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."
Link
Friday, September 05, 2014
Friday, August 29, 2014
Learn more about the Yazidi
Thousands of people leaving their ancestral homeland. Women and children being kidnapped, raped, and sold as slaves. Men slaughtered by the dozens.
While this sounds like something from the Armenian Genocide, it is going on in the world as I write. In Northern Iraq, where the Babylonians and Assyrians once ruled vast empires, the Islamic State (IS) has been waging a genocidal war against the defenseless Yazidi people.
The IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/al-Sham/the Levant), is a descendant of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group the U.S. Army fought against for almost a decade. Taking advantage of the Syrian Civil War, the IS swept through Syria in 2013, capturing towns from Kurds, Syrian government forces, and other rebels. The IS continued to grow this year, and expanded operations into Iraq. Coupled with an Iraqi Army retreat, the IS’s advance led to gains just outside of Baghdad, hundreds of miles from where it started its rampage. After capturing Mosul in the north, Iraq’s second largest city, the IS started to consolidate its gains. Ethnic Yazidis, fleeing from almost certain death, collected on Mount Sinjar, and were soon surrounded by IS forces. Facing starvation, heat stroke in the 100-degree Iraqi sun, and massacres, the Yazidis became a sort of call to action.
As their history is mostly based in oral tradition, Yazidis are often misunderstood. Most scholars identify the Yazidis as a subset of Kurds, as Yazidis speak Kurmanji, the most spoken dialect of Kurdish. A complex syncretism blending elements of Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism, the Yazidi faith is based on the idea that God created the world and entrusted it to seven angels. One of these angels, Melek Taus, refused to obey God’s command to bow down to humanity, which is where many see the connection to the Biblical story of Satan. Melek Taus, usually represented by a peacock, became the most venerated of the seven angels after God forgave him. According to Prof. Keith Watenpaugh of UC Davis, “Over the last several centuries mainstream Sunni Islamic scholars have come to view the Yazidis as pagans—they are not considered people of the book (ahl al-Kitab); they are popularly viewed by many Muslims in Syria and Iraq as worshippers of the devil. This was the basis for their on again off again persecution by the Ottoman authorities through much of the last 500 years. The Salafist idealism of the IS takes a very hardline position on Yazidis as kafirs—unbelievers.”
Iraqi Christians, however, are seen as “of the book,” since Islam, Christianity, and Judaism share many common beliefs, such as monotheism. Because of this, the IS, as was done by the Ottoman Empire and other Islamic nations, has instituted a jizya tax system in some parts of their territories. Christians can pay a tax, often the equivalent of thousands of dollars per year, to continue their religious practices, although many churches, including Armenian ones (for example, St. Etchmiadzin in Mosul, and the Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs), have been either destroyed or converted to Islamic centers.
The exorbitant sums of money the IS asks for are simply too much for most Christian families, who have fled their homes en masse. The IS has already killed close to a thousand Yazidis, according to the Iraqi government. It was the Yazidis that were penned up on Mount Sinjar, waiting for an imminent death in the 100-degree heat, trying to pile onto creaky Soviet-era helicopters in an attempt to escape. Some Yazidis marched through the Syrian Desert, away from their homes, the opposite direction marched by Armenians 99 years ago, yet under strikingly similar circumstances.
The world answered the Yazidis’ calls for help, as American airstrikes combined with attacks from the Kurdish Peshmerga broke down the IS’s siege of Mount Sinjar, allowing for thousands to escape. “The Yazidis are facing genocide and the limited Kurdish forces were having a very difficult time defending both Arbil and rescuing Yazidi and other civilians. … American intervention was justified by the civilizational imperative to prevent genocide,” Watenpaugh told the Weekly. With the United Kingdom and France, along with the United States, taking leading roles in humanitarian aid, the United Nations declared the situation in Iraq a humanitarian emergency, and has called for aid from around the world. Military aid, although committed to by many nations, has only started to funnel in, with Iranian arms just reaching the Peshmerga this week.
Watenpaugh noted that there is a degree of hypocrisy to the American position: The Yazidis were facing genocide, but Arab tribesmen just across the border in Syria were being massacred at the same time and the U.S. was unwilling to help. The U.S. has no cooperative, “on the ground” partner that is competent in the way the Kurdish Peshmerga are. American decision-making in Syria is still being guided by the mistaken belief that the Free Syrian Army represents a viable alternative to both the IS and the government of Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. faces no good options or easy answers in Syria; it does in Iraq.
Estimates of the Yazidi population range from 200,000 to 700,000, with the vast majority in Iraq, although that may not be the case for long. With tens of thousands already fleeing the reach of the IS, others are certain to follow. The Yazidi village of Lalish, located on the tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, where every Yazidi makes a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime, has not been attacked by the IS. However, being just about 40 miles to the northeast of Mosul, the village is susceptible to brutality from the self-proclaimed caliphate. The IS has already destroyed religious sites of various faiths, including Muslim ones, in cites they view as idolatrous. Earlier this summer, the IS destroyed the tomb of the Prophet Jonah, an important figure in the Abrahamic faiths.
