Sunday, December 12, 2010

When will prosecutors investigate Ergenekon’s anti-Christian activities?

The Ergenekon indictment’s annexes include a series of reports titled “Summary of Daily Intelligence of Aegean Army Intelligence Department.” These reports show that activities and events in churches across Turkey were closely monitored. The reports contain detailed blacklists and intelligence reports on almost all Christian groups in Turkey.

But the most striking aspect is that Christians were attacked in all of the provinces that were subject to careful scrutiny in the reports. Let us recall these attacks: The Dirili Protestant Church was attacked in January 2005; a hand grenade was found on the roof of the Greek Patriarchate in February 2005. The Antalya Aziz Pavlus Church was set on fire in April 2005. Christian workers of a clothing store were attacked in August 2005. A land mine exploded on a road after a vehicle carrying a Syriac bishop passed by in August 2005. The leader of the Adana Protestant Church, Kamil Kıroğlu, was brutally beaten in January 2006. Father Andrea Santora was killed in Trabzon in February 2006. Members of the Mersin Catholic Church were threatened with knives in March 2006. The Syriac Church in Diyarbakır was raided and members were threatened in April 2006. The Orthodox community in Bergama was protested and not allowed to perform their service in May 2006. The Protestant church in Ödemiş was attacked with Molotov cocktails in November 2006. Priest Francois Rene Brunissen was stabbed in January 2006. Three Christian missioners were slain in April 2007. Priest Adriano Franchini was stabbed in İzmir in December 2007.

This list does not include death threats that churches and their leaders constantly receive. All these attacks happened in provinces that were mentioned in the “blacklists.” Attacks against Christians have virtually stopped ever since the Ergenekon case began.

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