Turkey Pressures Non-Muslim Leaders Into Claiming that They are not Pressured!

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

In a recent article, I wrote about the U.S. State Department’s annual report on International Religious Freedom which stated that “all religious groups that are not Sunni Muslim suffer discrimination and persecution in Turkey”¦. Religious minorities said they continued to experience difficulties obtaining exemptions from mandatory [Islamic] religion classes in public schools, operating or opening houses of worship, and in addressing land and property disputes. The government restricted minority religious groups’ efforts to train their clergy”¦.”