Turkey has been deporting hundreds of foreign Christians and blocking their return by labeling them national security threats, according to an international legal advocacy group.

ADF International Legal Officer Lidia Rieder told a gathering of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Human Dimension Conference in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday that such designations are issued through internal security codes and have left local Protestant communities without leadership. 

Since 2020, at least 200 foreign Christian workers and their families, totaling around 350 people, have been barred from the country under internal security codes N-82 and G-87, ADF International reports.

The codes are used by the Ministry of Interior to prevent re-entry or deny residence permits, often without charges or evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the group said.

Foreign Christians from countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Latin America and other parts of Europe have been denied visas or deported in recent years. Many had lived in Turkey with their families for extended periods and had no criminal record or pending legal cases, the Protestant association said.

A June 8 ruling from Turkey's Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by nine foreign Christians against the N-82 code. The court published their names, prompting media outlets to label them as missionaries and enemies of the state. The report noted that many online comments called for the death penalty and described killing them as a religious duty.

Between December 2024 and January 2025 alone, at least 35 new codes were assigned, including to people who had lived in the country for decades.

These administrative bans have significantly disrupted religious life in Turkey, where many congregations rely on foreign pastors.

One such case is Wiest v. Türkiye, currently before the European Court of Human Rights. The plaintiff, a U.S. citizen who had resided legally in Turkey for more than 30 years, was blocked from returning without explanation. ADF International said it alone is supporting over 30 related legal challenges in Turkish and European courts.

Although Turkey's Constitution protects religious freedom, foreign Christians and local churches face growing restrictions.

The historic Halki Seminary remains closed, Protestant seminaries lack legal status, and Bible education is prohibited even as Islamic theological training continues under state oversight, ADF International notes, adding that congregations such as the Bursa Protestant community have lost access to their places of worship.

The Association of Protestant Churches, in its 2024 Human Rights Violation Report, documented a rise in hate speech and violence against Christians in Turkey. Among the incidents was an armed attack on the Salvation Church association building in Çekmeköy last December, when an individual fired shots from a car and attempted to remove the church's signs, the report noted.

Also in December, a Christian English teacher lost her job at a private evening school in Malatya without explanation. A school official warned her about the associations she attended and the foreign friends she kept. Her appeal to local authorities was dismissed, and she avoided filing a lawsuit out of fear for her civil servant sister, the report said.

On Jan. 20, 2024, gunfire struck the Eskişehir Salvation Church building while it was unoccupied. The bullets hit a dentist's office below the church, but responding police did not collect evidence or file a report, the Protestant association stated.

Vandalism, threats and physical damage were also reported at churches in Kayseri, Bahçelievler and İzmir throughout 2024.

Other incidents included denied permits to distribute brochures, cancelled Easter and Christmas invitations, and increasing use of social media to insult and threaten church leaders and congregants.