Kavala to Remain in Solitary Confinement
02/11/2021 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – A Turkish court recently ruled to keep Osama Kavala in solitary confinement. Kavala has been imprisoned since November 2017 on false allegations of espionage and coup attempts.
Nine European rights ambassadors issued a joint statement calling for Kavala’s immediate release and cited concern for human rights, rule of law and Turkey’s judiciary record. Kavala’s last appeal to the Constitutional Court ruled that his over three-year detention without a conviction did not violate his fundamental rights. The European Court of Human Rights previously stated that his detention is politically motivated, seeking to silence and thwart activists.
Turkey-Azerbaijan Joint Military Drills on Armenian Border
02/06/2021 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Turkey and Azerbaijan launched a joint military exercise on February 2 in Kars, a region of Turkey bordering Armenia. In light of the upcoming exercises, Armenia conducted evacuation exercises and issued warnings in villages near the Kars border two weeks prior.
The joint military exercises are expected to last until February 12. The last time that Turkey and Azerbaijan held joint exercises was on July 29, less than two months before the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The 44-day war resulted in the killing of 72 civilians by Azerbaijani forces and 163 civilians injured, though the numbers could be higher according to the Human Rights Ombudsman of Artsakh report.
Turkey’s Abuse of Historic Churches
01/15/2021 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Illegal treasure hunters recently defiled a 900-year-old church in Bursa, Turkey. The Turkish government placed Aya Yani church under preservation after the local population left the area decades ago due to persecution and genocide.
However, this church and other Christian faith sites, are often the targets of treasure seekers, hoping to find gold or items of worth in the historical buildings. Despite the named preservation for this church, it was allowed to decay and left abandoned for years.
Turkey’s history is riddled with examples of converting historical churches into mosques or restoring the buildings to become tourism sites. In this case, the church was left to crumble and be abused by those seeking earthly gain.
Turkey Rejects Brunson’s Rights Violation Claim
01/08/2021 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Yesterday, Turkey’s constitutional court overturned an appeal made by US Pastor Andrew Brunson over rights violations on the basis that it was “inadmissible” and openly groundless.
Pastor Brunson was arrested in December 2016 and was charged with espionage and committing crimes in the name of a terrorist organization as a non-member. He was subsequently convicted and issued a prison sentence. He was widely considered a political hostage, and part of a broader trend in Turkey to hold Christians captive to leverage political goals (for more information, see ICC’s joint report: Turkey Challenges Facing Christians 2016-2020).
Kavala’s Rights Not Violated, Says Turkey
12/31/2020 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – Following a hearing on December 29th, Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that Osman Kavala’s detention did not violate his fundamental rights. He has spent more than 3 years in jail without a conviction and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that his detention is politically motivated. Turkey has repeatedly been urged to release Kavala, to no avail.
The impact of Kavala’s detention on religious freedom issues is explored in ICC’s joint report entitled
Turkey: Challenges Facing Christians 2016-2020. His case is featured in the section detailing how the erasure of Christianity from the collective memory of society is a tactic of persecution commonly used in Turkey. The report states,