Posted on 09/27/2002 1:21:35 PM PDT by Destro
Turkish Police close church for "offending society"
ISTANBUL, Turkey, July 9, 2002 — Turkish security police ordered a Protestant Christian congregation meeting for 40 years in the southeastern port city of Iskenderun to close its doors in mid June, declaring the church had "no legal basis" and that its activities were harmful to society.
Pastor Yusuf Yasmin, 71, was served official notice by the security police of Hatay province to close and stop all activities of the New Testament Church in Iskenderun.
The abrupt two-page order was dated and delivered on June 14 to Yasmin, who was ordered to remove the church sign and list of worship services from the building by 5:00 p.m. the same day.
According to a copy of the directive obtained by Compass, the church was ordered to close "because your activities will incite religious, sectarian and dervish-order discrimination; will harm religious and national feelings; and will create offense in the society."
Signed by District Security Director Salih Gokalp, the order declared that the church's location had not been approved in the municipal zoning plan and that no religious or other private education of any kind could be allowed on the premises without the express permission of the Ministry of Education.
The church has met in its current location for the past seven years without previous complaints from the Turkish authorities.
Yasmin and the majority of his congregation, averaging 80 to 90 worshippers at Sunday services, are Turkish citizens from a variety of ethnic Christian backgrounds. The Protestant church has met for worship in the city since 1963, although after its original place of worship was torn down in 1970, the congregation met in the church facilities of the local Armenian Orthodox Church for 25 years.
In 1995, the congregation purchased and moved into its own church facility in Iskendurun's Piri Reis district, notifying local authorities on June 26, 1995, of the location and set times of worship, Bible studies and religious seminars.
In compliance with local zoning regulations, Yasmin informed all the other owners of residences and shops in the building that his church had purchased Flat C to be used as a place of Christian worship. "None of them had any problem with this, and all of them signed the notarized forms giving their consent," Yasmin said.
In an indirect admission, the police order acknowledges that "there is no provision in our laws concerning the construction and use of "places of worship.'" But it goes on to insist that "it is not possible for places of worship to be built in random places" under the country's zoning laws.
"We are not enemies of the state," a bewildered Yasmin said today by telephone from Iskenderun. "We love our nation. So why are they doing this to us?" After pastoring and preaching for 43 years, Yasmin admitted he had found it very difficult to be forbidden to worship with his congregation for the past month.
A lawyer retained by the New Testament Church confirmed today that he is preparing to file a case later this week before the administrative courts on behalf of the Iskenderun Protestants to regain their constitutional rights to freedom of worship and religious activities.
Iskenderun is located just 25 miles from Antakya (ancient Antioch), where the New Testament says Christ's followers were first called Christians. With a population of 160,000 population, Iskenderun still bears the name of its 4th century B.C. founder, Alexander the Great.
Source: Barbara G. Baker, Compass News
The lies you perpetrate on the naive ("plenty of churches" operating in turkey - what a laugh! - just look at Saint Sophia cathedral - a stalinistic/muslim metamorphosis of a revered church into a museum!) who are clueless as to the murderous Turks in history signify either the symptoms of those in denial or simply those of an agent of the turkish mafia muslim state.
Hey Turk...who and where do you think you are? In Turkey where your muslim mafia state could have me tortured and disappeared? You are such a bore really. But one that can be enlightened with some help from me.
And a most humble "thank you" to suck.com for the elegant gif!
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