———-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE——–
“FLYNN RESIGNATION COULD PROVE A POSITIVE FOR MIDDLE EAST CHRISTIANS”
“In the convoluted Middle East, good relations with Turkey must be balanced with concern for the interest of the Christian minority,” says Steve Wagner, President of Solidarity with the Persecuted Church
“Michael Flynn’s resignation as National Security Advisor removes from the Trump foreign policy team someone intent on maintaining good relations with Turkey. On the very day of Donald Trump’s election, General Flynn wrote in The Hill that ‘we need to adjust our foreign policy to recognize Turkey as a priority. We need to see the world from Turkey’s perspective.’”
“Yet Turkey’s current perspective is to occupy territory in Syria from which Christians are excluded, to insist on leading the offensive against Raqqa – which does not bode well for Christians hoping to return to their homes in Raqqa – and to persuade the United States not to provide military support to the Syrian Kurdish administration of Northeastern Syria – where Christians are able to live in peace,” stated SPC President Wagner.
“Turkish President Erdogan is intent on establishing his nation as the pre-eminent Sunni Muslim power in the Middle East, a new Caliphate. This poses particular problems for Middle Eastern Christians. The next U.S. National Security Advisor must recognize that American and Turkish interests do not always coincide, particularly with regard to the future of Syria,” continued the SPC President.
“President-elect Donald Trump has expressed much-welcomed sympathy for the plight of Christians in the Middle East. In choosing a new National Security Advisor, we urge him to pick someone who can manage the difficult balance of maintaining our essential relationship with Turkey, without sacrificing the interests of Middle Eastern Christians to the ambitions of Turkish President Erdogan,” concluded Steve Wagner.
Solidarity with the Persecuted Church is a 501c3 charitable organization dedicated to bringing awareness to the issue of Christian persecution around the world and to providing practical, non-governmental assistance to Christians and Christian churches in need. For more information visit https://solidaritypersecutedchurch.org or call Frank Petsche at 202-544-3344.
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