TURKEY DENOUNCES GRISLY MURDERS

Gulf Times, Qatar
April 20 2007

MALATYA, Turkey: Turkey condemned yesterday the gruesome murder
of three people at a Christian publishing house, as church leaders
warned of a "witch hunt" against their tiny minority in this largely
Muslim nation.

Police detained 10 people over Wednesday’s attack in this conservative
eastern city in which three people, among them a German, were tied
to chairs and had their throats slit.

"This is an attack against Turkey’s stability, peace and tradition
of tolerance," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in Ankara, as he
voiced concern for the country’s image abroad.

"There have been similar attacks in the past… we will certainly
take stricter measures," he added.

Turkey is under pressure to guarantee the protection and freedom of
non-Muslim minorities as part of its efforts to join the European
Union.

The Zivre (Summit) publishing house, which distributes bibles and
publishes Christian literature, had previously been the target of
protests by nationalists, media reports said.

In remarks to the Italian daily La Stampa, the papal envoy to Turkey
linked the killings to upcoming presidential elections, noting the
"presence of well-known fanatical, ultra-nationalist groups".

"Events like this have already happened during electoral campaigns,"
Monsignor Antonio Lucibello said.

Pope Benedict XVI made a landmark visit to Turkey in November – his
first to a Muslim country – during which he stressed that respect
for religious freedom must be a criterion for EU membership.

Ambassadors from the 27 EU member countries met in Istanbul yesterday,
after which the envoy from Germany, which currently holds the
rotating EU presidency urged Ankara to take measures to protect
religious freedoms.

"We see the murders as an attack not only against individuals,
but also against the principles of freedom and tolerance," German
Ambassador Eckhart Cuntz said.

Turkish newspapers said all those arrested at the scene were carrying
copies of a letter that read: "We did it for our country. They are
trying to take our country away, take our religion away."

Protestant leaders here spoke of a growing intolerance towards
Christians, which they said was being fuelled by politicians and
the media.

"Today in Turkey, there is a missionary hunt, just like the witch
hunts of medieval times," Ihsan Ozbek, a leader of the Alliance of
Protestant Churches in Turkey, said.

"Turkey is facing dangers and threats unprecedented in its history.

The fact is that Turkey has become a place of unprecedented intolerance
and rejection," he said.

The dead were identified as German Tilman Geske and Turkish nationals
Ugur Yuksel and Necati Aydin, the pastor of Malatya’s 30-strong
Protestant community.

Proselytising is not banned but generally viewed with suspicion
in Turkey, whose population is 99% Muslim; small Greek Othodox,
Catholic, Armenian and Jewish communities are concentrated mainly in
Istanbul.