Link
While this sounds like something from the Armenian Genocide, it is going on in the world as I write. In Northern Iraq, where the Babylonians and Assyrians once ruled vast empires, the Islamic State (IS) has been waging a genocidal war against the defenseless Yazidi people.
The IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/al-Sham/the Levant), is a descendant of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group the U.S. Army fought against for almost a decade. Taking advantage of the Syrian Civil War, the IS swept through Syria in 2013, capturing towns from Kurds, Syrian government forces, and other rebels. The IS continued to grow this year, and expanded operations into Iraq. Coupled with an Iraqi Army retreat, the IS’s advance led to gains just outside of Baghdad, hundreds of miles from where it started its rampage. After capturing Mosul in the north, Iraq’s second largest city, the IS started to consolidate its gains. Ethnic Yazidis, fleeing from almost certain death, collected on Mount Sinjar, and were soon surrounded by IS forces. Facing starvation, heat stroke in the 100-degree Iraqi sun, and massacres, the Yazidis became a sort of call to action.
As their history is mostly based in oral tradition, Yazidis are often misunderstood. Most scholars identify the Yazidis as a subset of Kurds, as Yazidis speak Kurmanji, the most spoken dialect of Kurdish. A complex syncretism blending elements of Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism, the Yazidi faith is based on the idea that God created the world and entrusted it to seven angels. One of these angels, Melek Taus, refused to obey God’s command to bow down to humanity, which is where many see the connection to the Biblical story of Satan. Melek Taus, usually represented by a peacock, became the most venerated of the seven angels after God forgave him. According to Prof. Keith Watenpaugh of UC Davis, “Over the last several centuries mainstream Sunni Islamic scholars have come to view the Yazidis as pagans—they are not considered people of the book (ahl al-Kitab); they are popularly viewed by many Muslims in Syria and Iraq as worshippers of the devil. This was the basis for their on again off again persecution by the Ottoman authorities through much of the last 500 years. The Salafist idealism of the IS takes a very hardline position on Yazidis as kafirs—unbelievers.”
Iraqi Christians, however, are seen as “of the book,” since Islam, Christianity, and Judaism share many common beliefs, such as monotheism. Because of this, the IS, as was done by the Ottoman Empire and other Islamic nations, has instituted a jizya tax system in some parts of their territories. Christians can pay a tax, often the equivalent of thousands of dollars per year, to continue their religious practices, although many churches, including Armenian ones (for example, St. Etchmiadzin in Mosul, and the Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs), have been either destroyed or converted to Islamic centers.
The exorbitant sums of money the IS asks for are simply too much for most Christian families, who have fled their homes en masse. The IS has already killed close to a thousand Yazidis, according to the Iraqi government. It was the Yazidis that were penned up on Mount Sinjar, waiting for an imminent death in the 100-degree heat, trying to pile onto creaky Soviet-era helicopters in an attempt to escape. Some Yazidis marched through the Syrian Desert, away from their homes, the opposite direction marched by Armenians 99 years ago, yet under strikingly similar circumstances.
The world answered the Yazidis’ calls for help, as American airstrikes combined with attacks from the Kurdish Peshmerga broke down the IS’s siege of Mount Sinjar, allowing for thousands to escape. “The Yazidis are facing genocide and the limited Kurdish forces were having a very difficult time defending both Arbil and rescuing Yazidi and other civilians. … American intervention was justified by the civilizational imperative to prevent genocide,” Watenpaugh told the Weekly. With the United Kingdom and France, along with the United States, taking leading roles in humanitarian aid, the United Nations declared the situation in Iraq a humanitarian emergency, and has called for aid from around the world. Military aid, although committed to by many nations, has only started to funnel in, with Iranian arms just reaching the Peshmerga this week.
Watenpaugh noted that there is a degree of hypocrisy to the American position: The Yazidis were facing genocide, but Arab tribesmen just across the border in Syria were being massacred at the same time and the U.S. was unwilling to help. The U.S. has no cooperative, “on the ground” partner that is competent in the way the Kurdish Peshmerga are. American decision-making in Syria is still being guided by the mistaken belief that the Free Syrian Army represents a viable alternative to both the IS and the government of Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. faces no good options or easy answers in Syria; it does in Iraq.
Estimates of the Yazidi population range from 200,000 to 700,000, with the vast majority in Iraq, although that may not be the case for long. With tens of thousands already fleeing the reach of the IS, others are certain to follow. The Yazidi village of Lalish, located on the tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, where every Yazidi makes a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime, has not been attacked by the IS. However, being just about 40 miles to the northeast of Mosul, the village is susceptible to brutality from the self-proclaimed caliphate. The IS has already destroyed religious sites of various faiths, including Muslim ones, in cites they view as idolatrous. Earlier this summer, the IS destroyed the tomb of the Prophet Jonah, an important figure in the Abrahamic faiths.
Link
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Baptist church leaders from 120 countries gather in İzmir for congress
The heads of Baptist churches from 120 countries gathered in the Aegean province of İzmir for a congress on “religious tourism” July 8.
Around 600 national and international guests attended the first session of “Religious Tourism Meeting of Civilizations” in Turkey, where the main topic of discussion centered on the importance of religious tourism.
