terrorist outrage committed anywhere in the name of ‘Protestantism’? Not even in Northern Ireland, where the ‘catholic’ IRA seemed to be at the root of most if not all outrages, and they weren’t even acting with the blessing of the Bible or the Pope. But 92% of terrorist outrages around the word, including in the UK, are regularly committed in the name of islam, which might be said to have terrorism written into its ‘jihad’ canon . Turkey is an islamic country, therefore, arguably, a country that could be assumed to condone and even promote terrorism; in which case, all Turkish citizens might reasonably be deemed to be security risks. So the UK respond by kicking out all Turkish citizens – it’s perfectly logical.
Tatanka says
It”s better to be banned from than imprisoned in these hell hole countries.
Who wants to live in an Islamic country to start with?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Apparently the Zalmas
John Allan says
‘… European judges ruled that UK airport security breached the rights of an al-Qaeda chief’s wife, Djamel Beghal, so taxpayers ended up paying her $28,000.’
And the ELECTED British government ACCEPTED THAT!?
From UNELECTED, ENTIRELY unrepresentative, FOREIGN JUDGES!?
I think said ELECTED government needs to understand that the ONLY rulings and opinions that COUNT … are NOT those of UNELECTED, UNREPRESENTATIVE, FOREIGN JUDGES!
They are those of its EMPLOYER!
AKA as the British TAXPAYER!
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Going into a Mark Spahn mode for the moment:
The above article uses both ‘Turkey’ and ‘Türkiye’ to identify the country. Shouldn’t it be either one or the other? If they’ve accepted Ankara’s rebranding of the country, they should use ‘Türkiye’ everywhere. If they’ve decided to stay w/ the English word for the country, they should use ‘Turkey’. But it does look weird to see both being used