Evangelisch in der Turkei

The founding of the German Evangelical Church in Istanbul in 1843 was a consequence of industrialization and the beginning of globalization. At the latest with the beginning of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's foreign policy, which was aimed at expansion, Protestant congregations abroad were recognized and promoted as an instrument of politics. The closeness between political, diplomatic and ecclesiastical activities, which are determined by common interests and which influence the framework conditions for the congregation abroad, is recognizable here. The Turkish Republic of the 1930s was a country on the move. Mustafa Kemal redesigned the country along the lines of secular European constitutions. He found the specialists he needed for his modernization program in the field of higher education, mainly in the German Reich: numerous scientists had to give up their jobs at German universities as a result of the Nuremberg racial legislation. Among them were evangelical Christians. While some tried to avoid the German-speaking community as much as possible, others became involved in the evangelical community.