5 HELD IN TURKEY AFTER KILLINGS IN BIBLE PUBLISHING HOUSE
By Sabrina Tavernise
International Herald Tribune, France
April 19 2007
ISTANBUL: Five men were detained for police questioning after three
people were found with their throats slit in a publishing house in
eastern Turkey that prints Bibles and other Christian literature.
Turkish authorities said the five detained were three 19-year-olds
and two 20-year-olds. None was identified further.
Several of the suspects were carrying weapons when they were
apprehended, the authorities said. One had broken his leg in a jump
or fall.
The publishing house, in Malatya, a town with a reputation for
nationalism, has had trouble in the past over a shipment of Bibles
that nationalists forcefully blocked.
As change opens up Turkish society, the country’s nationalist fringe,
dedicated to the ethnic and religious purity of the state, has been
turning to violence. Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian
descent who was killed in January in Istanbul, was one victim.
The trend is a concern for the government, whose prime minister,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been pushing hard for Turkey’s entry into
the European Union. Some European politicians have opposed membership,
arguing that Turkey does not fit in culturally or religiously.
The three victims in Malatya were found seated in chairs, their hands
and feet bound, according to Halil Ibrahim Dasoz, a government official
there. He spoke on NTV, a Turkish news channel. One did not die from
his wounds until later, Dasoz said, adding that the victim had also
been stabbed in the back and stomach.
The state-run Anatolian news agency identified the victims as Tilman
Ekkehart Geske, 46; Necati Aydin, 35; and Ugur Yuksel, whose age was
not given. The German ambassador to Turkey, Eckart Cuntz, said through
a spokesman that one victim was a German citizen but he declined to
give details.
The victims were evangelical Protestants, said an evangelical pastor
in Istanbul, Carlos Madrigal, Reuters reported.
Malatya once had a heavy Armenian population. But in eastern Turkey,
Armenians were driven out or killed in a series of purges culminating
in 1915, when 1.5 million Armenians died.
Subsequently, nationalists were urged to settle in the area to preserve
a Turkish identity there.
Mehmet Ali Agca, who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981,
was from Malatya, as was Dink, the outspoken journalist.
"Nationalism is on the rise in Turkey," said Ali Bulac, a Turkish
newspaper columnist in Istanbul. "It stands against the U.S. and
the EU."
Turkish nationalists boast of their Muslim identity, but often have
as much in common with the secularists of the state elite as with
Islamists. So it was not clear whether the suspects were motivated
more by a dedication to Islam or a longing for a pure Turkish state.
The distinction is important because of the broad debate over the role
of religion now roiling Turkish society. The discussion has become
more shrill in recent weeks because the country faces an election to
its presidency, the single most important post safeguarding secularism.
Erdogan, a former Islamist who has moderated his views considerably,
may try to compete for the presidency, a possibility that has thrown
some secularists into a panic.