(Compass) – The government’s Religious Affairs Directorate coordinated a symposium March 15-17 in conjunction with a local university to present academic research on missionary activities in Turkey . Presentations at the conference included reports on Christian missionary activities within Turkey as well as among Turks in Kyrgyzstan , Bulgaria , France and Germany . It was clear that conference organizers viewed missionary activity at least in part as a security issue, with several professors from the police academy giving presentations. Not a word was published in the Turkish press about the Canakkale symposium. “The aim was apparently not to open it to the public, but just to academic circles,” one of the visitors said.