CHRISTIANITY ON TRIAL IN TURKEY
By Father John Flynn

Zenit News Agency, Italy
April 30 2007

Killings and Persecution Continue

ROME, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The blood of martyrs continues to
be shed in Turkey. The April 18 killing of two Turks and a German at
a Christian publishing house in Malatya, in eastern Turkey, renewed
concerns over the fate of Christians in the country. The three victims
were found with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit.

The three men worked at the Zirve publishing house, which had
previously been the object of protests for allegedly distributing
Bibles and proselytizing, reported the London-based Times newspaper
April 19.

The same day the BBC reported that 10 people were arrested in
connection with the murders. The BBC added that many commentators
noted the similarity of the latest killings to the murder of a Catholic
priest by a teenage gunman last year and the shooting of the Armenian
journalist, also a Christian, in January. In each case the killers
were young, apparently Islamist ultra-nationalists.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the killings were "an
attack against Turkey’s stability, peace and tradition of tolerance,"
according to the BBC.

In February, the Pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Camillo
Ruini, visited Turkey to commemorate the anniversary of the murder of
Father Andrea Santoro. The Italian missionary was shot dead Feb. 5,
2006, in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Trabzon, northeast Turkey.

Cardinal Ruini said during his homily Feb. 5 in the church where the
priest had been murdered: "We have come to help promote peace among
peoples and religions, respect for the beliefs of each person and
love for the brother or sister present in every human person created
in the image and likeness of God," reported the Fides news agency
the same day.

"We have come to promote religious freedom everywhere in the world,
and to ask God to illuminate all minds and hearts to understand that
only in freedom and love of neighbor can God be truly adored," the
cardinal added.

Islamic extremists

Malatya, like Trabzon, is an Islamic stronghold, observed Mechthild
Brockamp in an April 19 commentary published by the German agency
Deutsche Welle. He noted that journalist Hrant Dink was also killed in
Malatya earlier this year, and underlined the Islamic element in the
shooting of Father Santoro, which took place during fevered protests
against the caricatures of Mohammed.

Each time one of these attacks occurs authorities call it an
exceptional case, said Brockamp. But the number of such cases means
that it is more a pattern than an exception, he observed. Brockamp
called upon the government to resolve the underlying issue of religious
freedom and to ensure that the Christian minority is able to practice
its faith without putting their lives at risk.

These are sentiments shared by the German magazine Der Spiegel, in
an article published online April 23. The latest murders reveal a
deep-seated problem, the magazine argued. The article quoted Ertugrul
Ozkok, editor-in-chief of the leading secular Turkish daily Hurriyet,
who noted that in Germany, Turks residing there have opened up more
than 3,000 mosques. He asked in an editorial: "If in our country we
cannot abide even by a few churches, or a handful of missionaries,
where is our civilization?"

An article published April 25 by the Christian Science Monitor cited
Christian missionaries in Turkey as saying that they now have more
freedom to carry out their work due to reforms enacted as part of the
country’s attempt to enter into the European Union. At the same time
violent attacks against Christian targets are becoming more frequent.

Last year, the article noted, several evangelical churches were
firebombed, and a Protestant church leader in the city of Adana was
severely beaten by a group of assailants.

The report also opined that while there is a religious dimension to
the recent murders of Christians, some experts also attribute them
to the influence of extreme nationalism and anti-Western xenophobia
that are on the rise in Turkey.

Nevertheless, other news reports testify to the considerable
difficulties Christians face when they try to practice their faith.

Both Christians and intellectuals are frequent targets of legal action
taken under article 301 of the penal code. The article allows people
to be charged for denigrating "Turkish identity," explained a report
by Compass Direct News last Nov. 27.

Compass Direct is a Christian news service based in California,
reporting on religious persecution. The report presented the case of
Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal, who appeared Nov. 23 before the Silivri
Criminal Court, located in northwestern Turkey.

As Muslims converted to Christianity, they were accused not only
of denigrating Turkish identity, but also of reviling Islam. "We
don’t use force to tell anyone about Christianity," Tastan said to
the media outside the courtroom according to Compass Direct. "But we
are Christians, and if the Lord permits, we will continue to proclaim
this," he added.

Christians likened to terrorists

Compass Direct also reported that attorney Kemal Kerincsiz, who
intervened for the prosecution, is notorious for his actions against
intellectuals using article 301. "Christian missionaries working
almost like terrorist groups are able to enter into high schools and
among primary school students," Kerincsiz told reporters. The court
case against the two Christians is still underway.

Further difficulties were reported in an article published by the
Boston Globe last Dec. 9. The newspaper referred to the difficulties
faced by Metropolitan Apostolos, a Greek Orthodox bishop.

In 1971, the government shut down the Halki theological seminary on
Heybeliada, an island in the Sea of Marmara. The school had trained
generations of Orthodox leaders, but authorities closed it, along with
other private religious schools. In the meantime the Greek Orthodox
community in Turkey has dwindled to 3,000, from 180,000 in 1923.

In general, noted the Boston Globe, Turkey’s religious minorities
including about 68,000 Armenian Orthodox, 20,000 Catholics, 23,000
Jews, and 3,000 Greek Orthodox face numerous legal restrictions.

Catholics, for example, encounter considerable difficulties when
it comes to obtaining legal rights over property and work permits
for clergy and nuns, explained Otmar Oehring, in an article written
for the Forum 18 news service Jan. 18. The Norwegian-based Forum 18
reports on issues related to religious freedom.

Places of worship of minority communities which are allowed to maintain
legally-recognized community foundations — such as the Greek Orthodox,
the Armenians, the Syrian Orthodox and the Jews — are owned by these
foundations, commented Oehring.

But Catholics and Protestants are not allowed to set up such
foundations. Consequently, title deeds indicate that the congregations
or church communities themselves own the buildings. Yet the state
often refuses to recognize this. Additional legal obstacles include
problems in setting up bank accounts and in publishing religious
books and magazine.

At the time of Benedict XVI’s visit to Turkey at the end of last
year, Vatican representatives and government officials discussed the
possibility of establishing a mixed working group to resolve the
Catholic Church’s problems in Turkey, according to Oehring. There
has been little or no progress on the matter, however.

During his visit, the Pope held a meeting with the president of
the government’s religious affairs directorate. In his address,
given Nov. 28, the Pontiff called for an "authentic dialogue between
Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish
to know one another better, respecting differences and recognizing
what we have in common."

The Pope also called for freedom of religion, "institutionally
guaranteed and effectively respected in practice." A call that takes
on greater urgency after the recent attacks.