Compass Direct News : TURKEY - IRANIAN REFUGEE BEATEN FOR HIS FAITHSince Iranian native Nasser Ghorbani fled to Turkey seven years ago, he has been unable to keep a job for more than a year – eventually his co-workers would ask why he didn’t come to the mosque on Fridays, and one way or another they’d learn that he was a convert to Christianity.
Soon thereafter he would be gone.
Never had anyone gotten violent with him, however, until three weeks ago, when someone at his workplace in Istanbul hit him on the temple so hard he knocked him out. When he came back to his senses, Ghorbani was covered in dirt, and his left eye was swollen shut. It hurt to breathe.
His whole body was in pain. He had no idea what had happened.
“I’ve always had problems at work in Turkey because I’m a Christian, but never anything like this,” Ghorbani told Compass.
Survey: Neighborhood pressure is rare in Turkey, but intolerance is not"although a majority of the respondents said diversity is an asset for societies, most respondents gave answers suggesting that there is widespread intolerance toward those who are different. Seventy-two percent said they wouldn't want to have neighbors who consumed alcohol, and 52 percent said they wouldn't like to have any Christian neighbors, while 64 percent said they wouldn't like to have Jewish neighbors. Sixty-six percent do not want irreligious people as neighbors, while 26 percent wouldn't like to have a neighbor of a different race. Unmarried couples, Americans, daughters who wear shorts and gay people are among the kinds of neighbors a majority of Turkish people said they would mind."
Compass Direct News : TURKEY - EFFORTS TO TIE MALATYA MURDERS TO ‘DEEP STATE’ FIZZLErosecutors’ efforts to tie the murderers of three Christians here to state-linked masterminds were set back on Friday (May 22) when the alleged ring-leader unexpectedly contradicted his previous testimony implicating a suspected “middleman.” As the suspected middleman between the murderers and “deep state” elements, Huseyin Yelki, was testifying at Friday’s hearing, Emre Gunaydin – whose previous private testimony led to Yelki’s arrest – stood up and said, “Huseyin Yelki is not guilty, he’s being held in prison for no reason.” The prosecuting team and judges at the Malatya Third Criminal Court froze at the statement, and then demanded to know why he had previously implicated Yelki. Gunaydin said he did so because Yelki was a Christian missionary. Yelki testified during the court hearing that he had met Gunaydin only once prior to the murders. Gunaydin’s retraction raised suspicion among the judges that in recent months he has received visits in prison from those behind the murders who have pressured him to change his statement. Tired and frustrated, lead prosecutor Orhan Kemal Cengiz told Compass, “My conclusion is that we’re going nowhere, because the powers behind the scenes were very successful in organizing everything.”
The Great Monastery of St. Gabriel in Captivity | AssyriaTimes.comA long-standing land dispute between the Syrian Orthodox community in south-east Turkey and the local villagers has finally turned into a legal battle attracting international attention. The disagreement has been closely monitored by the European Union for some time, and US President Barack Obama and the State Department are monitoring the dispute.
Christians urge Turkey to protect ancient monasteryA leading Syriac Christian group urged Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday to protect a fifth-century Christian monastery in eastern Turkey from local officials claiming land the monastery has owned for centuries.
Arameans send letter to president, PM demanding rightsThe Turabdin Solidarity Committee (Solidaritattsgruppe), an umbrella organization for the diaspora Arameans from Turkey, sent a letter to President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the situation of Arameans in Turkey and asked to be treated in accordance with the Lausanne Treaty and auspices of the state.
In the letter, the Arameans also noted that the Prophet Jesus spoke in Aramaic and the state should give the permission and financial support for Aramaic language courses. The letter also underlined the concerns of the Arameans regarding the ongoing trial over the Mor Gabriel Monastery, which was constructed in A.D. 397.
Financialmirror.com News - Cyprus President: Turkey responsible for destruction of religious heritagePresident of the Republic Demetris Christofias has said that Turkey is responsible to a great extent for the destruction of the cultural heritage in the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus.
He was speaking during an exhibition in London’s Gallery K of 23 artists, including Cypriots and British, inspired by photographs of churches and other holy sites in the Turkish occupied north by Cypriot cameraman and photographer Doros Partasides. The photographs depict the destruction of the country’s religious and cultural heritage.
President Christofias congratulated Partasides and the 23 artists, describing their work as excellent. The government, he said, will use the exhibition in its campaign to put an end to the atrocities which are the result of the continuing Turkish invasion and occupation.
He said Turkey is greatly responsible for the destruction of the island’s heritage, stressing that the cultural heritage belongs not only to the Greek Cypriots but also to the Turkish Cypriots and the whole of humanity.
‘Religious freedoms in Turkey curbed by hard-line secularism’A report presented to US President Barack Obama has added Turkey to a watch list of countries where people's right to worship as they please or not to worship at all are at risk.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said Turkey's problem was its interpretation of secularism, which has "resulted in violations of religious freedom for many of the country's citizens, including members of majority and, especially, minority religious communities."