The opening speech was delivered by Ertan Çevik, the Turkish representative of world’s Baptist churches and the head of the Turkey’s Protestant Baptist Church.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) İzmir lawmakers Aytun Çıray and Mehmet Ali Susam, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) İzmir lawmaker Rıfat Sait and İzmir Mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu were among the participants.
Link
Around 600 national and international guests attended the first session of “Religious Tourism Meeting of Civilizations” in Turkey, where the main topic of discussion centered on the importance of religious tourism.
The opening speech was delivered by Ertan Çevik, the Turkish representative of world’s Baptist churches and the head of the Turkey’s Protestant Baptist Church.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) İzmir lawmakers Aytun Çıray and Mehmet Ali Susam, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) İzmir lawmaker Rıfat Sait and İzmir Mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu were among the participants.
Link
Saturday, July 05, 2014
THE AK PARTY AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
"We will remove the foreigners dominating our market and hand over the Turkish market to Turks." This is how 1942-1946 Republican People's Party (CHP) government's Prime Minister Şükrü Saraçoğlu described the purpose of the capital tax introduced in 1942. These words explicitly summarize the approach toward the Turkish Republic's non-Muslim citizens by the CHP and the Kemalist ideology governing the state during the era of single-party rule: a totalitarian state mentality of policies to standardize society and create a homogenous nation by ignoring all diversity. Citizens of different religions endured some of the most discrimination from such policies – Armenians, Assyrians, Christians and Jews – those who did not qualify as the system's definition of a proper citizen were considered as a threat.
In 1934, 15,000 Jewish residents had to leave their cities and even their country of residence as a result of the systematic pogroms against the Jews living in the Thrace region. In 1942, the capital tax law was introduced. According to this law, minorities constituting 1.98 percent of Turkish population according to the 1935 census were charged with 87 percent of the taxes accrued. The real aim was to reduce the influence of the minority communities and the elimination of their dominant status from the economy. In 1955, Greeks in particular had become victims of serious oppression as a result of the plunder and ravage movement, which is known as the Events of Sept. 6-7. In 1962, a Provisional Commission on Minorities, which was tasked to "track all transactions of minorities contrary to the national security," was established with a confidential memorandum. This commission was established to monitor the activities of non-Muslims and it served as the modus operandi of the systematic discriminatory policies. In consequence of such policies, thousands of residents had to leave their country, their goods were seized, and their schools and sanctuaries shut down.
In 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) became the ruling government with the support of Turks, Kurds as well as members of non-Muslim minority communities. Since the party took office, the government has pursued reforms aimed at democratizing the totalitarian state while being exposed to severe attacks and facing many allegations. The most striking attacks came from the groups who consider themselves the modern face of the nation. This segment of Turkish society claimed they were the Western side of Turkish society simply due to their secular lifestyle.
Today, referring to the restitution of foundation assets, Mr. Erdoğan says, "These assets are not mine! So it's my fundamental duty to return them to their owners." He assesses the restitution of rights and reputation as a requirement of equal citizenship – law and justice – as opposed to the condescending attitude of the opposition. While doing this, he assumes risk contrary to the cautious state of mind stemming from the government and confronts criticism and exorbitant accusations that could even be considered conspiracy. All in all, an outburst by a former CHP parliamentarian toward AK Party members is still remembered: "You keep defending Agop's possessions, please at least once defend Mehmet's possessions." It should also be remembered that the Law on Foundations issued by the AK Party government in 2006 was partially vetoed by then President Sezer on the grounds that it was against national interests. Furthermore, this year a member of Parliament from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), in reaction to the restitution of foundation assets said, "We will take them all back."
There is no such thing as a perfect democracy in the world as there are always deficiencies and more things to be done. For instance, the opening of the Theological School in Heybeliada is one of the present demands expected to be fulfilled in the future. What matters and what makes these processes functional is the demonstrated will to find a solution and the gratitude shown in return. Today, the AK Party and Erdoğan are pointed to by the very interlocutors of the problem as they address the solutions regarding the demands of non-Muslim citizens. Erdogan returned the assets of Christians and Jews previously confiscated by the state, published a message of condolences to Armenians for the 1915 Events, allowed the reopening of minority schools and monasteries, and enacted laws for combating hate crimes and discrimination. To our Western friends who declare the AK Party government as radical Islamists, ISIS supporter, anti-secular and authoritarian: We will pray for the removal of the curtains of prejudice from your eyes during the month of Ramadan.
Link
In 1934, 15,000 Jewish residents had to leave their cities and even their country of residence as a result of the systematic pogroms against the Jews living in the Thrace region. In 1942, the capital tax law was introduced. According to this law, minorities constituting 1.98 percent of Turkish population according to the 1935 census were charged with 87 percent of the taxes accrued. The real aim was to reduce the influence of the minority communities and the elimination of their dominant status from the economy. In 1955, Greeks in particular had become victims of serious oppression as a result of the plunder and ravage movement, which is known as the Events of Sept. 6-7. In 1962, a Provisional Commission on Minorities, which was tasked to "track all transactions of minorities contrary to the national security," was established with a confidential memorandum. This commission was established to monitor the activities of non-Muslims and it served as the modus operandi of the systematic discriminatory policies. In consequence of such policies, thousands of residents had to leave their country, their goods were seized, and their schools and sanctuaries shut down.
