Christian groups in Turkey may elect leaders after eight-year hiatus



Jul 12 2022

Turkey last month granted permisssion to Christian churches in the country to elect leaders and board members for the first time in eight years as part of a long-awaited regulation update for non-Muslim foundations, persecution.org reported on Monday.

The new regulation paves the for 167 community foundations, including 77 Greek foundations, 54 Armenian foundations, and 19 Jewish foundations, to select their own board and hold elections every five years, it said.

The Turkish government in 2013 suspended the board elections of minority foundations, and they have been unable to hold elections again since.

Turkey designates non-Muslims as minorities in line with the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, with the state maintaining a decisive role in the elections of non-Muslim foundations as compared to the board elections of other foundations in the country, such as mandatory approval by the General Directorate of Foundations.

Turkey’s most recent regulations went into effect on June 17, the site said, giving Christian ministries and churches back some of their ability to act and carry out the needs of the minority groups.

However, the regulations still pose restrictions, including the requirement that elections for new board members be held in the city where the foundation is located, enforcing the same protocols placed on electoral constituencies as in parliamentary elections.

Turkey is home to approximately 90,000 Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Christians , 25,000 Roman Catholics, and 12,000-16,000 Jews and other minority groups, including 25,000 Syrian Orthodox Christians, 15,000 Russian Orthodox Christians and 10,000 Baha’is, according to the 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom published by the U.S. Department of State.