POLICE CONSPIRACY RUMORS PROMPT TURKEY TO RE-PROBE CHRISTIAN MURDERS
By Jennifer Gold
Christian Post
Dec 12 2007
An investigation has been launched in Turkey to look into possible
conspiracy between Turkish police and at least one of the suspects in
the brutal murder of three Christians in a publishing house earlier
this year.
An Interior Ministry official said that a pair of senior police
inspectors have been given the task of finding out if any officers
assisted the suspects, according to Fox News.
In April, three Christians were tied up, repeatedly stabbed and had
their throats cut in a Protestant publishing house. The trial of
five men accused of the murders began last month but was adjourned
until Jan. 14 as defense lawyers requested more time to prepare
their arguments.
The investigation was launched after some newspapers alleged that
police had conspired with the killers.
Two suspects, Abuzer Yildirim and Salih Guler, reportedly claimed that
another suspect, Emre Gunaydin, had told them that he had met with
police officials who gave him the locations of Christian churches in
the city.
According to the Turkey-based Radikal newspaper, Yildirim said, "I
asked him (Gunaydin) who are the police chiefs that you are speaking
to, he said: ‘Don’t ask, take it easy."’
Allegations of a police conspiracy also arose following the murder
in January of Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian who roused the ire of
Turkish nationalists when he described the killings of Armenians in
the early 20th century as genocide. Turkey has denied such claims.
According to Fox News, some believe the authorities failed to act on
reports of a plot to kill Dink, although no evidence has linked any
government or police officials to Dink’s murder.
There are fears that a "deep state" may exist in which a network
of informers and ex-officials are linked to organized crime that
sometimes targets reformers and other "enemies" of Turkish nationalism.
Furthermore, Christian leaders in the country have expressed concern
that nationalists are promoting hostility against non-Turks and
non-Muslims by exploiting the uncertainty of Turkey’s place in the
world, FoxNews reported.
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