MARTYRDOM IN TURKEY: THE SEED OF THE CHURCH
By Chuck Colson – Christian Post Guest Columnist
Christian Post
May 10 2007
Just a few weeks ago, Christians gathered in the Holy Land to
remember the Armenian victims of genocide. Between 1915 and 1919,
1.5 million Armenians living in Turkey were slaughtered. Shockingly,
few today have even heard about the brutal persecution that nearly
annihilated this ancient people-who, by the way, chose Christianity
as their national religion in 301 A.D.
Enlarge this Image Ironically, one day after last month’s
commemoration, Islamic extremists slit the throats of three Christians
working at a Bible publishing house in Turkey-the very country where
Armenian Christians were nearly exterminated. The world’s silence
on this latest attack on Christians is deafening. As writer Daniel
Pulliam wondered aloud at Getreligion.org, "What would the news
coverage look like if three Muslims were found with their throats
slit in an Islamic publishing house . . . ?" One can only imagine.
Necati Aydin was one of the three martyrs. Born into an Islamic family,
he converted to Christianity in 1994. Necati openly and actively
proclaimed his faith, even distributing Bibles on the street. In 2000
he spent four weeks in jail for doing so, even though such distribution
is legal in Turkey. Because they could find no grounds for keeping him,
authorities released Necati. Soon after, he relocated to Malatya,
where he was a pastor of a local Protestant church. He also worked
at the Zirve Publishing House, a Christian publishing house that has
made some 10,000 Bibles available to interested Turks.
At the funeral in Izmir, Turkey, applause erupted when Necati’s coffin
was carried into the church yard. Spontaneously, more than five hundred
brave mourners broke out in a chorus based on Lamentations, singing
"The compassion of the Lord never fails; His mercy never ceases." And
Necati’s wife spoke about the meaning of her husband’s death, saying
simply, "He died for Jesus, because he loved Jesus."
Sadly, this brutal attack against Christians in Turkey is not an
isolated incident. In 2006, a Catholic priest was shot in Trabzon
while praying. And a few months ago, Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink was brutally murdered. Dink had served time in prison for
"insulting Turkishness" for an article he wrote about the Armenian
genocide. Simply speaking the truth about the genocide had left Dink
with many enemies.
You see, in Turkey, the potent mix of radical nationalism and religious
extremism can breed this type of violence against the perceived threat
posed by the Christian West. Dr. Christine Schirrmacher, an Islamic
studies scholar in Germany, puts it this way: For these extremists
"the mere existence of Christians on Turkish soil [is] an immediate
assault which threatens to undermine the unity and character of the
Turkish nation."
You may be wondering what you can do. First, pray for God’s protection
of Christians in Turkey and for the Turkish government to reign in the
violence against Christians. Next, you can give of your resources. The
seminary where Necati studied has established a fund for the families
of the victims and for the churches in Turkey. Visit our website,
, for more information. Perhaps through our prayers
and gifts, as the early apologist Tertullian once wrote, the death
of these martyrs will indeed be the seed of the Church in Turkey.
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