Türkiye’s (Turkey’s) Islamist regime is labelling Christianity a threat to national security.

Up to 350 Christians have been booted out of the country since 2020.

This is despite some living in Turkey for years, Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADFI) reported.

According to ADFI, the government issued over 200 “security codes” to foreign Christian workers known as N-81 and G-87. 

This effectively bans those targeted from re-entering the country and unfairly brands them a domestic terror threat.

Raising the alarm in Warsaw during an OSCE speech last month, ADFI Legal Officer, Lidia Rieder, condemned the actions as a “clear misuse of law.”

Reider said the deportations and misapplied ‘domestic terror’ reasoning were a direct attack on “freedom of religion and belief.”

She also accused the Erdogan government of “undermining the rule of law by manipulating administrative and immigration systems to exclude people based solely on their faith.”

Speaking on behalf of ADFI, Rieder “urged participating States to take concrete steps to uphold their commitments to religious freedom.” 

Rieder then added that the actions also undermined “the very principles of tolerance and peaceful coexistence that the OSCE was founded to protect.”

“Despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom,” ADFI stated, Turkey is becoming an Islamic state. This has led to “systematic restrictions on minority religious communities.”

Particularly, “Christians [who] face barriers to worship, education, and leadership, as well as ongoing state surveillance and deportation campaigns.” 

Such as Kenneth Wiest, vs. the Turkish government. 

Considered a landmark lawsuit, Wiest, who had lived with his family in Turkey since 1985, is challenging their deportation on discrimination and religious freedom grounds.

Explaining the legal action, ECLJ described Wiest as a model Turkish citizen, stating that even his three kids were born there.

The case is solely about the state “violating Mr Wiest’s rights to freedom of religion (I) and to non-discrimination based on his faith,”  ECLJ said.

Adding a point about double standards, they then noted that “no foreign Muslims have been expelled or banned from Turkish territory for their religious or proselytising activities.”

“This shows,” remarked ECLJ, “that it is not about policing proselytising, it’s about policing Christianity in particular, by considering it a threat to national security.”

The numbers speak for themselves.

Adding bite, ECLJ explained that the persecution of Turkey’s Christian community was clearly a problem. 

“In 1920, there were still two million Christians in Turkey. Today, there are just 169,000, representing 0.2% of the population.”

This is especially damning given the country’s deep, historical relationship with Christian history.

“Christians in Turkey, for the most part, predate and are alien to the Turkish nation,” ECLJ concluded.

ADFI’s claims were supported by the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey.

The Association has strongly protested the deportations. 

In a 2023-24 report, they provided hard evidence showing how Turkey’s anti-Christian policies and media were linked to an increase in anti-Christian rhetoric and violence.

Examples used within their report included threats, intimidation, doxxing and vandalism.

In one instance, a “rock and note, saying ‘take your religion and your race and go,” was placed on the windshield of the church pastor’s car.”

Adding insult to injury, the Association said most cases are not reported to local authorities for fear of retribution.

For relevance, Turkey’s Protestant Church consists of 205 churches, primarily in Istanbul – occupied Constantinople – Ankara, and Izmir.

Those churches have called upon the government to open up a dialogue to address the Christian community’s concerns.

They are also asking for an end to prohibitions on foreign members of the Protestant community entering Turkey.

“This situation must come to an end,” the Association for Protestant Churches argued.

“These people have not been charged with any crime and are suffering purely because of their religious faith.”

Appealing to due process, the Association asserted that “people who are deemed inappropriate to remain in our country must be subject to objective, lawful and equitably applied policies.”

Their analysis, alongside ECLJ’s Wiest lawsuit and ADFI’s advocacy, has additional backing from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

Coinciding with Lidia Rieder’s OSCE address, the organisation released a 130-page report of its own designed to combat “anti-Christian bias” and persecution on October 13.

The optics surrounding this are damning.

So widespread is the problem plaguing once Christian Europe that the OSCE’s 57 participating states now need a guidebook on how to respond to the persecution of Christians. 

The booklet even comes equipped with a “brief introduction to Christianity for law enforcement.”

Ultimately, the sad, necessary point is to tell once-Christian countries to stop shoving the persecution of Christians under the carpet.

As ADFI’s  senior counsel, Catholic and former atheist, Sean Nelson declared on X, “Christians are not ‘national security threats.’”