Silence of Consul General Ahmet Yazal, New York – Republic of Turkiye
The article by Chris Eyte is not an impartial assessment of religious freedom in Türkiye; it is a selective, distorted, and inflammatory narrative designed to delegitimize the Republic of Türkiye and malign its people. What is presented as “analysis” is, in reality, a familiar political trope: portraying Türkiye as inherently intolerant while willfully ignoring a rich seven-century record of coexistence, the significant protections afforded to Christian communities today, and the escalating wave of Islamophobia consuming the Western world.
For more than 700 years from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Republic Christian communities have lived, prayed, and maintained their heritage on Anatolian soil. The Ottoman Empire safeguarded the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Armenian Patriarchate, the Syriac Churches, and countless Catholic and Protestant congregations. These religious institutions endured not because of “persecution,” but because the Turkish state across empires and republics recognized their legal and spiritual standing. This historical continuity alone refutes the baseless claim of a “multilayered policy of elimination.”
Today’s Türkiye builds upon this legacy. The Turkish government has funded the restoration of major Christian sites such as the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church (Iron Church) in Istanbul, restored jointly by Türkiye and Bulgaria; the Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakır; the Aya Nikola Church in Demre; and dozens more across the country. New churches have been funded as well, including the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem in Istanbul the first new church built from the ground up in the history of the Republic constructed with direct support from the Turkish state. No other country in the region can present such a record.
Christian life in Türkiye is not only preserved; it is protected. Armenians maintain their schools, newspapers, hospitals, and foundations. The Greek community continues to operate historic churches and institutions. The Syriac community has witnessed the return of confiscated properties that had been tied up in legal disputes for decades. These are not the actions of a nation driven by “normalized hate,” but of a state committed to safeguarding its diverse heritage.
Yet the article conveniently ignores a parallel, urgent reality: the alarming rise of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States and Europe. In Germany, dozens of mosques have been vandalized or burned in recent years, with far-right extremists openly targeting Turkish Muslims. In the Netherlands, anti-Islam rhetoric is now normalized at the parliamentary level. In France, Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden, the desecration or burning of the Holy Quran is routinely defended as “freedom of expression.” Even here in the United States on Staten Island, in Midland Beach Turkish Americans have faced discrimination, intimidation, and harassment from people we grew up with in PS 38, IS 2, and New Dorp High School. These realities are not speculative they are measurable, documented, and undeniable.
If the goal is to examine the climate of religious hostility worldwide, then selective outrage serves no one. A fair-minded assessment would acknowledge that Muslims remain one of the most targeted religious groups in Western societies. Even Ray Charles if he were alive could see the tidal wave of hate and Islamophobia sweeping across the streets of the United States and Europe. Yet this undeniable reality is omitted entirely, replaced by a one-sided narrative fixated on demonizing Türkiye.
Equally troubling is the silence of those who should be defending our community against such blatant distortion. The Consul General of the Republic of Türkiye in New York, Ahmet Yazal, has a duty to respond when our history, rights, and faith are attacked in the public arena. Silence is not neutrality; it is abdication. When smear campaigns circulate unchallenged, they gain legitimacy by default. Unfortunately, Mr. Yazal remains quiet in the face of these misrepresentations, failing to uphold the responsibility of his office.
Chris Eyte’s article is not a contribution to human rights discourse. It is a smear campaign one that ignores context, disregards Türkiye’s century-long record of pluralism, and turns a blind eye to the very real hatred directed against Muslims and Turkish communities in the West. True advocacy requires honesty; this article delivers only bias.
Respectfully,
Ibrahim Kurtulus
Community Activist
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