WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is reiterating its formal recommendation that the U.S. Department of State place Turkey on its Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom — a designation that would send one of Washington’s most significant strategic partners an unmistakable diplomatic signal about its treatment of religious minorities. The call aligns with recent actions by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament, both of which moved this month to hold Ankara accountable for its targeting of foreign-born Protestant Christians.

Turkey’s government has drawn international condemnation for characterizing foreign-born Protestant Christians as national security threats — a designation advocates say is designed to chill Christian worship and community life, and to intimidate minority faith communities into self-censorship and dispersal. USCIRF’s renewed statement arrives as the Trump administration maintains diplomatic engagement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, including a September 2025 meeting that USCIRF commissioners say must be followed by concrete demands for reform.

USCIRF Chair

Vicky Hartzler

“Turkey’s arbitrary labeling of foreign-born Protestant Christians as national security threats is meant to intimidate the Christian community and prevent them from gathering for worship. Everyone, regardless of residency status, has the right to freedom of religion or belief under international law.”
USCIRF Vice Chair

Asif Mahmood

“We welcome steps European bodies have taken to hold Turkey accountable for its systematic violations of religious freedom. We urge the U.S. government to prioritize freedom of religion or belief as part of its bilateral relations with Turkey.”

What the Special Watch List Means

The State Department’s Special Watch List is a formal tier in the U.S. government’s framework for monitoring and responding to religious freedom violations abroad, established under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. Countries on the list are identified as engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom — a step below the most serious tier, Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs), but a significant diplomatic designation nonetheless. USCIRF first recommended Turkey’s placement on the list in its 2025 Annual Report, following a formal commission hearing on religious freedom in Turkey in August 2025.

Turkey is not currently designated on either the Special Watch List or as a Country of Particular Concern — a gap USCIRF commissioners argue is inconsistent with documented conditions on the ground for religious minorities across the country.

The U.S. administration should maintain the momentum President Trump made in his September meeting with President Erdoğan and push for tangible improvements to Turkey’s religious freedom record, including an end to its repressive tactics against Christians.

— Chair Vicky Hartzler, USCIRF

A Systematic Pattern of Restrictions

USCIRF’s statement details a broad and entrenched framework of religious repression that extends far beyond the Protestant Christian community. According to the commission, Turkey maintains multiple laws and policies that curtail religious freedom for a wide range of minority communities — and even for secularists within the Muslim majority.

Documented Religious Freedom Violations in Turkey

  • Authorities prevent Christian communities from training clergy domestically, effectively starving churches of future leadership.
  • The government obstructs the legal registration of Alevi, Protestant, and Jehovah’s Witness houses of worship.
  • Religious communities are denied legal personality and full autonomy under Turkish law.
  • Foreign-born Protestant Christians are labeled national security threats, endangering their residency status and freedom of assembly.
  • Prosecutors pursue individuals deemed to have expressed “offensive” religious views — as determined by the state’s preferred interpretation of Sunni Islam.
  • Students — including dissenting Muslims — are hindered from obtaining religious education exemptions from state-mandated Sunni Islam courses.
  • The historic Theological School of Halki (Heybeliada Ruhban Okulu) remains closed, denying the Greek Orthodox community the ability to train its own clergy on Turkish soil — a closure that has persisted since 1971.

USCIRF Vice Chair Asif Mahmood specifically called out the Halki Seminary’s continued closure as a concrete obstacle the U.S. should raise in bilateral talks. The seminary, located on an island near Istanbul, was shuttered by Turkish authorities in 1971 under a law nationalizing private higher education. Its reopening has been sought by successive U.S. administrations, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and international religious freedom advocates for more than five decades.

Europe Acts; Washington Watches

The timing of USCIRF’s statement is deliberate. Both the European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament took formal actions against Turkey this month over its treatment of foreign Christian residents — applying a degree of institutional pressure on Ankara that advocates say Washington has so far declined to match. USCIRF is framing its recommendation as an opportunity for the United States to align with its European allies and speak with a unified transatlantic voice on the issue.

“We welcome steps European bodies have taken to hold Turkey accountable,” said Vice Chair Mahmood, while pressing the U.S. government to raise specific concerns with Turkish officials — particularly around barriers to legal residency for foreign Christian clergy and restrictions on clerical institutions, including Halki.

We urge the U.S. government to prioritize freedom of religion or belief as part of its bilateral relations with Turkey and raise with Turkish officials the obstacles to religious minorities’ access to houses of worship and clergy.

— Vice Chair Asif Mahmood, USCIRF

The Trump–Erdoğan Meeting and What Comes Next

Chair Hartzler’s statement referenced President Trump’s September 2025 meeting with Turkish President Erdoğan as a foundation of diplomatic momentum that should now be translated into measurable reforms on religious freedom. The commission stopped short of criticizing the administration’s posture toward Turkey, but was explicit that high-level engagement must yield tangible results for persecuted minorities — not simply positive atmospherics.

Turkey is a NATO member and a significant U.S. partner in regional security — making the religious freedom designation a politically sensitive ask. But USCIRF, as an independent, bipartisan agency of the U.S. Congress, has consistently argued that human rights and religious freedom must be woven into — not traded away in — strategic partnerships. A Special Watch List designation carries no automatic sanctions but formally obliges the Secretary of State to take action and report to Congress.

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USCIRF’s full 2025 Annual Report, the August 2025 hearing on Turkey, and the commission’s complete archive of Turkey-related recommendations are available at uscirf.gov. Media inquiries may be directed to media@uscirf.gov.