By BI: Yes, this is the same Turkish president who is demanding membership in the European Union. And the EU is is leaning toward giving it to him.

UK Express  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken control of six churches in the war-torn southeastern city of Diyarbakir in his latest move to squash freedom of speech and religious movement.

The state-sanctioned seizure is just the latest in a number of worrying developments to come out of increasingly hardline Turkey, which is in advanced talks with the EU over visa-free travel for its 80 million citizens. Included in the seizures are Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, one of which is over 1,700 years old.

They have now effectively become state property – meaning they are run by the government – in a country with a dire human rights record where about 98 percent of the population is Muslim.

The order to seize the churches was made on March 25 by Erdogan’s council of ministers, according to the website World Watch Monitor.

They claim it was made on the grounds that authorities intend to rebuild and restore the historical centre of the city, which has been partially destroyed by 10 months of urban conflict between government forces and militants from the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).

The 1,700-year-old Virgin Mary Syriac Orthodox Church in Diyarbakir was one of the churches seized.

But the seizures have outraged worshippers at the churches, who fear a government coup against their religion are now threatening to take legal action against the decision.

Ahmet Guvener, pastor of Diyarbakir Protestant Church, said: “The government didn’t take over these pieces of property in order to protect them. They did so to acquire them.”

And the Diyarbakir Bar Association – which represents Christians worshipping at one of the churches, has now officially filed an appeal the government’s action.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) was an army officer who founded an independent Republic of Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. He then served as Turkey’s first president from 1923 until his death in 1938, implementing reforms that rapidly secularized and westernized the country. Under his leadership, the role of Islam in public life shrank drastically, European-style law codes came into being, the office of the sultan was abolished and new language and Western dress requirements were mandated. Recep Erdogan has been turning the country back into an oppressive Islamofascist regime.

In a statement the group said: “Among the expropriated plots, there are structures belonging to public institutions … and places of worship and residences considered as historical and cultural heritage.

“This decision, which seems to be made by the request of the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning without any reason or justification, is unacceptable within the limits of constitutional order.” The seizure fits into a pattern in the Middle East, where Christians are systematically displaced and persecuted.

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