WHAT CAUSES INTOLERANCE AND VIOLENCE IN TURKEY?
By Guzide Ceyhan, a Turkish Protestant.
Assyrian International News Agency
Nov 29 2007
The trial in Malatya of those accused of murdering three Protestants
has drawn attention again to the question of what causes such
intolerance and violence. Guzide Ceyhan, a Turkish Protestant, in
a personal commentary for Forum 18 News Service, identifies three
trends behind the murders: disinformation by public figures and the
mass media; the rise of Turkish nationalism; and the marginalisation
of smaller groups from Turkish society. All three trends feed off
each other, and all of Turkey’s smaller religious communities –
those within Islam and Christianity, as well as Baha’is and Jehovah’s
Witnesses – are affected by them in various ways. Many Turkish people
– of all religions and none – are committed to furthering democracy
and human rights, while civil society is growing stronger. But for
the fundamental right of all Turkish citizens to freedom of thought,
conscience and belief to be truly protected, a human rights-based
approach is indispensable.
After speaking at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on
3 October, Turkey’s newly-elected President Abdullah Gul insisted
to journalists that members of various religions live in harmony
in Turkey. He called the murders of Hrant Dink, an Armenian
Turkish journalist, and Fr Andrea Santoro, a Catholic priest,
"politically-motivated killings", but did not discuss the recent
murders of three Christians in Malatya.
Fr Santoro – an Italian – was murdered in his church in Trabzon in
February 2006 (see F18News 9 February 2006). Dink was murdered in
Istanbul in January 2007. April 2007 saw the murders in Malatya of the
three Protestant Christians – two ethnic Turks, Necati Aydin and Ugur
Yuksel, and one German, Tilmann Geske (see F18News 10 July 2007). These
three attacks have resulted in the murder of five people not belonging
to the Sunni Muslim majority. This causes Turkey’s smaller religious
communities to view their future with fear and insecurity.
Turkey has many different religious communities. They include Alevi
Muslims (the largest religious minority, with perhaps 17 million
people); Islamic brotherhoods (the Sunni Nakchibendis, Mevlevis
and others as well as the Shi’ite Bektashis); new Islamic movements
(such as the Nurcus and Suleymancis); Protestant Christians; Catholic
Christians; Armenian Apostolic Christians; Syriac Orthodox Christians;
Greek Orthodox Christians; Georgian Orthodox Christians; Jehovah’s
Witnesses; and Baha’is (see F18News 10 July 2007).
Intolerance against various groups varies over time. The experience
of the community I know best, my own small 3,000-strong Protestant
community, illustrates the problems that these communities face. In
the case of the Protestants, these ultimately resulted in the Malatya
murders. Other communities also suffer intolerance and violence.
Because many Protestants are converts from an Islamic background,
theirs is a very good "test case" to examine how far tolerance in
Turkey can accommodate true religious freedom.
What is the source of the intolerance that has fuelled violence
against Christians? I think three trends can be identified:
1. disinformation about Christianity in statements by public figures
and through the media;
2. the rise of Turkish nationalism;
3. and the implicit and explicit approval both of the marginalisation
of Christians from Turkish society and also of actions – including
murders – against them.
All three trends feed off and interact with each other.
1. Disinformation
Disinformation about Christianity was highlighted in the European
Commission’s latest progress report on Turkey, released on 6
November. In the "human rights and the protection of minorities"
section, under "freedom of religion", the Commission notes the
continuing depiction of missionaries by both the authorities and the
media as "a threat to the integrity of the country and non-Muslim
minorities as not being an integral part of Turkish society". And
it adds: "To date, use of language that might incite hatred against
non-Muslim minorities has been left unpunished." (The report is
available here.)
Such disinformation – particularly around the topic of conversion to
Christianity – is widespread in both the national and local media.
The lawyer of the Turkish Kurtulus (Salvation) Protestant Churches,
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, told Bianet (a respected independent journalism
network) soon after the Malatya murders that although "missionary
activity" is not a crime in Turkey, politicians and the media have
by constant repetition invented such a crime. Individuals then decide
to punish this "crime" (see here).
The submission of the Prosecutor in the trial of the alleged killers
of the three Christians in Malatya, which began on 23 November 2007,
is a case in point. The Prosecutor’s submission makes much of the
missionary activities of the victims, not the actions of the accused.
Cengiz, the lawyer representing the victims, complained that "they are
trying to demonstrate that missionary activity is ‘unjust provocation’
which might then decrease any sentence," Milliyet newspaper reported
on 20 November. The newspaper also reported that Cengiz thinks that
this claim, along with the Prosecutor providing much information on
the victims’ activity, "opens the door to new attacks".
In news reports which started before the trial (which will resume
on 14 January 2008), some parts of the mass media are continuing
to attack the murder victims, not the murders. Ihlas News Agency,
a major video news agency, persistently linked the lawyers for the
victims with the legal defence of both suspects from the PKK terrorist
organisation, as well as Hrant Dink’s son who has been accused of
"insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Criminal Code. Ihlas
also gave prominence to a statement from one of the accused that one
of the murder victims said that "Christianity and the Bible were good
and praised the PKK. I became angry at what he said." The Bianet news
agency noted on 24 November that this kind of reporting was dangerous,
as it was "putting the lawyers into the dart board."
