ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish security police ordered a Protestant Christian congregation meeting for 40 years in the southeastern port city of Iskenderun to close its doors in mid-June, declaring the church had “no legal basis,” and that its activities were harmful to society.
Pastor Yusuf Yasmin, 71, was served official notice by the security police of Hatay province to close and stop all activities of the New Testament Church in Iskenderun.
The abrupt two-page order was dated and delivered June 14 to Yasmin, who was ordered to remove the church sign and list of worship services from the building by 5 p.m. the same day.
The church has met in its current location for the past seven years without previous complaints from the Turkish authorities.
Yasmin and the majority of his congregation, averaging 80 to 90 worshipers at Sunday services, are Turkish citizens from a variety of ethnic Christian backgrounds. The Protestant church has met for worship in the city since 1963.
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