Ahmet Hakan: This was inevitable

Pretty inciteful article by a local Turkish reporter. He has a good point. When government officials and most of the mass media consistently misrepresent the Christian community here in Turkey, this kind of thing is a lot more likely. Let's pray this helps to change things:

"If you confuse the minds of people in a country with statements like "The Fener Greek Patriarchate will be ecumenical, and the goal of these people is to set up a second Vatican in Istanbul......" And if you provoke the masses with comments like "Turkey is on the verge of being overwhelmed by missionaries," or "There are thousands of churches which have been set up in apartments...." And if you spread the feeling around the society that "Everyone is against us....the only friends Turks have are other Turks....." And if you make gaffes like saying "The blame lays entirely with those that have tried to set up dialogues between religions....": Well, of course, the result is what we have now. The seeds of enmity and strife have been planted.

And so a maniac has come out into the open, and, taking advantage of the discord, has shot a priest in the back in Trabzon. But the important thing here is not that maniac. The people we should look at are those who have prepared the poisonous atmosphere that now surrounds us. This atmosphere is so powerful. Just think, only 3 days ago, a variety of spiritual leaders in Turkey, including the Armenian Patriarch, the head rabbi, and the Vatican's representative, all issued a statement in the strongest language, condemning the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed which were printed in a Danish and European newspapers. But clearly these statements did nothing to help the atmosphere. It was a meaningful gesture, but it did not find the resonance that it should have in our society.

The winds of discord are that strong these days. And now, we have the death of the priest in Trabzon. And today, we can openly say this: It is those who laid the groundwork for the current psychological atmosphere in Turkey who are responsible for the trigger of the gun that shot Priest Sentore."
Hurriyet