Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria still need our help
By David Curry — August 3, 2023
(Global Christian Relief) — The victims of this disaster in Turkey and Syria must not be forgotten.
Protesters briefly storm the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad in protest over Quran burning
By Qassim Abdul-zahra and Ali Jabar — June 30, 2023
BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had summoned the Swedish ambassador and called on Sweden's government “to take the necessary measures to stop the repeated insults to the Holy Quran.”
Tensions build around Jerusalem shrine after Syria rockets
By Ilan Ben Zion — April 10, 2023
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli warplanes and artillery struck targets in Syria following rare rocket fire from the northeastern neighbor, as Jewish-Muslim tensions reached a peak Sunday at a volatile Jerusalem shrine with simultaneous religious rituals.
Mufti’s talk of women’s duties angers some Turkish Cypriots
By Menelaos Hadjicostis — January 19, 2023
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A Muslim religious leader’s instruction to women to dutifully accept a husband's 'invitation to bed' to procreate has sparked outrage among many Turkish Cypriots.
Prominent mosque in Germany sounds 1st public call to prayer
By Geir Moulson and Martin Meissner — October 14, 2022
(RNS) — Germany’s fourth-biggest city last year cleared the way for mosques to apply for permission for the muezzin to call for a maximum five minutes between noon and 3 p.m. on Fridays.
Turkey’s Erdogan rails at Greece over Muslim minority rights
By Associated Press — July 25, 2022
ISTANBUL (AP) — Erdogan accused Athens of undermining the rights of the Muslim minority in Greece’s Thrace region.
Why Hagia Sophia remains a potent symbol of spiritual and political authority
By Anna Bigelow — July 24, 2020
(RNS) — The Hagia Sophia has shifted identity with every change in power and will likely continue to do so.
Turkey’s president formally makes Hagia Sophia — a former cathedral — a mosque
By Suzan Fraser — July 10, 2020
(AP) — Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the sixth century Byzantine building, a museum since the 1930s, would open to Muslim worship.
President Erdogan, preserve Hagia Sophia as a church
By Mike Ghouse — July 8, 2020
(RNS) — The Quran says that God’s name is extolled abundantly in churches, synagogues and mosques, which is reason enough to protect all such places of worship. But respect for others’ holy places extends deep into Muslim history.
How Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey’s Gulenists fell from power to persecution
By Ahmet T. Kuru — August 20, 2019
(The Conversation) — In both countries, homegrown Islamic movements have struggled to survive in authoritarian regimes that exert strong control over religious practice.
Turkish star witnesses against US pastor Andrew Brunson are his expelled congregants
By Umar Farooq — August 13, 2018
IZMIR, Turkey (RNS) — The Turkish government isn’t Brunson’s only foe. He’s also battling former members of his congregation who were expelled in part for harboring racist views toward ethnic Kurdish refugees, according to one pastor at the church.
US sanctions Turkish officials to protest American pastor’s detention
By Adelle M. Banks — August 1, 2018
(RNS) — The Treasury Department said in a statement that Turkey’s ministers of justice and interior lead governmental organizations 'responsible for implementing Turkey’s serious human rights abuses.'
Evangelicals hail Trump’s request for release of US pastor in Turkey
By Adelle M. Banks — May 17, 2017
WASHINGTON (RNS) 'Not only were we able to make the President and Vice President aware that this was a priority of ours, we were pleased that they shared our concern and acted upon it,' said Johnnie Moore, an advocate for persecuted Christians.
Turkish-financed mosques in Europe allegedly spying for Erdogan
By Tom Heneghan — April 19, 2017
PARIS (RNS) European lawmakers are calling for tighter restrictions on the mosques, which critics say keep diaspora Turks from fully integrating.
Turkey post-coup crackdown also targets US Protestants
By Jerome Socolovsky — December 4, 2016
ISTANBUL (RNS) Analysts say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has been targeting American Christians in retaliation for United States’ failure to extradite cleric Fethullah Gulen, as demanded by the Turkish government.
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