Norwegian pastor arrested in Turkey

Pastor Kjell Haltorp (83) was arrested at the airport in Istanbul last Thursday. He was on his way from Iraq to Turkey, where he would attend a leadership conference for Christian.

His travel companion, Birger Wroldsen, pastor of Troens Ord in Kopervik, said to Norge Idag that he and Haltorp were taken apart at the airport in Istanbul. They were told they could not enter the country as they were blacklisted in Turkey. Wroldsen and Haltorp were never told why they were refused entry.

While Wroldsen was allowed to remain outside the transit area at the airport, pastor Haltorp was put in a cell at the police station. "It is tiring", Haltorp told Norge Idag. "I have become a grown man, but the most important thing is to behave calmly in such a situation and not start a discussion with the police officers. They are just doing their job."

Pastor Haltrop said to Grimstad Adressetidende that he had a tough night. Yet he experienced the Lord's care for him. "That this is happening testifies of the religious persecution of Christians."

The next day, Haltrop was released. He and Wroldsen were allowed to fly to Norway.

The pastor stated to Grimstad Adressetidende that he suspects that he was arrested because the Turkish government does not want them to spread the Word of God in the country. "Turkey has become one of the worst countries to spread the Lord's message in", Haltrop said. "I suspect that someone at the hotel we were supposed to stay in has tipped the authorities about the conference."

Haltrop is a pastor, evangelist and book author. He serves the Pentecostal church Zion Vanse in Norway. In 2012 and 2013, he was already arrested in Jordan, but both times he was released. Haltrop travels to the Middle East regularly for missionary work.