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FOCUS on TURKEY – NEWS from COMPASS DIRECT
Global News from the Frontlines
Summary:
ISTANBUL, September 30 (Compass) – More than 100 residents of the Turkish
village of Karsu last month vandalized a Christian Orthodox quarter of
Altinozu after receiving reports that Christians had attacked two Muslims.
The Muslim mob descended on Altinosu’s Greek Orthodox neighborhood of
Sarilar shortly before 11 p.m. on August 3, chanting “there is no room for
infidels here.” The vandals damaged 10 houses and injured five people,
including the wife of parish leader Spir Bayrakcioglu. Cousins Mitri and
Engin Keseroglu, Greek Orthodox Christians from the Sarilar neighborhood,
have been charged with using razors to slash two Karsu youths in a fight
earlier that evening that triggered the outbreak of violence. One of the two
Muslim youths from Karsu also brandished a knife, but he was not arrested.
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Muslim Horde Vandalizes Orthodox Village in Turkey
Street fight over an insult triggers ethnic/religious passions, mob
violence.
by Peter Lamprecht
ISTANBUL, September 30 (Compass) – The unchecked passions of two young Greek
Orthodox Christians in rural Turkey last month showed how a single misstep
can result in the persecution of the larger community.
More than 100 residents of the Turkish village of Karsu vandalized the Greek
Orthodox quarter of Altinozu last month after receiving reports that
Christians had attacked Muslims. A street fight had erupted when two young
cousins allowed themselves to be provoked by a Muslim insult of Christian
women.
The Muslim mob descended on Altinozu’s Greek Orthodox neighborhood of
Sarilar shortly before 11 p.m. on August 3, chanting “there is no room for
infidels here.”
Gendarmerie reinforced local police and helped halt the violence, but not
before the vandals had damaged 10 houses and injured five people ranging in
age from 12 to 62, including the wife of parish leader Spir Bayrakcioglu.
Cousins Mitri and Engin Keseroglu, Orthodox Christians from the Sarilar
neighborhood, have been charged with using razors to slash two Karsu youth
in a fight earlier that evening that triggered the outbreak of violence. A
knife-wielding Muslim in the altercation, 19-year-old Bahadir Arslanoglu,
was not arrested.
According to Karsu village headman Kenan Yildirim, most of Karsu’s residents
were gathered at the town’s monthly business meeting when they received a
telephone call saying that Christians were attacking Muslims. In his
comments to the local Ozyurt newspaper, the mayor claimed that he tried to
stop the ensuing revenge attack, and that he even received several blows in
the process.
No One from Karsu Arrested
Tractors and minibuses transported approximately 100 Karsu residents three
kilometers (1.8 miles) to the entrance of Sarilar neighborhood in Altinozu,
where they regrouped before proceeding on foot.
As they made their way unopposed through the Orthodox neighborhood, they
reportedly chanted “get out of here, you have no business here, this land is
ours,” while using sticks and stones to break windows and attack the
ethnically Arab Turkish citizens.
One resident, who requested his name be withheld, told Compass that upon
hearing a commotion he rushed outside and saw a large crowd. “Behind them
were five or six policemen watching the event, because they were too few in
number to intervene.”
Shortly after 11 p.m., gendarmerie arrived to reinforce the police and
dispersed the crowd by firing shots in the air.
Police did not detain anyone from Karsu in relation to the vandalism.
Later that night, police arrested Sarilar Orthodox Christians Mitri
Keseroglu, 18, in his home, while 21-year-old Engin Keseroglu was taken into
custody the following morning around 8 a.m.
The Keseroglu cousins were charged with “the use of a sharp object to
intentionally injure.” They were released on September 1 after nearly a
month in prison. According to their lawyer, Mustafa Dikce, the trial date
has not yet been set.
In official statements made to the police, the Keserogluses denied using
weapons in their scuffle with 19-year-old Bahadir Arslanoglu and 18-year-old
Mehmet Sozer, both Muslims. The cousins claimed that the two Karsu youths
had attacked them first as they were on their way home.
Though Arslanoglu denied any involvement in instigating the fight, the
Ozyurt newspaper reported, and local sources confirmed, that the brawl with
the Keserogluses had started because of rude remarks Arslanoglu had made
about Christian women.
Simmering Tensions
Engin Keseroglu reported that after an initial scuffle ended and he had
continued home with only minor injuries, “I realized that I no longer had my
cell phone.”
Returning to the fight scene accompanied by Mitri Keseroglu and another
17-year-old cousin, he found that Arslanoglu and Sozer had also come back
with four more friends. According to Mitri Keseroglu, Arslanoglu pulled out
a knife, and the fight resumed until bystanders managed to pull the two
groups apart.
Arslanoglu and Sozer went to the hospital, where they received stitches for
long slices on the cheek and forehead. According to an August 10 doctor’s
report, the scars were permanent and require plastic surgery.
Many residents of both villages claimed that the Karsu attack on Sarilar
later that night was nothing more than a brawl between the Christian and
Muslim young men that got out of hand.
Two days after the violence, Karsu headman Yildirim was quoted by Ozyurt as
apologizing, “We’re very sorry that this event was provoked.”
“This whole thing was started because of rude remarks made to women,” parish
leader Bayrakcioglu explained in the same article. “It grieves me that the
issue got so big.”
Sarilar carpenter Selim Bayrakcioglu told Compass that the roots of the
fight went back to April, when the Christian quarter held its annual Easter
celebration of games and folk dancing. “Young men from other [Muslim]
villages come because they can be in the same place as young women,” many of
whom, he said, were European visitors who did not dress in a way that was
culturally sensitive to Turkish standards of modesty.
Bayrakcioglu said that while anyone who came with family was welcome, the
Christians did restrict the participation of single males “who were often
there to bother women. I think those young men [Arslanoglu and Sozer] were
not let in to the festivities, and that’s how this thing began.”
The area has traditionally been a rare example of inter-faith peace in a
part of the world where religious wars like the Crusades have left their
mark. During Turkey’s War of Independence following World War I, Turks
protected Altinozu’s ethnically Arab Christians, who belong to the Greek
Orthodox Church.
The region’s reputation is one reason it was chosen to host last weekend’s
“Meeting of Civilizations,” attended by Armenian Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish,
and Greek Orthodox leaders.
Muslim Lawyer Mustafa Dikce explained to Compass that he took the
Keserogluses’ case because he wanted to defend good relations between
religions. “Here, for years we have been living as brothers with these
people, Muslim, Christian, Alevi, and Sunni,” he said. “Altinozu is such a
great place, but there can be people who want to destroy it.”
But not everyone from this ethnically diverse region painted a rosy picture
of Muslim-Christian relations.
Bayrakcioglu, the Sarilar carpenter, agreed that relations with neighboring
Muslims have “always been good,” but pointed to a deeper problem of identity
that the Orthodox of Sarilar must face.
“We [Greek Orthodox] have never been seen by this mother country as true
children,” he said, pointing out that no one had been held responsible for
the late-night vandalism. “The fact that they got enraged over a very simple
thing and appeared to be ready to rub us out goes to show that things aren’t
quite as friendly as they appear.”
Yet Bayrakcioglu is not one to hold a grudge. The morning after the attack,
he shocked his wife when he gave nails, free of charge, to Karsu residents
who came to his hardware store.
The carpenter said that he hopes things will get better. “I’m not a
second-class citizen here. I’m not a stepchild. This is our mother country.
My grandfather served in the military here, my father served in the
military, and I served in the military. We need to understand this, and we
need the people around us to understand this. But it looks like its going to
take a long time.”
END
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