In 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) became the ruling government with the support of Turks, Kurds as well as members of non-Muslim minority communities. Since the party took office, the government has pursued reforms aimed at democratizing the totalitarian state while being exposed to severe attacks and facing many allegations. The most striking attacks came from the groups who consider themselves the modern face of the nation. This segment of Turkish society claimed they were the Western side of Turkish society simply due to their secular lifestyle.
Today, referring to the restitution of foundation assets, Mr. Erdoğan says, "These assets are not mine! So it's my fundamental duty to return them to their owners." He assesses the restitution of rights and reputation as a requirement of equal citizenship – law and justice – as opposed to the condescending attitude of the opposition. While doing this, he assumes risk contrary to the cautious state of mind stemming from the government and confronts criticism and exorbitant accusations that could even be considered conspiracy. All in all, an outburst by a former CHP parliamentarian toward AK Party members is still remembered: "You keep defending Agop's possessions, please at least once defend Mehmet's possessions." It should also be remembered that the Law on Foundations issued by the AK Party government in 2006 was partially vetoed by then President Sezer on the grounds that it was against national interests. Furthermore, this year a member of Parliament from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), in reaction to the restitution of foundation assets said, "We will take them all back."
There is no such thing as a perfect democracy in the world as there are always deficiencies and more things to be done. For instance, the opening of the Theological School in Heybeliada is one of the present demands expected to be fulfilled in the future. What matters and what makes these processes functional is the demonstrated will to find a solution and the gratitude shown in return. Today, the AK Party and Erdoğan are pointed to by the very interlocutors of the problem as they address the solutions regarding the demands of non-Muslim citizens. Erdogan returned the assets of Christians and Jews previously confiscated by the state, published a message of condolences to Armenians for the 1915 Events, allowed the reopening of minority schools and monasteries, and enacted laws for combating hate crimes and discrimination. To our Western friends who declare the AK Party government as radical Islamists, ISIS supporter, anti-secular and authoritarian: We will pray for the removal of the curtains of prejudice from your eyes during the month of Ramadan.
Link
Ankara criticizes 'anti-Turkish' bill on Christian properties
Turkey has strongly criticized a U.S. House committee bill that directs the State Department to monitor the return of property confiscated from Christians in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
"While the clear and concrete steps that Turkey has taken for the improvement of the rights and freedoms of all of its citizens, including for the non-Muslim minorities are evident; attempts by anti-Turkish circles in the U.S. Congress, driven by domestic political considerations, to push such unconstructive and baseless initiatives are unacceptable," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement June 27.
The bill, which passed through the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, requires the U.S. secretary of state to provide an annual report to Congress regarding Washington's efforts to secure the return and restoration of "stolen, confiscated, or otherwise unreturned Christian properties" in Turkey and the northern Cyprus.
Terming the bill as "null and void as far as Turkey is concerned," the statement stressed that such initiatives were incongruous with the existing spirit of partnership and alliance between the two traditional allies.
Link
"While the clear and concrete steps that Turkey has taken for the improvement of the rights and freedoms of all of its citizens, including for the non-Muslim minorities are evident; attempts by anti-Turkish circles in the U.S. Congress, driven by domestic political considerations, to push such unconstructive and baseless initiatives are unacceptable," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement June 27.
The bill, which passed through the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, requires the U.S. secretary of state to provide an annual report to Congress regarding Washington's efforts to secure the return and restoration of "stolen, confiscated, or otherwise unreturned Christian properties" in Turkey and the northern Cyprus.
Terming the bill as "null and void as far as Turkey is concerned," the statement stressed that such initiatives were incongruous with the existing spirit of partnership and alliance between the two traditional allies.
Link
Thursday, July 03, 2014
Christianity in Ataturk’s Capital
In Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, attending Mass on Sunday requires choosing between several embassies: the Italian, French, and Vatican properties each host Catholic chapels.
The British Embassy has a lovely Anglican church in its backyard while the Greek Embassy harbors a small Orthodox place of worship. Some Protestants hold services at a local U.S. military facility and evangelical denominations are said to rent office space.
But nowhere, in this metropolis of 5 million, will you find a free standing Christian church naming itself with a cross out front.
The situation results from a twist of history — and discrimination.
Kemal was elected president and renamed Ataturk (father of the Turks) by parliament. He initiated radical social changes aimed at converting Turkey into a secular republic.
Focusing on religion, he dismantled the Islamic power structure, put all mosques under state control, banned religious education, and restricted sacred construction. While private worship was constitutional, religion was eliminated from the public sphere.
This anti-religion ideology made it impossible for the Catholic Church to build new churches in a city such as Ankara, which had none.
Another problem facing Catholics since Ataturk is that the faith has no legal status: the Church can’t officially own property or operate churches, schools, or hospitals.
Armenians, Jews, and Orthodox Christians are classified as Non-Muslim minorities, with some rights grounded in the 1923 Lausanne treaty, but Catholics have been excluded from protection.
