The situation of Christian churches in Turkey

The brave decision of the Swiss people to resist the defacement of their city skylines by alien architectural features has been greeted with clamour worldwide.

There is talk of this democratic decision being somehow overturned in an international court. The UN's "Special Commissioner on Religious Freedom" has denounced it. How strange then that these various international potentates say nothing about the overt and covert discrimination against the Christian faith and other faiths in the Islamic world.

Let us remember that Muslims have not been prevented from building mosques in Switzerland. Only minarets have been banned. Yet in many Islamic countries, it is either impossible or almost impossible to establish a Christian church. This is the case in Turkey, for example, the supposedly "englightened" Islamic country.

Christians in Turkey face massive bureaucratic resistance if they attempt to set up a Christian church. Although permitted in theory, in practice, it is essentially impossible. Christians are encouraged, instead, to form "associations". They are forced to meet and worship in private rooms. They are not allowed to display symbols of their faith, such as crosses, on the walls.

You can read fuller descriptions of this anti-Christian discrimination here.

New EU President Brings Hope to Europe on Turkey Issue

He may be Mr. Anonymous but the new EU President, Herman Van Rompuy, seems to be on the right side of the Turkey question, if reports are to be believed.

Reuters has this quote:

"Turkey is not a part of Europe and will never be part of Europe," the independent online newspaper EUobserver.com quoted him as saying in December, 2004.

"The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are also fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigor with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey," he told a meeting of the Council of Europe on the subject of Turkey's possible entry into the EU.

Of course he's now trying to backtrack on these statements, at least in public, and replacing them with the usual bland Eurospeak. But hopefully those original quotations show where his heart lies.

Turkey being lost to the West?

The Huffington Post hosts another witless apologia for Turkey from the left-wing, this time with a dash of pseudo-American geopolitics being thrown into the mix. The byline points out that the author, Tuncay Babali, is a "Fellow at the Harvard Weatherhead Center for International Affairs" but fails to point out that he is a former Turkish diplomat.

Apparently Mr. Babali thinks that Turkey is in danger of being "lost to the West" because of we bad Europeans not letting them in. Apparently we should just tear up all the rules, throw away the standards they don't meet and let them in anyway.

I posted a comment to the article which, of course, was not approved by the Huffington censor team. So here it is reproduced here:


Europe is not "a timeless and inspirational idea". It is a place and a culture. Turkey is not part of the place or the culture. The whole idea of Turkey joining the European Union was absurd from the get-go and it's time it was killed off. It is overwhelmingly opposed by the people of Europe who know that Turkey is about as European as Iran. Despite this, thanks to American pressure, the elite is trying to force it through against the wishes of their people.

Europe's 15 million Muslims have already caused immense problems, forcing a massive retrenchment of civil liberties. That could only be aggravated by adding Turkey's vast population to the mix.

Turkey is so far from meeting the norms of a European country that it is almost incredible that its application is still on track. To cite only a few: it denies that the Armenian genocide occurs, it routinely invades EU airspace with fighter aircraft (each day), it routinely practises torture, it constantly suppresses free speech (banning YouTube etc. because of criticism of the revered dictator Ataturk); it has a leader who says things like "there is no such thing as moderate Islam" and "No Muslim could commit genocide".

You say that if Turkey is not admitted to the European Union, Turkey may be lost to the West. I say that if Turkey is admitted to the European Union, Europe may be lost to the West. It is time American governments stopped lobbying for this primitive Middle Eastern nation to be allowed into the European Union. Whatever temporary political advantage you think it will offer you is as nothing compared to the long-term disadvantages of Europe becoming Eurabia.

Turkey Bizarrely Denies Genocide in Darfur

"Because Muslims can't commit genocide" says Turkish President Erdogan!!

Creationism flourishing in Turkey

According to the Washington Post, supported by the Islamic government and American creationists of course.

An article in Science magazine, "Bracing for Islamic Creationism", which compares attitudes towards evolution in different Muslim countries, can be found here.

Turkey interfering with EU immigration patrols

According to the Greek governnment, Turkey is threatening and interfering with EU aircraft flying patrols to check for illegal immigration into Europe.

Vast numbers of illegal migrants cross from Turkey into Europe each year, and undoubtedly many more would do so if Turkey was allowed to join the EU.

Turkey's Foreign Policy Re-Alignment

Recent weeks have made dramatically clear just how much Turkey's foreign policy posture has been re-aligned under the Islamist AKP. First, Turkey uninvited Israel from participating in the "Anatolian Eagle" military exercise, marking a clear departure from the country's long-standing pro-Israel stance in foreign affairs. Second, Turkey has recently been cosying up to Syria and Iran. Erdogan even called Ahmadinejad "a friend".

Does any of this even register with the European potentates who are still trying to push forward Turkey's EU candidacy in the face of common sense, and in the face of their own people's overwhelming opposition to it? Turkey is reverting to type, becoming what it always was: a Middle-Eastern Muslim nation. Decades of Ataturk propaganda, authoritarian government and military intervention (both real and threatened) succeeded in suppressing overt expressions of Turkey's true nature for some time, but reality eventually asserts itself.

Paradoxically, the EU accession process is facilitating the triumph of Islamism in Turkey. The EU is insisting on freedom of worship and on civilian control of the military as conditions of entry. This only makes things easier for the Islamists. The military knows that intervention would bring Turkey's EU accession process to an end and therefore is reluctant to act. But even some pro-Turkey European politicians are saying that Turkey's accession process might take decades. If the military is paralysed for decades, the Islamists will entrench themselves in power and eliminate the power of the military as an independent actor. The best way the EU can safeguard secularism in Turkey is to reject Turkey's EU application quickly and decisively.