Turkish woman detained over Christian murders
Agence France Presse — English
April 20, 2007 Friday
Police have detained the girlfriend of the alleged leader of the
assailants who brutally killed three Protestants in eastern Turkey,
bringing the number of people in custody to 12, officials said
Saturday.
She is the girlfriend of Emre Gunaydin, 19, who remains in hospital
after jumping from the third-storey office of a Christian publishing
house in Malatya, where two Turks and a German were slain Wednesday,
Governor Halil Ibrahim Dasoz said in televised remarks.
The three victims, who belonged to the tiny Protestant community in
Malatya, were killed by knife-wielding assailants who tied the men
to chairs and tortured them before cutting their throats.
Four suspects were captured at the crime scene when police raided the
publishing house office, alerted by a member of the local Protestant
community who grew suspicious when he found the office door locked.
Gunaydin, who allegedly led the gang, jumped from the window in
an apparent bid to escape arrest and was hospitalised with serious
head injury.
He had reportedly made several visits beforehand to the publishing
house to gain the confidence of the people working there.
Doctors said Saturday his condition was improving and he might be
fit for questioning next week.
"We attempted to wake him up today, but he woke up a bit
aggressively… We will try again tomorrow (Sunday) or the following
day," Sezai Yilmaz, the head of the hospital treating the man, told
Anatolia news agency.
Officials have not revealed the details of the remaining six suspects,
who were detained Thursday and Friday, saying only that everyone in
custody is aged 19 and 20.
One of them, who was detained in Istanbul, was also brought to Malatya
for questioning, the governor said.
According to media reports, the killers are believed to be members of
a cell of nationalist-Islamist fanatics similar to one in the northern
city of Trabzon blamed for the January murder of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink.
Before killing the victims, the assailants reportedly tortured them for
three hours as they interrogated them on their missionary activities.
The Zirve publishing house distributed Bibles and published Christian
literature.
Proselytizing is not banned in Muslim, secular Turkey, but is generally
viewed with suspicion.
Prosecutors are looking into whether there was an illegal organisation
or a mastermind behind the attack.
The murders were the latest attack on non-Muslim minorities in Turkey
following Dink’s killing and the shooting of Italian Roman Catholic
priest Andrea Santoro in Trabzon in February 2006.
They were strongly condemned by the international community. Germany,
which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union which
Turkey is seeking to join, has urged Ankara to take measures to
protect religious freedom.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
