As a campaign by police to shut down 18 churches in Turkey continues, Christians are now forced to endure aggressive anti-Christian demonstrations held by Muslim conservatives outside their churches every Sunday. According to the Barnabas Fund News Service, demonstrators carry placards with slogans such as "Every missionary is a spy" and accuse Christians of sinister involvement in violence against Muslim Palestinians in the Holy Land.
Barnabas Fund reports that as the campaign continues, local authorities have levied fines against the churches and filed claims against their leaders. In Izmit police are maintaining a vigilant presence at every service at one local church and have even followed members of the congregation home in order to threaten and intimidate them. In Ankara and Istanbul, Christian schools have been shut down.
According to Barnabas Fund, in recent years, Christians in Turkey were free to meet and worship without fear of harassment or intimidation. Then in November and December 2001, several television programs and newspaper articles attacking Christianity created a stir amongst the majority-Muslim population. Barnabas Fund believes these programs seem to have prompted the crack down by Turkish authorities, which many believe is being driven by certain Islamic and nationalist elements.