Read More
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Committee Vote on Turkey Christian Churches Scheduled
The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, under the leadership of Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), is set to consider H.R. 4347, the Turkey Christian Churches Accountability Act, on Wednesday, June 18th at 10:00 am EST. Capitol Hill sources report that the Turkish Government is actively seeking to block adoption of this bipartisan religious freedom measure.
Introduced this March of this year by Chairman Royce along with the panel’s Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), H.R. 4347 would require that the U.S. Department of State formally report to Congress on an annual basis about the status of Turkey’s return of stolen Christian churches and properties in Turkey and occupied Cyprus. H.R. 4347 builds on a measure (H.Res.306), spearheaded by Chairman Royce and then House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), which was overwhelmingly adopted by the House of Representatives on December 13, 2011. That resolution set the groundwork for H.R.4347 by calling upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations to return confiscated Christian church properties and to fully respect the rights of Christians to practice their faiths.
“We want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for advancing this religious freedom legislation and look forward to the Committee’s consideration of a principled and practical American stand in support of the rights of Christians in present-day Turkey and occupied Cyprus to practice their faith in their own houses of worship,” said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian. “We are pleased to join with all believers in religious freedom – including of course our Cypriot, Greek, Pontian and Syriac brothers and sisters – in supporting this measure, and encourage all our friends to urge their legislators to support its timely passage by the Foreign Affairs Committee and the full House of Representatives.”
Link
Introduced this March of this year by Chairman Royce along with the panel’s Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), H.R. 4347 would require that the U.S. Department of State formally report to Congress on an annual basis about the status of Turkey’s return of stolen Christian churches and properties in Turkey and occupied Cyprus. H.R. 4347 builds on a measure (H.Res.306), spearheaded by Chairman Royce and then House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), which was overwhelmingly adopted by the House of Representatives on December 13, 2011. That resolution set the groundwork for H.R.4347 by calling upon the government of Turkey to honor its international obligations to return confiscated Christian church properties and to fully respect the rights of Christians to practice their faiths.
“We want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for advancing this religious freedom legislation and look forward to the Committee’s consideration of a principled and practical American stand in support of the rights of Christians in present-day Turkey and occupied Cyprus to practice their faith in their own houses of worship,” said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian. “We are pleased to join with all believers in religious freedom – including of course our Cypriot, Greek, Pontian and Syriac brothers and sisters – in supporting this measure, and encourage all our friends to urge their legislators to support its timely passage by the Foreign Affairs Committee and the full House of Representatives.”
Link
Monday, June 09, 2014
Church Website Blocked As 'Porn' by Turkish Parliament; Lawmaker Calls it ‘Embarrassing, Humiliating and Defaming’
Aykan Erdemir, a member of Turkey's Parliament, planned to travel to Diyarbakir Church in mid-June. In preparation for his visit, he looked for information about the church on their website. He did not get far. His office computer in the parliament building blocked the church website with a message that it contained "pornographic" content.
Checking the websites of other Turkish Protestant churches, Erdemir and his colleagues found them all blocked, though the filtering screens did not mention "pornography" as the reason.
Although websites are occasionally banned in Turkey - the most notable in recent months being YouTube - the website for Diyarbakir Church, in southeastern Turkey, is not under a national ban.
The block only affected computers in the parliament, and it was quickly removed after Erdemir complained.
"The lifting of the block on the Diyarbakir Church website was a small step for internet freedoms in Turkey, but a big step for internet freedom in the Parliament," he said. Erdemir, who represents the western province of Bursa in the main opposition Republican People's Party, said the episode is a symptom of deep-rooted governmental antagonism toward Christians, especially Protestants, and of Turkey's increasing intolerance towards minorities.
He described the block on the website as, "humiliating, embarrassing and defaming." The newspaper Daily Hurriyet reported Thursday that the filter killed two birds with one stone-it simultaneously worked to prejudice Parliamentarians and to attack minority groups.
"They are just trying to support their own party's politics and agendas with inflammatory and marginalizing language," said Ahmet Guvener, pastor of the Diyarbakir Church. "This is embarrassing and outrageous and they should apologize for this." Guvener, a convert from Islam, said he does not feel he has equal rights with other Turks, and that his country regards him as a threat. His phone, he said, has been tapped since 2007, when three Christians were tortured and murdered in the city of Malatya.
"They have been listening to my phone without a break since Malatya," Guvener said. He claims to have seen his name on wiretap lists, and that police continue to question him about subjects he has discussed on the phone with other Christian believers.
He believes that law enforcement authorities consider Christianity to be one of the country's greatest threats, and that military training has reinforced an attitude of marginalization. "They really don't see Turkish Christians as citizens of this country," he said. "Turkey knowingly intimidates Christians here, so in my opinion, the block on our website was done knowingly."
Link
Checking the websites of other Turkish Protestant churches, Erdemir and his colleagues found them all blocked, though the filtering screens did not mention "pornography" as the reason.
Although websites are occasionally banned in Turkey - the most notable in recent months being YouTube - the website for Diyarbakir Church, in southeastern Turkey, is not under a national ban.
The block only affected computers in the parliament, and it was quickly removed after Erdemir complained.
