How do Christian families, most of whom are descendants of the survivors of the 1913-23 Christian genocide, continue to survive in Turkey? How much respect and tolerance are shown towards them by the Muslim society and government of Turkey? A recent incident targeting the Assyrian Christian natives in a village in southeast Turkey gives us […]
Turkey: Women Murdered; Government Launches Lawsuit to Close Women’s Rights Organization
Femicide committed by those closest to women (including their husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, fathers, brothers, or even their sons) has become a devastating epidemic in Turkey. On May 2, yet another Turkish woman was murdered by her fiancé for wanting to break up. Dilek Ceylan, 32, a mother of two, was murdered by her fiancé, […]
Turkey: Freedom of Religion Only for Islam
Turkey has long been heralded by the international media as a “secular” and “modern” country. But in reality, it is the absolute opposite. Non-Muslim communities – Christians, Jews, Alevis, Yazidis, agnostics, deists, atheists, and all others – are systematically victimized by discriminatory acts, including violations of their human rights, their convictions, their faith, and their […]
Yazidis in Iraq exhume ISIS mass graves as Turkey bombs and Iraq discriminates against them
On February 22, the process of the exhumation of a mass grave of Yazidi genocide victims was begun in the village of Hardan, which is located in the Yazidi homeland of Sinjar in Iraq. The remains will be matched with surviving family members based on DNA sampling, Yazidi sources reported. Hardan was among the worst […]
Turkey’s Long Persecution Against Pontian Christians
In the Turkish city Trabzon, where few Christians are left, St. Maria Catholic Church has suffered its second attack this year. A gunman shot at the church on March 6, but there were no causalities because no one was inside at the time. The congregation is the only active one in Trabzon and has barely a dozen members. […]
Turkey: Another Historic Church on the Verge of Extinction
Yet another historic church is violated and left to rot in Turkey. The decades-long victim of the abuse, the Surp Minas Church, located in the city Erzurum, is now caught in the middle of an urban transformation project. Furthermore, it has largely been destroyed by treasure hunters. The history of this church is an […]
Turkey: No Budget from Government for Schools Run by Armenians, Jews and Greeks
The 22 remaining schools run by minority communities of Armenians, Jews and Greeks in Turkey are suffering – both financially and due to the declining number of students. Garo Paylan, an Armenian MP of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), came up with a policy idea at Turkey’s parliament to help the minority schools […]
Remembering Bahriye Üçok, Murdered for Opposing Hijab, As Council of Europe Promotes Hijab
The hijab debate is once again on in Europe. “The Council of Europe has withdrawn images from a social media campaign promoting diversity among women and their freedom to wear the hijab,” Euronews reported on November 3: The Council of Europe says the “Freedom in the hijab” project aimed to celebrate Europe’s diversity and […]
The extinction of Jewish heritage in northern Cyprus
Cyprus has a special place in Jewish history. Jews are deeply rooted in this island country, whence they once obtained wine for the incense used in the Temple (Jerusalem Talmud Yoma 4), possibly produced by Jews living there. Jews have lived in Cyprus for millennia, according to historical records. Hadassah Magazine reports: Cyprus and Eretz […]
September 4, 1990: Ex-Muslim Mufti Murdered in Turkey
(Originally published on Israel Hayom under the title “Choosing between freedom and Islamism”, on August 26, 2014.) The book you are holding in your hand is a book of a new era marked for a more beautiful world. It is obvious that a more beautiful world cannot be achieved without a freer world. And […]