The Turkish government has responded to the European Parliament, which last week demanded that Ankara stop expelling foreign Christians.

In a statement from the Foreign Ministry, the Turkish government accuses the representatives of the European Union countries of making “baseless allegations”.

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In a resolution passed by a large majority on 12 February 2026, the EU chamber condemned the fact that “Christian pastors, missionaries and their family members have been deported from Türkiye and denied re-entry through the application of the “N-82” and “G-87” administrative measures designating them as national security threats without evidence, trial or effective means of appeal”.

In a brief response, the Turkish government says that the “claims regarding freedom of expression and religion in our country in the resolution entitled ‘Targeted expulsions of foreign journalists and foreign Christians in Türkiye’ contradict the facts”.

Furthermore, it demands that the European Parliament not “interfere in our internal affairs”, adding that such “efforts against our country” hinder the rapprochement that the country and the European Union are trying to achieve in trade matters.

Residence permits revoked based on baseless accusations

One of the Protestant leaders whom Turkey has ‘de facto’ expelled is Carlos Madrigal, a Spanish Protestant pastor who resided legally in Turkey for more than three decades and worked leading churches in the country for 21 years.

Carlos Madrigal has responded to the Turkish governments words in an article in Evangelical Focus. “Turkey’s response is an exercise in semantics to conceal a systematic strategy: they do not officially ‘deport’ us, but they force us to leave by revoking residence permits without evidence. When this happens in more than two hundred identical cases, it ceases to be an administrative incident and becomes a covert expulsion policy that the European Parliament has correctly identified”, writes Madrigal.

The Protestant pastor had his residence permit revoked in 2022, after being labelled by the secret services as a ‘threat to national security’. All this, “without providing any evidence”, explains Carlos Madrigal, “only a secret file from Turkish intelligence that neither we nor our lawyers can see. If this is not defencelessness and accusation without evidence, what is it?”

“No one interferes in the internal management of the country”, Madrigal writes. “But Turkey has signed up to the European Court of Human Rights. In other words, it has said to the court with its signature: ‘if we do something wrong, tell us’. And this is what the European Parliament is doing, which would not venture to take such a decision without evidence in hand”.

MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen: “Religious freedom must be taken seriously”

A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) who promoted the resolution condemning the expulsion of foreign Christians in Turkey has also spoken out after learning of the government’s response.

“The message of our resolution remains crystal clear: Turkish authorities must stop obstructing churches and missionaries”, says MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen, from the Netherlands. “If Türkiye wants closer ties with the EU and a renewed customs union, it must show it takes religious freedom seriously, including allowing the Gospel to be preached”.

For its part, the European Christian Political Party (ECPP), to which Jan-Ruissen belongs, goes further. “The Council and Commission, particularly the High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, should take this issue seriously and raise it systematically in political dialogue with Türkiye”, they say.

“If Türkiye continues to refuse action, European countries should consider further measures, including the suspension of current EU accession negotiations, as it has already been requested by the European Parliament in its 2019 resolution”.

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