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Who Threatens Turkey's Christians?

Mustafa Akyol writes that the "Islamic-oriented" AKP government has been friendlier to Turkey's Christian communities that its secular and more nationalistic predecessors.
Yorgo Diagurisi, a four-year-old Greek Orthodox boy, eats bread during a Christmas mass at the Greek Orthodox patriarchal cathedral of St. George in Istanbul December 25, 2010. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY)

If you are mindful of the fact that Turkey is the only "secular republic" in the whole Muslim world, then you might presume that it must have the most hospitable attitude towards its non-Muslim minorities.

Moreover, if you are familiar with the narrative that Turkey has become "less secular" and "more Islamic" in the past decade — under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) — you might also suspect that the life of Turkey's non-Muslims must have become harder.

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