The European Parliament on Thursday condemned what it called Turkey’s targeted expulsions of foreign Christians and foreign journalists on national security grounds and urged Ankara to stop using administrative measures that bar some people from entering or re-entering the country, the Agence France-Presse reported.
Lawmakers adopted a nonbinding resolution by 514 votes in favor, three against and 56 abstentions, according to a European Parliament press release.
The text called on Turkey to end what it described as judicial and administrative harassment of foreign journalists. It also urged Turkish authorities to stop using administrative codes to flag at least 300 foreign Christians as national security threats and to allow people who were expelled to return.
The Alliance Defending Freedom International, a Christian advocacy group, said this month the European Court of Human Rights has communicated 20 cases brought by Christians who say Turkey effectively barred them from re-entering for reasons tied to their faith.
A US government watchdog report last year said there were national security bans on foreign national Protestant clergy who had legally lived in Turkey, an AFP report said.
Turkey has denied the accusations. The Turkish presidency’s counter-disinformation center previously described claims that foreign Christians were deported after being assessed as national security threats as baseless and part of a disinformation campaign targeting Turkey.
Turkey has also targeted foreign reporters with criminal cases and deportations in recent years, including the expulsion of BBC journalist Mark Lowen in March 2025 after he reported from İstanbul, according to press freedom groups and other reports.
Turkey’s ties with the European Union have been strained for years over issues including concerns in Brussels about democratic backsliding. The relationship is also shaped by disputes in the eastern Mediterranean, along with cooperation on trade and migration, with talks on modernizing the EU Turkey customs union repeatedly raised as an area of mutual interest.
