TURKEY’S CHRISTIANS FACE NEW HARDSHIPS, WCC SAYS

BosNewsLife
Sept 4 2007
Hungary

Arsonist Semih Sahin shooting into the air. Via Compass Direct
News ISTANBUL, TURKEY (BosNewsLife)– There were fresh concerns
Tuesday, September 4, about hardships faced by Orthodox believers and
other minority Christians in mainly Muslim Turkey amid pressure by
authorities on the Greek Orthodox Patriarch and reports of an arson
attack against a church.

In a letter, obtained by BosNewsLife, the World Council of Churches
(WCC) said it was concerned about the situation of Christians in
Turkey. "The Greek Orthodox are not the only religious minority
facing hardships in Turkey," said the WCC, which links Protestant,
Orthodox and other churches representing some 560 million Christians
in 110 countries.

It came as news emerged that police in Turkey’s western city of
Izmit arrested a man who set a fire early Monday, September 3, at the
entrance of the local Protestant church and then shot off his pistol
several times.

The church’s pastor is the brother-in-law of one of the converts
to Christianity murdered in the town of Malatya in April and has
been targeted by Islamic extremists, claimed Compass Direct News,
a Christian news agency investigating reports of persecution.

The suspect, identified as Semih Sahin, set fire to the church
entrance, allegedly to protest against the Izmit Protestant Church
activities. Although no one was injured and the fire did not damage
the church’s construction, the latest incident underscored anxiety
expressed by WCC members and human rights groups.

GROWING HARDSHIPS

WCC said that even key leaders such as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch
is "facing growing hardships imposed by the decisions of the
Turkish judiciary" whose Court of Appeals ruled in June that use
of the title "ecumenical", or "universal" was illegal. The WCC said
however it strongly backs the Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarch
Bartholomew in a legal battle with Turkish courts over the right to
the 14 centuries-old title.

"The title ‘Ecumenical’ is given only to the Patriarchate of
Constantinople as ‘first among equals’ among world Orthodox leaders.

In consequence and over many centuries, it has become the name by
which the Patriarchate is known throughout the world," the WCC said.

"Although the number of Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey is
relatively small, the faithful under the Patriarch’s direct ecclesial
authority are about five million worldwide. Additionally, albeit in a
non jurisdictional sense, he is widely recognized as spiritual leader
of the world’s 300 million Orthodox" Christians, the group added.

WCC Secretary General Samuel Kobia said it was crucial that the
Council expresses its "whole-hearted appreciation of the authenticity
and importance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as an institution and
the Ecumenical Patriarch as an office within the wider church world".

CHURCH GROUPS

The pressure on Orthodox and Protestant Christians from authorities
and militants come at a time of concern among church groups and other
organizations about the future direction of Turkey following the
election last week of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a devout Muslim,
as the country’s new president.

Islamic extremism has been on the rise, church groups say. The
Legal Committee of the Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey has
reportedly said that the past year saw "scores of threats or attacks
on congregations and church buildings."

In one of the most serious incidents this year in April a German man
and two Turks, all former Muslims, were found with their hands and
legs tied and their throats slit at the Zirve publishing house in
the town of Malatya.

GERMAN INTERPRETER

45-year old German interpreter Tilman Ekkehart Geske, had been
living in Malatya since 2003 and worked closely with two other
Turkish Christians, Necati Aydin, 35, and Ugur Yuksel 32. In January,
journalist Hrant Dink, one of the most prominent voices of Turkey’s
shrinking Armenian community, was killed by a an Islamic militant
gunman entrance to his newspaper’s offices.

Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had gone
on trial numerous times for speaking out about the mass killings of
Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. He had also
received threats from nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

Last year Catholic Priest Andrea Santano was shot in the back at his
church in the town Trabzon, by a Muslim militant. The World Council of
Churches (WCC) has urged Turkish authorities to improve protection
of Turkey’s Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic Christians. (With
BosNewsLife Research and reporting from Turkey).