On 7 April 2021, AsiaNews
reported that an Assyrian monk known as Father Aho had been sentenced to 25 months in prison for "˜supporting a terrorist organization". He was arrested over a year ago in January 2020 for providing two people with bread who had come to the ancient Mor Yakup (Saint James) monastery located in Mardin in south-eastern Turkey, on the border with Syria. Prosecutors claim the visitors were members of the outlawed PKK. Father Aho has constantly denied the charges, saying that his monastery was only showing Christian hospitality like it does for all visitors.
World Watch Research analyst Michael Bosch comments: "For decades, Christians in southeast Turkey have been caught in the middle of the ongoing conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdish PKK. Christians there have to tread carefully: Although Father Aho has said that he had no idea whether the visitors were from the PKK or not, rejecting support to Kurdish fighters can also lead to retaliation. It is this dilemma which has caused thousands of Christians to move to the big cities in western Turkey or to migrate abroad. The Turkish government has an obligation to protect its Christian minority - something the state has failed to do for decades. Rather than imprisoning monks for offering hospitality, the Turkish government should be searching for ways to support the Christian remnant in an area which once was home to millions of Christians."
