Under current restrictions, including a citizenship requirement, religious communities remain unable to train new clergy for eventual leadership. Coreligionists from outside the country have been permitted to assume leadership positions. The Armenian community elected a new Patriarch in November 1998. There are no known estimates on the number and religious affiliation of foreign missionaries in the country. Many prosecutors regard proselytizing and religious activism on the part of evangelical Christians, and particularly Islamists, with suspicion, especially when such activities are deemed to have political overtones.
Courts usually dismiss such charges.
If the proselytizers are foreigners, they may be deported, but generally they are able to reenter the country easily. Although the country is secular, religious and moral instruction in state primary and secondary schools is compulsory for Muslims. Syriac Christians, whom the Government does not consider to be an official Lausanne Treaty minority, are not exempted. Non-Muslim students who wish to attend such courses may do so with parental consent. The imam-Hatip schools were very popular among conservative and Islamist Turks as an alternative to secular public education.