The Historical Background of the Highly Critical Perception of Christians by the Turkish Society

Abstract

In Turkey, considered a secular and democratic role model for other countries with a Muslim majority, both state and society perceive Christians very critically. There are historical experiences and ideas that contribute to this surprising finding. In the Qur’an, the Holy Book of Muslims, Christians who do not accept the claim of Muhammad to be God’s prophet, are perceived as rebellious liars. Christians in early Islamic society were widely tolerated, but had a status as second-class-citizens. The Ottoman Empire as the front state against the Christian world and the savior of Sunni Islam widely tolerated Christians; thedhimmistatus of Christians as second-class-citizens however was continued in themillet-system. As the power of the Ottomans decreased and Western ideas of nationalism began to influence the Empire during the nineteenth century, the Muslim majority began a search for identity. Secessions of Christian peoples and interference by “Christian” foreign nations triggered more severe clashes between the remaining Christian population and the state. The wide-ranging activities of Western missionaries in the Ottoman Empire were perceived as a part of Western colonialism. During the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, the leaders of the Young Turk movement were motivated by their desperate battle to save a rest of the Empire as a homeland for the Muslim population. The perception of Christians as the enemy of the new Republic was more firmly established. Though Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave a revolutionary modern and secular character to Turkey, there was an intentional Turkification of society. A study of Turkish newspapers confirms that these perceptions are widely valid until today. Missiology has to help develop an appropriate response of Christians to the situation inside and outside of Turkey.