US embassy cable - 05ADANA191

UNCLAS ADANA 000191 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU, ADANA 
SUBJECT: CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION CONTINUES IN TURKEY'S SOUTHEAST 
 
1. (SBU) Two Turkish Christian representatives visited AMCON 
Adana on October 19 to report on difficulties they have 
experienced in carrying out their religious practices.  Guldane 
Migi from Adana and Huseyin Yelki from Malatya told ConOffs that 
they believed they had been treated prejudicially by authorities 
because they were Christians.  Migi, an accountant, organizes 
small-scale Christian activities in economically less advantaged 
parts of Adana's Yuregir district.  Migi complained that recent 
attempts to change his religious preference from Muslim to 
Christian on his official identity card had been rejected by 
authorities.  He claimed that this rejection stemmed from a 2003 
Interior Ministry decree.  Migi also mentioned that local 
officials often failed to grant work permits to foreigners he, 
as their accountant and business facilitator, had been involved 
with by not handling their applications for inordinately long 
periods, or by outright refusal without explanation. 
 
2. (SBU) Yelki, a sales representative for Kayra, a small 
Christian publishing house in Malatya, told ConOffs that 
numerous attempts to place Christian books in local bookstores 
had met with official censure.  Yelki said that two weeks ago 
officers of the Malatya-garrisoned Second Army visited 
bookstores in Malatya and successfully pressured store owners to 
remove the Christian books from their shelves.  He also reported 
that plain clothes police officers visited his publishing 
house's office to check for "unauthorized or pirate books" and 
asked what the company's goal was in selling the books.  Yelki 
said that officials were concerned about both Turkish and 
Kurdish language Christian materials, e.g. Kurdish-language 
Bibles. 
 
3. (SBU) Yelki mentioned that Malatya officials had refused his 
company the opportunity to exhibit their Christian books in a 
local religious book fair every year for the past three years. 
Every book displayed at the fair was about Islam, specifically 
Sunni Islam, Yelki said.  He emphasized that official pressure, 
societal prejudice and censuring of Christian materials had made 
it impossible for Kayra to stay in business (Note: Yelki 
estimated annual books sales at only 500 to 600 copies.  End 
Note.) 
 
4. (SBU) Local Muslim leaders have been publicly speaking out 
against Christians, said Yelki.  In May, one Malatya mufti 
declared that Christian missionaries were trying to destroy 
Turkish society; that the missionaries were turning Turkey into 
a Christian land by returning to the tactics of the Crusades. 
Yelki reported that his office manager, a South African 
Christian, and he have met with the local muftuluk leaders on 
three occasions over the past year, but have failed to get them 
to cease their public anti-Christian declarations. 
 
5. (SBU) Comment:  Post continues to monitor reported instances 
of religious discrimination and persecution by officials in 
southeast Turkey.  Unfortunately, instances like those reported 
to us by Migi and Yelki are still common occurrences throughout 
the region.  End Comment. 
 
 
REID