Tag: Turkey

A postcard from ‘Little Baghdad’

December 12, 2013 Assyrians, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Refugees, Sweden, Syria, Syriacs, Turkey

Nuri Kino Södertälje, Sweden, is also known as Mesopotälje – “Little Baghdad”. One in four people in Södertälje is a Christian from Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq or Egypt. Most are Assyrian/Syriacs. The city was once home to more Iraqi refugees than the United States and Canada combined. Every week, 30 . . . Read More

Kidnapped bishops ‘still alive’

October 29, 2013 Syria Boulos Yazigi, Kidnapping, Syria, Turkey, Yohanna Ibrahim

The two Syrian bishops kidnapped in April are believed to be alive, according to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, which says it is continuing to petition for their release. Bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi were kidnapped on April 22 after returning from the Turkish border town, Hatay. “Our efforts to rescue . . . Read More

Leaving home

October 7, 2013 Syria Assyrians, Free Syrian Army, Islamic extremism, Lebanon, Middle East, Raqqa, Sharia, Syria, Tabqa, Turkey

A couple of days after she fled Syria for Turkey, a colleague sent me a message. “Dear Nuri, this is a court that the extremists established in my city, Lattakia, in the [Syrian] village of Kansabba. This Islamic court issues the law according to the extremists’ religion. It started today. . . . Read More

Church wants political Syria solution

September 20, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country Damascus, France, Germany, Russia, Syria, Turkey, UK, UN, USA

Church leaders from Syria, Russia, the US, UK, France, Germany and Turkey have called for a political solution as the only way to peace in Syria. They met the UN Secretary General and his Special Envoy to Syria on the same day that Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister said that the . . . Read More

Beyond count

August 6, 2013 Arab Spring, Copts, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, London, Middle East, Netherlands, Syria, Turkey

This much seems certain: Christians are leaving the birthplace of Christianity in large numbers. Just how large those numbers are, however, is a matter of educated conjecture, according to a new report on Christian migration from the Middle East. A precise accounting is impossible, but report author Markus Tozman says . . . Read More

Turkey ‘defined by inflexible religiosity’

June 17, 2013 Turkey Islamic extremism, Middle East, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Calling Turkey a home to the “last secularists in the Middle East”, Turkish opposition party MP Şafak Pavey has condemned Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government for failing to reconcile Islam, secularism and democracy because of a government “defined by inflexible religiosity”. (The Guardian)

‘Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians’

June 5, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Algeria, Arab Spring, Armenia, Asia Bibi, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Central Asia, China, Communism, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Middle East, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Russia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

This is a book designed to show that “Christians are the single most widely persecuted religious group in the world today” (p4). With that aim, three authors well known in the field of religious advocacy give the reader the ultimate global briefing on the causes, patterns and trends in the persecution . . . Read More

Sabra now says he doesn’t know bishops’ whereabouts

May 24, 2013 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Boulos Yazigi, George Sabra, Greek Orthodox, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Refugees, Syria, Turkey, Yohanna Ibrahim

The leader of the Syrian opposition coalition is backing away from previous reports that he is certain of the location and condition of two Syrian Orthodox bishops kidnapped April 22. George Sabra, president of the Syrian National Coalition, told World Watch Monitor on May 21 he is not informed of . . . Read More

The Camp

May 5, 2013 Syria Assyrians, Free Syrian Army, Refugees, Syria, Syriacs, Turkey

Earthwork at the site of a planned refugee camp for Syrian Christians at Midyat, Turkey. The Mor Abrohom Monastery is in the background, right.Saima Altunkaya for World Watch Monitor Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the violence in Syria live in camps just inside Turkey. So the April 10 . . . Read More

My cousins in Qamishly

April 25, 2013 Syria Al-Qaeda, Free Syrian Army, PKK, Qamishli, Turkey

Correspondent Nuri Kino lives in Sweden. Parts of his family remain in Syria. He writes: It’s mid-April, Friday, almost 9pm. I’ve showered, had a bite to eat and sat down in front of the TV. After a long day of work, I want to relax in front of a good . . . Read More

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