Mustafa Aydin, retired Head of the Interior Ministry’s intelligence
agency, the Security Directorate, also pointed to the increasing
sensitivities over missionary activity. In an interview in the weekly
news magazine Aksiyon just after the murders, he blamed statements
about missionaries – by people without due authority which are then
picked up by the media – that are "unnecessary, exaggerated and even
have negative intent" (see here).
Scores of television programmes have negatively covered Protestants,
particularly those who have converted from Islam to Christianity. The
popular TV series "Kurtlar Vadisi" ("Valley of Wolves") recently
depicted missionaries as people who buy the faith of poor families and
offer them a new religion. Professor Zekeriya Beyaz, Dean of Marmara
University’s [Muslim] Theology Faculty, takes the same line in his
many articles and talks on missionaries and Christians.
(Professor Beyaz is also controversial in some Muslim circles, because
of his support for Turkey’s university headscarf ban. For this, he
himself has been the victim of a knife attack.) Speaking on Star TV’s
programme "What’s Happening There?" in September 2007, he complained
that "missionaries are making all our young people Christians and
are opening unlawful churches under the protection of the law".
In Turkey, it is a fairly new phenomenon that people have experienced
their fellow-Turks and foreign missionaries actively sharing
non-Muslim beliefs such as Christianity. This has had a significant
impact on Turkish society. In the 1980s, Turkish Protestants were a
mere handful of people, becoming more numerous only in the past 20
years. But instead of seeing this change in society as a topic that
needs unbiased investigation and reporting (which my fellow Turkish
Protestants would welcome), Turkey’s media has reacted with suspicion,
hostility and stereotyping.
This societal change is commonly portrayed as the result of a plan
by foreign missionaries with a number of alleged motives: to deceive
those ignorant of Islam and those who are financially vulnerable and
to weaken the national loyalty of Turkish citizens so as to ultimately
divide the country. These alleged purposes are widely disseminated
in publications and on scores of websites. In one of many examples
of this, the Istanbul newspaper Uskudar Gazetesi published a book
of allegations called "Dikkat Misyoner Geliyor" ("Beware, Missionary
coming"). Media coverage has mostly been sensationalist and has not
given those accused the opportunity to respond. Disturbingly, the
media has published the addresses of places of worship and names,
putting individual Protestants at physical risk.
The government’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has also
viewed the growing number of converts as a concern (see F18News 26
July 2006). The Diyanet has the mission "to engage in activities
related to worship and ethics of Islamic Religion and enlighten
people on religion and management of worship places". The Diyanet
prepares and distributes Friday sermons to all mosques. Mosques under
its control are the only ones allowed in Turkey, and these sermons
are the only Friday sermons allowed in Turkey. (The Diyanet also
runs mosques outside Turkey, in countries such as Germany.) In March
2005 a Friday sermon was distributed to all imams on the dangers of
missionary activity, which described it as "a scheme of foreigners
to steal the faith of the young".
Echoing this thinking, a day after the murders in Malatya, Niyazi
Guney, a senior official in the Justice Ministry, remarked to Turkish
parliamentarians that "missionary work is even more dangerous than
terrorism and unfortunately is not considered a crime in Turkey". He
repeated this view in the Milliyet newspaper. Terrorism – which
remains a great threat in Turkey – and missionary activity are thus
seen as connected. And almost any manifestation of Christian belief
– including gatherings in church buildings – is seen by those who
hold these views as "missionary activity". I am fearful of what this
approach implies for the safety of Christians in Turkey.
Missionary activity has also been on the agenda of the National
Security Council (MGK), which is chaired ex officio by President Gul
and also comprises the Chief of the General Staff, the commanders of
all the branches of the Turkish Armed Forces and several government
ministers. In a February 2005 evaluation of current and future
challenges to Turkish security, the MGK drew attention to "a need for
social activities that will prevent the spreading of organisations and
ideologies that will have an impact on Turkey’s unity". It suggested
that "abusive missionary activities should not be permitted". What
exactly was meant by "abusive missionary activity" was not defined.
2. Nationalism
The second factor fuelling violent attacks, nationalism, has
always been strong in Turkey. This has risen in recent years,
sparked, some Turkish observers think, by increased terrorist
attacks by the separatist Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and the
socio-economic effects of globalisation. The rise in votes gained
by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), from 8.3 per cent in the
November 2002 parliamentary elections to 14.3 per cent in the July
2007 parliamentary elections, is a marker of this (see F18News 28
June 2007).
The current rise in nationalism has some extremely alarming
characteristics. There is the expectation that every Turkish citizen
will have ultra-nationalist "feelings". Nationalist discourse seems
to define a Turk as only someone who is a Sunni Muslim Turkish
nationalist. Nationalists see themselves as called to defend Turkey
against "threats" from "others", who are frequently Turks who do not
fit the nationalist stereotype. This approach alienates those defined
as "others".