"The lifting of the block on the Diyarbakir Church website was a small step for internet freedoms in Turkey, but a big step for internet freedom in the Parliament," he said. Erdemir, who represents the western province of Bursa in the main opposition Republican People's Party, said the episode is a symptom of deep-rooted governmental antagonism toward Christians, especially Protestants, and of Turkey's increasing intolerance towards minorities.
He described the block on the website as, "humiliating, embarrassing and defaming." The newspaper Daily Hurriyet reported Thursday that the filter killed two birds with one stone-it simultaneously worked to prejudice Parliamentarians and to attack minority groups.
"They are just trying to support their own party's politics and agendas with inflammatory and marginalizing language," said Ahmet Guvener, pastor of the Diyarbakir Church. "This is embarrassing and outrageous and they should apologize for this." Guvener, a convert from Islam, said he does not feel he has equal rights with other Turks, and that his country regards him as a threat. His phone, he said, has been tapped since 2007, when three Christians were tortured and murdered in the city of Malatya.
"They have been listening to my phone without a break since Malatya," Guvener said. He claims to have seen his name on wiretap lists, and that police continue to question him about subjects he has discussed on the phone with other Christian believers.
He believes that law enforcement authorities consider Christianity to be one of the country's greatest threats, and that military training has reinforced an attitude of marginalization. "They really don't see Turkish Christians as citizens of this country," he said. "Turkey knowingly intimidates Christians here, so in my opinion, the block on our website was done knowingly."
Link
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Big-city Turkey elects 25-year-old Christian woman as mayor
Put forward as a candidate by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Turkey’s main Kurdish party, in municipal elections on March 30, Februniye Akyol was elected co-mayor of the southeastern city of Mardin together with Ahmet Turk, 71, a widely respected veteran Kurdish leader. The BDP splits all top posts between a man and a woman to boost female participation in politics.
“The Kurdish party has enabled me to fight for my people and its rights, and this is what I am going to do,” Akyol told Al-Monitor in an interview in Mardin this week. “I’m not here as an ornament.”
Akyol, the daughter of a silversmith, is a member of the Syriac community, an ancient branch of the Christian faith whose followers still speak a version of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ. The region of Tur Abdin near Mardin, a plateau dotted with monasteries that go back to the fourth century, is the Syriacs’ historical heartland.
Turkey has had Christian mayors of smaller towns before, and in 2011 the Syriac politician Erol Dora, also running on a BDP ticket, became the first Christian member of parliament in Ankara since the 1960s. But Akyol is the first Christian to govern one of Turkey’s 30 metropolitan municipalities.
The Syriac community, which numbered around 200,000 people in Tur Abdin a century ago, was decimated by the massacres of Anatolian Christians during World War I, when Syriacs shared the fate of the Armenians. In the decades that followed, many survivors and their descendants fled poverty, persecution and the war between the Turkish state and Kurdish rebels in the region to settle in Europe. Today, a total of 150,000 Syriacs live in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Some 15,000 are in Istanbul, but less than 5,000 remain in Tur Abdin.
Although Turkey began issuing appeals for Syriacs to return to their homeland in the early 2000s and strengthened social and religious rights under the country’s EU membership application, Akyol said her community did not yet enjoy full democratic privileges. “Syriacs here are still not free, they can’t live in peace,” Akyol said.
The newly elected mayor’s own name is a case in point. Born and christened Fabronia Benno, she had to run for office under her official Turkish name, Februniye Akyol, because of long-standing restrictions on the cultures and languages of ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey. Since the Syriacs are not officially recognized as a religious minority by the Turkish state, they are not allowed their own schools to teach their ancient language to their children. Many Syriac villages were destroyed in the war between the Turkish military and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a rebel group fighting for Kurdish self-rule since 1984.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/christian-mayor-turkey-rights-bdp-mardin.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=23327&utm_campaign=0##ixzz2yvrXpL7e
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Turkey torture, murder suspects under house arrest
Turkey`s Ministry of Justice has ordered five murder suspects in the 2007 torture and murder of five employees of a publishing house to be electronically tagged and held under house arrest.
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Monday, March 10, 2014
Five suspects of Zirve massacre released, Christians anxious
As per a recently passed law that decreased the maximum period of detention to five years, five suspects tried for brutally killing three Christians at the Zirve Publishing House were released pending trial on Friday, a move that has made Christians in Turkey concerned for their safety.
The Association of Protestant Churches of Turkey expressed its concern over the court's decision in a written statement on Saturday. Noting that families of the victims and NGO activists were threatened by the suspects throughout the duration of the case's hearings, the statement read: “As things stand, those who have been threatened are starting to feel rather uneasy. The releases have deeply saddened Christians [in Turkey] and led to them losing faith in [the] justice [system].”
Noting that the suspects of the murder will now be able to move freely in society, the statement continued: “Who will carry the moral responsibility for this shocking decision? … As Christian citizens, our own lives as well as those of our families' are in great danger, and we are following the developments in dismay.”
Sunday, March 09, 2014
Malatya murder suspects to be set free
Five Turkish murder suspects on trial for torturing and killing three Christians in Malatya nearly seven years ago are expected to be set free on bail within the next few days, before the conclusion of their trial in southeast Turkey.
