(CP) Turkey’s Constitutional Court has confirmed the federal government’s decision to expel nine foreign Christians for alleged “missionary activities,” labeling them a national security risk.
The court ruled that this designation, under the controversial “N-82” immigration code, doesn’t violate the foreigners’ rights despite their legal residence status within the country. The majority cited the “framework of the wide discretion of the general public authorities regarding immigration and border controls.”
“As a matter of fact, the applicants don’t have any complaints that they encountered any obstruction or discriminatory treatment in fulfilling their religious beliefs while they lived in Turkey,” the ruling states. “In addition, it also needs to be considered that applicants Helmut Frank and Matthew Vern Black, for whom the N-82 restriction code was applied, left Turkey voluntarily, while applicants Amanda Jolyn Krause and Jeremy Lauren Lambert are still in Turkey.”
The decision marks a major moment in Turkey’s judicial history, being the primary joint decision concerning multiple N-82 code cases, in response to the legal group ADF International.
In a statement, the religious freedom legal organization stated that the court has historically ruled unanimously against foreign Christians in similar cases. But this latest ruling showed division among the many judges, allowing dissenting opinions to surface.
Constitutional Court President Judge Zühtü Arslan presented a dissenting opinion. He argued that there was no evidence suggesting that the appellants’ activities threatened public order or security.
“There is not any concrete justification provided in either the executive or judicial processes within the concrete case to suggest that the applicants’ activities pose a threat to public order or security,” Arslan stated. “Conversely, it’s inconceivable to categorically and abstractly regard the ‘missionary’ activity directed on the applicants as a threat to public order or security.”
Arslan refuted the bulk’s assertion that “it is obvious that there was no interference with the applicants’ freedom of faith.”
“Essentially, it is known from the statements made each within the ‘Events and Facts’ section of the choice … and under the heading ‘Applicants’ Allegations and Ministerial Opinion’ … that the N-82 restriction code was applied to the applicants because of their missionary activities,” Arslan wrote. “It is beyond explanation that this constitutes an interference with the applicants’ freedom of faith.”
Since 2018, about 185 foreign Protestant ministers have been deported or banned from reentering Turkey, often without clear justification or access to the intelligence reports used against them, in response to ADF International.
“The government’s discriminatory targeting of Christian religious staff in Turkey, all of whom have peacefully lived in Turkey for a few years, constitutes a transparent violation of each the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenants to which Turkey is a celebration,” said Kelsey Zorzi, director of advocacy for global religious freedom at ADF International.
She said the country makes systemic efforts to suppress Christian beliefs, noting a rise in foreign Christians deemed threats to national security annually.
The affected individuals, part of a bigger group of over 30 foreign Christians tagged with the N-82 code, have been engaged in religious work across Turkey. This ruling follows several individual cases that reached the Constitutional Court, with this being the primary collective judgment delivered by the court’s General Assembly.
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, one among the lawyers representing the applicants, identified the contradictions in the bulk’s ruling and the dearth of evidence supporting the expulsion.
“The Court’s opinion, as described by dissenting judges, is replete with contradictions. Despite the clear evidence that these foreign individuals were expelled because of their alleged missionary activities, nearly all of the Court did not see any infringements on freedom of faith,” Cengiz noted.
Can Kurtulan, one other lawyer, discussed the implications for religious freedom in Turkey.
“With this decision, the prevailing local jurisprudence that ‘missionary activities fall inside the scope of freedom of faith and thought but may be restricted inside legal limits’ has been effectively nullified,” he said.
The decision also underscores a worrying trend in Turkey, where nationalism and Islamization pose increasing challenges to spiritual minorities, especially the Christian community, which numbers about 170,000 in a predominantly Muslim population of 83 million, said ADF International.
Turkey is a celebration to the Lausanne Peace Treaty, which recognizes Jews, Orthodox Greeks and Armenians, but not Protestants.
