Turkey
NBA star Enes Kanter on faith, basketball and political activism
By Simran Jeet Singh — March 28, 2019
(RNS) — Enes Kanter is not your average NBA player. How many NBA players have clashed publicly with dictators and their regimes? Or have had their home countries request red notices from Interpol? Kanter, a Turkish native and current Portland Trail Blazer, has done all of that.
Andrew Brunson, back in US after detention, hopes to return to Turkey one day
By Adelle M. Banks — February 6, 2019
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The evangelical pastor recalled at an event hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that its commissioners were among the first people to visit him in prison after his arrest in 2016.
Who is Fethullah Gulen? And why is the US talking about extraditing him to Turkey?
By Claire Sadar — January 4, 2019
(RNS) — For more than two years, the U.S. and Turkey have been at odds over the fate of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Muslim leader living in the hills of Pennsylvania.
A young Uighur American cries out for justice
By Yonat Shimron — October 24, 2018
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — Aydin Anwar, the president of Duke University's Muslim Students Association, rallies on behalf of Uighurs facing persecution in China. It's a lonely cause.
Pastor talks of breakdown in Turkey, but also forgiveness
By Ben Finley — October 20, 2018
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — People the Brunsons had known testified against him, but Andrew Brunson said, 'It's not an option not to forgive; we are required to as Christians.'
Andrew Brunson freed after telling court, ‘I love Jesus, I love Turkey’
By Umar Farooq — October 12, 2018
IZMIR, Turkey (RNS) — The American missionary, imprisoned nearly two years on terrorism-related charges, had been the subject of a diplomatic standoff between the United States and Turkey.
Pompeo: US ‘sparing no effort’ for return of pastor detained in Turkey
By Adelle M. Banks — September 21, 2018
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The secretary of state told participants in the annual Values Voter Summit that American pastor Andrew Brunson ‘has been wrongly held’ and should be released.
Mormonism and the dangers of empire
By Jana Riess — September 12, 2018
This week's leaked document about Mormon cover-ups for alleged sexual abusers raises the uncomfortable reminder that my religion is firmly enmeshed with the politics of empire. Which really never ends well.
Turkish star witnesses against US pastor Andrew Brunson are his expelled congregants
By Umar Farooq — August 13, 2018
IZMIR, Turkey (RNS) — The Turkish government isn’t Brunson’s only foe. He’s also battling former members of his congregation who were expelled in part for harboring racist views toward ethnic Kurdish refugees, according to one pastor at the church.
US sanctions Turkish officials to protest American pastor’s detention
By Adelle M. Banks — August 1, 2018
(RNS) — The Treasury Department said in a statement that Turkey’s ministers of justice and interior lead governmental organizations 'responsible for implementing Turkey’s serious human rights abuses.'
In Turkey, suspicion of US clouds case of pastor Andrew Brunson
By Umar Farooq — July 28, 2018
ISTANBUL, Turkey (RNS) — For many in Turkey, Brunson's case has little to do with his faith or his work as a missionary, and everything to do with how Washington addresses the concerns of Ankara.
Trump: US to impose sanctions on Turkey over detained pastor
By Susanna George — July 26, 2018
Shortly after the possibility of sanctions was first announced by Vice President Mike Pence Thursday, Trump wrote on Twitter that the U.S. "will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson."
Turkey: American pastor on trial for terror let out of jail
By Zeynep Bilginsoy — July 25, 2018
An American pastor who had been jailed in Turkey for more than 1½ years on terror and espionage charges was released Wednesday and put under house arrest as his trial continues.
US pastor denies terror links, spying in Turkish court
By The Associated Press — April 16, 2018
(AP) — An American pastor on Monday denied accusations that he aided terror groups or spied against Turkey, speaking at the beginning of his trial in a case that has strained ties between Turkey and the United States.
Is bitcoin permissible in Islam? Muslims disregard clerics’ warnings and invest
By Umar Farooq — March 8, 2018
ISTANBUL (RNS) — Religious rulings call bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies haram, or prohibited in Islam. But some people worry religious scholars do not have all the facts about how the currencies work, which might be closer to the Quranic conception of money than they realize.