Under a new judicial package passed by the Turkish Parliament on Feb. 21, the detention limit for suspects on trial who have not yet been convicted was reduced from 10 to five years. Once the proposed laws are approved by the Turkish President and published in the Official Gazette— expected at the latest by March 7— the five Malatya suspects would be eligible for immediate release.
Susanne Geske, widow of the German victim Tilmann Geske, admitted that “the thought of meeting one of these men downtown, or at the mall” until the trial is concluded was something she and her children still living in Malatya would “have to get used to”.
Because the suspects face a life sentence for deadly assault, the likelihood that they will flee the country “is very high”, Umut Sahin announced in a written statement from the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey. Although Sahin told World Watch Monitor that the lawyers representing the victims’ families have requested that the five suspects be fitted with electronic tracking devices when released, he said any formal conditions of their bail would be decided by the court.
“But even that is unclear, as to what court that will be,” Sahin admitted, since the same legal package has also abolished the Special Authorized Courts under which the Malatya suspects were being tried.
During the past four years, some 20,000 military personnel, members of the Kurdish party, journalists and a variety of activists were convicted in these special anti-terrorism courts of planning alleged coup attempts against the ruling Justice and Development Party government.
Once the special courts are dissolved, the Malatya case will be moved into the normal criminal court system, with the likelihood that the current judges and prosecutors would be changed. Practically speaking, that would require the new officials assigned to the case to go through more than 100,000 pages of documents submitted during the trial’s 92 hearings to date.
“So the whole process could last some more years,” said Geske, who told World Watch Monitor that she hoped the case would be left with the current judicial officials and finished soon.
“It’s the law now,” she said, “so we can’t really do anything about it,” referring to both the changed court status and the pending release of the murder suspects. “We’re fine, and my kids are doing well. Some in our church here are really upset. But God can do miracles, so we are praying that the judges and prosecutor will not be changed. And we will keep on loving our enemies.”
During the last Malatya court hearing on Feb. 24, defense lawyers tried for two hours to block the reading of the prosecutor’s final appeal for sentencing of the accused killers and perpetrators, demanding that this be postponed until the new law went into effect.
But Presiding Judge Hayrettin Kisa, who has declared his firm intention to conclude the case by June, denied the defense’s request.
State Prosecutor Zafer Hazar then read out his closing statement, demanding three consecutive life sentences against the five accused killers, as well as life sentences against nine of the accused perpetrators.
In addition, the state requested that one suspect who had turned state's evidence be judged according to the Active Repentance Law, and that two accused accomplices who were never detained be acquitted.
The prosecution summation cited evidence that the Malatya murders were clearly linked to the previous assassinations of two other Christians in Turkey: Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on January 2007 in front of his Agos newspaper office in Istanbul, and Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro while kneeling at the altar of his Trabzon church on February 2006. Links were cited to the JITEM and TUSHAD units, allegedly formed illegally within various Turkish military forces to create disinformation and eliminate enemies of the state.
When the Malatya case is set to reconvene on April 10, the defense will be allowed a final statement. A subsequent hearing is expected to be scheduled for the verdicts to be announced.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Forced Islamisation of Armenians raises questions about today's Turkey
Turks are getting ready for a hot election in March when they will cast their ballot to elect a new parliament and, for the first time, a new president. Almost certainly, Sunni ethics will certainly inform the debate. Not much coverage has gone to a conference held in early November on the forced islamisation of Armenians before and after the 1915 genocide.
Organised by Istanbul's Boğaziçi University and the Hrant Dink Foundation, which is named after Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos. He was assassinated in 2007 by Turkish nationalists with the tolerance of elements within the Turkish state.
Although some 600 people from around the world attended the conference, the Turkish media failed to give the event the attention it deserved.
In their presentations, various speakers noted that forced Islamisation was not visited only on individual children and women survivors but on entire families forced to convert in order to survive in the new Turkey born out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
The founding of the new Turkish Republic was premised on the policies of Islamisation and genocide pursued by the Young Turks and the Committee of Union and Progress. This occurred after Armenian members of the Young Turks and the Committee split from ethnic Turks in 1913.
Based on various reports, the goal of the Committee of Union and Progress in 1915 was to reduce the Armenian population (5 to 10 per cent of the empire's population) where it had its strongest and oldest roots - the central, southern and eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire - since its aim was to establish a new Turkey that would be Sunni Muslim. Even Kemal Ataturk, founder of Turkey's so-called secular republic, appealed to Muslim solidarity to consolidate his power. In short, a real Turk was a Muslim Turk.
Not surprisingly, after the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians known as Karamanlis were uprooted from Anatolia and sent to Greece.
Turkish historian Taner Akçam, who teaches at Clark University in the United States, is one of the foremost specialist on the Armenian Genocide. In his address, he spoke of 200,000 Islamised Armenians, noting that the assets of the genocide victims went to the Turks.
Overall, historians focused on a very important issue. Because of forced islamisation, millions of Turks have ties to the Armenian and/or Christian communities. Some call them 'crypto-Armenians' or 'crypto-Christians;.
Organised by Istanbul's Boğaziçi University and the Hrant Dink Foundation, which is named after Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos. He was assassinated in 2007 by Turkish nationalists with the tolerance of elements within the Turkish state.
