NEWS WATCH: TURKEY CHRISTIANS ANXIOUS AFTER MUSLIMS KILL THREE BELIEVERS
By BosNewsLife News Center with BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos
BosNewsLife, Hungary
April 22 2007
Turkish police officers detain a suspect following attack on a
publishing house in Malatya, southeastern Turkey, 18 Apr 2007. Via VOA
News ISTANBUL, TURKEY (BosNewsLife)– Christians in Turkey on Sunday,
April 22, remained anxious amid fears of more violence after police
arrested suspected Muslim militants believed to be involved in killing
three evangelical believers at a Christian publishing house.
Police said they detained a dozen suspects linked to the slayings
of a German man and two Turks, all former Muslims, who were found
with their hands and legs tied and their throats slit at the Zirve
publishing house in the town of Malatya Wednesday, April 18.
The German man, identified as 45-year-old interpreter Tilman Ekkehart
Geske, had been living in Malatya since 2003. Two other Turkish
Christians, Necati Aydin, 35, and Ugur Yuksel ,32, – were also found
tied up and their throats slit.
Turkish media reports said the suspects were believed to be members
of a cell of nationalist-Islamist extremists similar to one in
the northern city of Trabzon blamed for the January murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
WOMAN DETAINED
On Saturday, April 21, police detained a woman who was described as
the girlfriend of one of the 11 suspects already in custody, Malatya
Gov. Halil Dasoz told reporters.
Media reports said one of the other suspects tried to escape from
police by jumping from a fourth floor balcony at the scene of the
killings on Wednesday, April 18. Hospital officials reportedly said
he was in stable condition and was improving.
The killings has added to concern within Turkey’s tiny Christian
community about its future amid growing nationalism and intolerance
following Dink’s killing and the shooting of Italian Roman Catholic
priest Andrea Santoro in the town of Trabzon in February 2006..
As new details emerged about the killings, Geske’s wife Susanne Geske,
said she did not harbor any thoughts of revenge, Evangelical news
agency Idea reported. She said she had been living in Malatya for ten
years and intends to stay there. Susanne Geske said she is hopeful
that the aftermath of the murders will signal a new beginning for the
relations between Christians and Muslims in Turkey. Many Muslims had
shown their outrage about the murders and expressed their condolences
to the bereaved.
PROTESTANT CHURCHES
In a statement monitored by BosNewsLife the Chairman of Turkey’s
Protestant Churches’ Union, Bedri Peker said anti-Christian sentiment
has been fostered by Turkey’s nationalist education system and
encouraged by politicians and the media. Peker reportedly added that
Turkey’s Christians have the right to worship freely and spread their
faith through peaceful means, but they are regarded as what he called
"spies and enemies of the state."
Ihsan Ozbek, the pastor of the Ankara-based Kurtulus Church that
reportedly received many anonymous threats, told the Voice Of America
(VOA) network that the government appeared reluctant to tackle the
violence against Christians. He said no government official outside
Malatya has contacted church officials to offer condolences.
Turkey’s government, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a
former Islamist, has expressed concern over the spread of Christian
missionary activity in Turkey, VOA reported. Mehmet Aydin, minister
of state in charge of religious affairs reportedly called missionaries
"separatist and destructive."
In published remarks, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who as Vatican
secretary of state is Pope Benedict XVI’s top aide, called the attack
"an insane act by a fanatic minority," and urged renewed dialogue.
"We must not waste the fruits of the pope’s visit to Turkey, which
has really brought us closer," Bertone was quoted as saying by Italian
news agency ANSA. But on Sunday, April 22, his words appeared wishful
thinking.