Domestic Violence in Turkey

This is an issue that effects all facets of society.  Please be in prayer for these women and the Church as it attempts to reach out to them:

Domestic violence is considered a personal, not a public, matter. So witnesses comfortably turn the other way if they see a man beating a woman in the middle of the street, because this is a private matter. On May 3, a 26-year-old woman was beaten to death in broad daylight in Mugla province.
Scream if you are attacked was the only viable advice AKP government provided for victims. The victim screamed — as Family Minister Aysenur Islam had previously advised children to do if they were attacked — but the AKP minister’s magical formula failed the victim. The perpetrator was her fiance. There were multiple witnesses. None of them thought it was appropriate to intervene. On Sept. 9, a pregnant woman was brutally beaten on a busy Istanbul street and no one intervened.
One of the female witnesses, Nazen, 64, told Al-Monitor, “We do not want to be involved in a private family matter. It is between a man and a woman. A woman is like a fig tree. If a branch is infested with worms, you must cut the tree or your entire orchard will be lost.” Nazen’s view of women’s purity is widely accepted in Turkey.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/turkeywomenmurder.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=23327&utm_campaign=0&utm_medium=twitter##ixzz3DHokPqx3

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Turkish minister: Christianity no longer a religion

Christianity has ceased to be a religion but has become a culture of its own, Turkish Environment and Urbanism Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar said at a recent conference hosted by the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) Women's Group. 
 
"The biggest three countries in the world are not Muslim countries. China, India – only the U.S. believes in a single God. Spirituality and religious feelings are weakening," Bayraktar said.
 
"There are 2.5 billion Christians in the world," Bayraktar said. "Christianity is no longer a religion. It's a culture now. But that is not what a religion is like. A religion teaches; it is a form of life that gives one peace and happiness. That is what they want to turn [Islam] into as well."
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