Martyrs' Legacy: Hope for Christians in Turkey - Christian World News - CBN NewsApril 18 marks the second anniversary of one of the most brutal attacks against Christians in Turkey. Five men are on trial for the stabbing death of two Turkish Christians and a German. The outcome of the case could have an impact on the future of the country's tiny Christian community.
For Susanne Geske and her three young children it is sadly just another day of remembrance."You see everyday is April 18," Susanne Geske told CBN News during a recent visit to her home in Malatya. "Everyday I have to live without him.
Compass Direct News : TURKEY - LOCAL OFFICIALS’ ROLE EMERGES IN MALATYA MURDERS Two years after the murder of three Christians in this city in southeastern Turkey, lawyers at a hearing here on Monday (April 13) uncovered important information on the role that local security forces played in the slaughter. At the 16th hearing of the murder case at the Malatya Third Criminal Court, plaintiff attorneys called a heavy slate of witnesses, including Mehmet Ulger, the gendarmerie commander of Malatya province during the 2007 slaughter who was arrested on March 12 for his alleged connection to a political conspiracy, and Ruhi Abat, a theology instructor at the local Ismet Inonu University. Two Turkish Christians, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, and a German Christian, Tilmann Geske, were tied up and stabbed to death at Zirve Publishing Co. offices on April 18, 2007. Plaintiff attorneys have moved the focus of the trial away from the five suspects – Salih Gurler, Cuma Ozdemir, Hamit Ceker, Abuzer Yildirim, and alleged ringleader Emre Gunaydin – to local officials believed to be liaisons or masterminds of the murders. The retired gendarmerie commander and the theology researcher have suspected links to the crime. In January an anonymous letter sent to Turkish churches and obtained by the media claimed that then-commander Ulger instigated the murders and directed Abat to prepare arguments against missionary activity.
Seven officers guilty of job derelictionSeven police officers receive a five-month suspended sentence each after being found guilty of dereliction of duty in the case where three people, one of whom was a German citizen, were found murdered in the Zirve Publishing House in Malatya for alleged missionary actions.
Compass Direct News : TURKEY - CHRISTIANS MAY APPEAL FINE FOR ‘ILLEGAL’ FUNDSFearing that a court-ordered fine of two Turkish Christians here for “illegal collection of funds” would set a precedent crippling to churches, their lawyer plans to take the case to a European court.
Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal each paid the fine of 600 Turkish lira (US$360) to a civil court in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul yesterday. The verdict cannot be appealed within the Turkish legal system, but their lawyer said he is considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
The ruling refers to the men receiving church offerings without official permission from local civil authorities. Nearly all Protestant fellowships in Turkey are registered as associations, with very few having status as a recognized religious body, and a strict application of the law would limit the scope of churches collecting funds.
Although the punishment is a relatively small fine, their lawyer told Compass there is now a precedent that authorities could use to harass any church for collecting tithes and offerings.
“For now, this court decision is an individual decision, but we fear in the future this could be carried out against all churches,” said defense attorney Haydar Polat.
Turkey's Battle Over Christian Monastery Mor Gabriel - WSJ.comChristians have lived in these parts since the dawn of their faith. But they have had a rough couple of millennia, preyed on by Persian, Arab, Mongol, Kurdish and Turkish armies. Each group tramped through the rocky highlands that now comprise Turkey's southeastern border with Iraq and Syria.
The current menace is less bellicose but is deemed a threat nonetheless. A group of state land surveyors and Muslim villagers are intent on shrinking the boundaries of an ancient monastery by more than half. The monastery, called Mor Gabriel, is revered by the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Battling to hang on to the monastic lands, Bishop Timotheus Samuel Aktas is fortifying his defenses. He's hired two Turkish lawyers -- one Muslim, one Christian -- and mobilized support from foreign diplomats, clergy and politicians.
Mission Network NewsAccording to Compass Direct, plaintiff attorneys have called in a heavy slate of witnesses for the next hearing, ranging from a gendarmerie commander to an Islamic theology instructor at a nearby university. Mehmet Ulger, the former gendarmerie commander of the province, and Ruhi Abat, a theology instructor at the local Inonu University, are among the 10 people expected to testify at the April 13 hearing.
What's been uncovered so far reveals a deep mistrust Christians in Turkey. The number of Christian believers declined from 22% to only .2% between 1900 and 2000, and most of these Christians are non-Turkish. The other 99.8% of the Turkish population is Muslim. Very few have ever heard the Gospel.
Behnan Konutgan with IN Network says that "identity mistrust" has been a challenge in their ministry.
There's a saying that goes: "To be a Turk is to be Muslim; to be Muslim is to be a Turk." Konutgan says often, when they're doing Christian work, they are asked, "Where are you from?" He often gets an incredulous response when he tells the person, "I am from here. I am Turkish.'" Their response: "You can't be! You're a Christian." It's a cultural assumption, along with the assumption that Christianity is a Western religion.
The problem is that many Turks get their idea of Christianity from Hollywood. With that misconception to confront, Konutgan says their team of four have to work carefully.