One victim of this approach has been the Alevi community, who are
Turkish and Muslim but not Sunni. An illustration of this was a
9 October judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
on Hasan and Eylem Zengin v. Turkey (Application nr. 1448/04) (see
here). In the case, brought by Alevis, the ECHR noted that "the
Government have recognised, however, in the ‘religious culture and
morals’ lessons, the religious diversity which prevails in Turkish
society is not taken into account." The classes are optional for
those who are recorded on their identity cards as being either Jews
or Christians (see F18News 26 July 2006).
The ECHR is becoming increasingly important in defending freedom of
thought conscience and belief in Turkey (see F18News 18 January 2007).
A related nationalist strand also sees violence as acceptable, if
used against "others" labelled as a threat to Turkey. References to
the 1919-23 War of Independence are used to claim that "extraordinary
measures" are still necessary against "threats". The person accused
of Hrant Dink’s murder was pictured standing in front of the Turkish
flag, with a quote from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: "Extraordinary times
call for extraordinary measures." Protestant Christians’ religious
beliefs are often perceived as a "threat" which has the alleged
purpose of weakening national identity, as being a Sunni Muslim
is considered an indispensable part of this identity. Ultimately,
Protestants are seen as having the aim of destroying the unity of
the state. A July 2007 survey by the nationalist Turkish Education
Union claims that 54 per cent of people consider that "missionaries"
are the biggest threat to Turkey (see here).
3. Marginalisation
The third factor fuelling violent attacks (closely connected with
disinformation and nationalism) is the approval – both implicit and
explicit – of the marginalisation of Christians in Turkish society.
As noted above, this has even led to the approval of murders.
Although state officials were careful to condemn the Malatya murders,
one could detect the "yes, these killings are horrible but these
missionaries had it coming" attitude from some officials’ statements
and media comments. (See F18News 9 February 2006 for comments after
Fr Santoro’s murder and F18News 10 July 2007 for comments after the
murders of the three Protestants.)
Related to this is the use made by some Muslims in Turkey of the
Koran to glorify the killing of so-called "apostates". Those who
murdered the three Christians in Malatya mutilated their victims in
ways reminiscent of the language of Sura 8:12 of the Koran.
Turkish history indicates that groups stigmatised as "unacceptable"
or "threats to the nation" can very quickly become the victims of
violence by other citizens. Istanbul’s Armenian and Greek communities
suffered from the July 1955 pogrom, while in 1993 Alevi Muslims in
Sivas suffered in a bomb attack which left 37 people dead. Sadly,
such stigmatising is still happening. Turkish citizens of Kurdish
origin are now being unlawfully stigmatised as PKK sympathisers.
Turkish citizens who are Protestant, as an October 2007 statement
from the Alliance of Protestant Churches noted, suffered "scores of
threats or attacks" on congregations and church buildings in 2006.
"The perpetrators have not been found. At times, the security
authorities, acknowledging that there is such a threat, advised the
use of private security companies," the statement continues. It is
surely right for the Alliance of Protestant Churches to point out that
"this is unacceptable when the State should be guaranteeing freedom
of religion and the security of individuals and property."
The need for a human rights-based approach
There is much to be concerned about within Turkish society. But
despite this, Turkey has made genuine efforts to implement its
national and international commitments to protecting human rights
in general and freedom of religion and belief in particular. Turkey
has great potential to become a well-functioning, stable democracy
and has made significant progress in complying with human rights
commitments. Many Turkish people – of all religions and none –
are committed to furthering democracy and human rights, while civil
society is growing stronger. It would be simply untrue to say that
individuals who do not conform to Sunni Muslim Turkish identity
experience constant hardship.
Fundamental human rights are protected to a great extent, although
challenges remain in providing consistent daily protection of those
rights for all. Steps must be taken to ensure that President Gul’s
statement in Strasbourg becomes Turkish reality. The first step must
be to understand, disseminate information on and train officials –
at all levels – on what the right to freedom of thought, conscience,
religion and belief actually means.
Freedom of religion and belief, as understood in international human
rights law, means among other things the right to have and change
one’s belief and manifest such belief in worship, teaching, practice
and observance. It can only be restricted under certain clearly
defined circumstances and criteria. Establishing places of worship,
teaching one’s belief to the followers of the belief, sharing one’s
beliefs with those of different beliefs, and engaging in humanitarian
assistance are all protected by the right to freedom of religion and
belief. Yet as we have seen, in Turkey such activities are viewed with
suspicion and hatred. This fundamental right of all Turkish citizens –
whatever their religion or belief (including such beliefs as atheism)
– is threatened by disinformation, nationalism and the marginalisation
of minorities.
A human rights-based approach to these problems is an indispensable
part of the solution. If this approach is put into concrete action,
there will be genuine cause to hope that President Gul’s statement
on living together in harmony will become a reality for the members
of all Turkey’s smaller religious communities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
