(Bonn, 04.08.2025) The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing announced a virtual Hearing on “Freedom of Religion or Belief in Turkey” on August 14, 2025, at 10:30 AM.
The official announcement
USCIRF’s visit to Turkey in September 2024 and subsequent reporting have confirmed that the Turkish government continues to restrict religious freedom through a variety of means, including administrative, educational, and judicial. This hearing will assess these areas of FoRB restrictions and how they impact Turkey’s many religious communities: Alevis, Protestant Christians, Orthodox and Apostolic Christians, Jews, Sunni Muslims, secularists, and others. It will also consider how the United States can leverage bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to support FoRB for all who call Turkey home. In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate Turkey for the U.S. Department of State’s Special Watch List, or SWL, for engaging in systematic and ongoing violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).
Witnesses will discuss potential next steps to advance freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in Turkey and to improve conditions for members of the country’s religious minority and majority communities alike. Beside the Opening Remarks by Vicky Hartzler, Chair of USCIRF and Asif Mahmood, Vice Chair of USCIRF, the panel of witnesses will include:
- Ramazan Arkan, Chair of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey (Protestan Kiliseler Derneği) and Senior Pastor of the Antalya Evangelical Churches
- Haydar Baki Dogan, President, Alevi Foundations Federation
- Soner Cagaptay, Beyer Family Senior Fellow and Director of the Turkish Research Program, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Thomas Paul Schirrmacher, President, International Institute for Religious Freedom and the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights
Registration: https://zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_C33aSOYeQEiC3CJ8a-l8lw#/
Downloads and Links
- Photo: Thomas Schirrmacher with the Head of Turkey’s Diyanet Ali Erbaş in Baku 2018 © BQ/Martin Warnecke
- USCIRF “Freedom of Religion or Belief in Turkey” header: https://bonner-querschnitte.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/BQ0863.png
- USCIRF “Freedom of Religion or Belief in Turkey”: https://uscirf.gov/events/hearings/freedom-religion-or-belief-turkey
