Christian refugees in Turkey hiding their faith out of fear

Tens of thousands of Armenian and Assyrian Christians may have already fled their homelands and are now living in Turkey, but reports say that they still live in fear.

These migrants fled Iraq and Syria over the past 2 years after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) began targetting all non-fundamentalist Muslims. Christians and Yazidis were among terrorist group's main targets in their efforts to 'cleanse' their land. 

According to a report by the Assyrian International News Agency, over 45,000 Christian refugees are currently living within small Anatolilan cities in Turkey. But because of fear, they are still forced to hide their religion and practice their faith only behind closed doors.

Such fear may have been instilled by the fact that the ancestors of some of these refugees experienced being driven out by the Ottoman Empire and local Muslims when they sought refuge from the same land, which is now Turkey. 

An interview with an Iraqi family revealed that even after a year of staying in Turkey, they still live in fear. If not for the family's relatives in Europe, they would not be able to get by. To make things worse, the children cannot go to school because they cannot speak Turkish.

In another interview, a Christian family's daughter has reportedly not been able to talk due to trauma. Their home in Baghdad was raided by ISIS before they fled to Turkey.

Turkey is considered a country where religion can be freely exercised and practiced. However, there are still some prejudices and discriminatory practices against Christians in the country, so they are often still subjected to persecution.