The Constitutional Court has concluded that Turkey has not committed any rights violations in deportations or entry bans imposed on grounds of a risk to national security that have been experienced by members of the country’s tiny Protestant community.
Dozens of Protestant pastors and their families have been effectively banned from entering Turkey or deported over the past several years based on reports from the country’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) claiming that they pose a threat to national security.
Some of the pastors were deported or refused entry despite living legally in Turkey for years for simply engaging in missionary activities, attending a Christian conference or a meeting, which are cited as examples of actions threatening the security of Turkey.
Turkish authorities are assigning Christians “N-82 (requiring prior permission to enter)” or G-87 “considered a general security threat” security codes, which are used to label a person as a “threat to public order and security” and effectively function as entry bans to the country.
Some of these Protestants — Australian citizens Benjamin Charles McLure and Nathan James Bradtke; German citizens Helmut Frank and Michael Robert; and US citizen Amanda Jolyn Krause and seven other US citizens — took their cases to the Constitutional Court, filing individual applications claiming that they have been subjected to a violation of their rights in their expulsion from Turkey by cancellation of their residence permits or the imposition of an entry ban.
The applicants claimed that their right to freedom of religion and right to effective remedy were violated.
The applications at the top court were filed after the applicants failed to obtain a decision from local and regional appeals courts in their favor.
The applications, which were filed between 2019 and 2022, were merged by the court under the case name “Amanda Jolyn Krause and others.”
However, the Constitutional Court found no violation of the applicants’ rights, ruling by a majority of votes in February. The decision has just been made public.
According to the court, the applicants did not voice any complaints about the obstacles or discriminatory practices they faced while observing their faith during the time they lived in Turkey, hence their claim about a rights violation was baseless.
The court’s former president, Zühtü Arslan, who retired in April, was among the court members with a dissenting opinion.
The Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey in its “2023 Rights Violations Monitoring Report,” revealed increasing challenges and rights violations faced by the Protestant community throughout the past year.
According to the report, 33 foreign religious leaders were assigned restrictive immigration codes such as N82 and G87 in 2023. Including their families, this affected a total of 63 individuals.
“Many of these individuals have lived in Turkey with their families for years, contributing positively to their communities without any criminal records or investigations,” the report states. “Their sudden deportation or entry ban has disrupted family unity and caused considerable distress.”
It is estimated that there are more than 8,000 Protestants in Turkey, a majority of whom are ethnic Turks who operate some 170 churches or communities, for the most part located in İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir.
Applications filed by members of the Protestant community are also pending at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).