TURKEY BECOMING A DANGEROUS PLACE FOR NON-MUSLIM CLERGY
MEMRI, DC
Milliyet
personal/en/4219.htm
Dec 20 2007
Can Dundar of the mainstream daily Milliyet wrote in his column
today that attacks on non-Muslim religious personalities have been
increasing in Turkey for the past two years. Dundar says that the
violent campaign began in February of 2006 with the killing of Roman
Catholic Priest Andrea Santoro in Trabzon, and continued with the
murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink [as well as the
brutal murders of three Christians that were publishing bibles in
Malatya, and most recently the stabbing of Priest Adriano Francini
in Izmir]. Dundar also mentioned the recent beating in an Istanbul
parking lot of Turkish-Greek correspondent of MEGA TV and wrote that
he had spoken to the Greek Orthodox Partiarch Bartholomeos and learned
of the anxiety felt within the Greek community.
Dundar wrote that the exaggerated statements [in Islamist media]
constantly warning about "missionary activities" in Turkey, are turning
all non-Muslim religious personalities into targets of violence.
Dundar as well as other columnists in Turkey’s secular, mainstream
media have been condemning these crimes and fearing a cover-up they
are demanding that they are solved.