Although some 600 people from around the world attended the conference, the Turkish media failed to give the event the attention it deserved.
In their presentations, various speakers noted that forced Islamisation was not visited only on individual children and women survivors but on entire families forced to convert in order to survive in the new Turkey born out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
The founding of the new Turkish Republic was premised on the policies of Islamisation and genocide pursued by the Young Turks and the Committee of Union and Progress. This occurred after Armenian members of the Young Turks and the Committee split from ethnic Turks in 1913.
Based on various reports, the goal of the Committee of Union and Progress in 1915 was to reduce the Armenian population (5 to 10 per cent of the empire's population) where it had its strongest and oldest roots - the central, southern and eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire - since its aim was to establish a new Turkey that would be Sunni Muslim. Even Kemal Ataturk, founder of Turkey's so-called secular republic, appealed to Muslim solidarity to consolidate his power. In short, a real Turk was a Muslim Turk.
Not surprisingly, after the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians known as Karamanlis were uprooted from Anatolia and sent to Greece.
Turkish historian Taner Akçam, who teaches at Clark University in the United States, is one of the foremost specialist on the Armenian Genocide. In his address, he spoke of 200,000 Islamised Armenians, noting that the assets of the genocide victims went to the Turks.
Overall, historians focused on a very important issue. Because of forced islamisation, millions of Turks have ties to the Armenian and/or Christian communities. Some call them 'crypto-Armenians' or 'crypto-Christians;.
Tulsa physician with roots in Turkey sells Christian movies
Tulsa physician Enis Sakirgil opened a store last month in south Tulsa that sells Christian and family movies on Blu-ray and DVD.
"Jesus was always talking in parables that would bring images into people's minds. Movies are the parables of today," he said.
His store and the online video sales business that supports it are the most recent expressions of a family faith that extends back for centuries.
Sakirgil was born and raised in Antioch, Turkey, one of the centers of the early church, and a city where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.
He comes from an Eastern Orthodox family in a land where Christianity once flourished but which now is 99 percent Muslim.
Sakirgil said he became a born-again Christian when he was a medical student attending a church founded by American missionaries in Istanbul.
He was attracted to the church because the services were in Turkish, his native tongue, and not in Arabic, like the church in which he was raised.
He became a worship leader in the church and founded the first-ever Christian rock band in Turkey, he said.
During his medical residency in Turkey, he heard about In His Image, a Christian family-practice residency program in Tulsa. He could not get the idea of attending the residency program out of his mind, he said.
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Fish Flix
"Jesus was always talking in parables that would bring images into people's minds. Movies are the parables of today," he said.
His store and the online video sales business that supports it are the most recent expressions of a family faith that extends back for centuries.
Sakirgil was born and raised in Antioch, Turkey, one of the centers of the early church, and a city where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.
He comes from an Eastern Orthodox family in a land where Christianity once flourished but which now is 99 percent Muslim.
Sakirgil said he became a born-again Christian when he was a medical student attending a church founded by American missionaries in Istanbul.
He was attracted to the church because the services were in Turkish, his native tongue, and not in Arabic, like the church in which he was raised.
He became a worship leader in the church and founded the first-ever Christian rock band in Turkey, he said.
During his medical residency in Turkey, he heard about In His Image, a Christian family-practice residency program in Tulsa. He could not get the idea of attending the residency program out of his mind, he said.
Link
Fish Flix
Turkey drops a screen over Christianity
Many of Turkey’s historic monuments have followed the same path through the centuries: Byzantine church to Ottoman mosque to secular museum. This July, the 13th-century Hagia Sophia church in the eastern city of Trabzon added a new phase: return to mosque.
While the conversion of this Hagia Sophia – not the more famous structure by the same name in Istanbul – to a house of Muslim worship reflects the increasingly religious approach of Turkey's government, the impact on the tourism industry has been buffered by an uptick in foreign visitors from the Middle East, who are largely disinterested in the traditional tourist landmarks.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, Hüseyin Buyuk, a local working for the Historic Hagia Sophia Association, ushered visitors through the divided entrance. Local Muslim worshipers went to the right, removing their shoes before stepping onto the red carpet inside, where large white screens shield Christian icons from their eyes, while non-Muslim tourists went to the left, following an uncarpeted passageway behind the screens to gaze upon bright frescoes depicting Christ.
From 1964 until December 2012, Trabzon’s Hagia Sophia functioned as a museum. But after a court ruling that, in the legacy of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, the building was rightfully a mosque, the Turkish Ministry of Culture was evicted. On July 5, the late-Byzantine church reopened as a mosque in time for the first Friday prayer of Ramadan.
“It has always been a house of worship,” Mr. Buyuk says, supporting the court ruling. “We already have a cultural museum.”
The Hagia Sophia was the second such museum to be converted recently – Iznik’s Hagia Sophia was reopened as a mosque in July 2012 – and it may not be the last. The conservative opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) introduced a bill Nov. 8 to resume Muslim prayer in Istanbul’s famed 4th-century basilica, Hagia Sophia, first converted to a museum in 1935.
Dr. Şükrü Yarcan, a tourism specialist at Nisantasi University, says the restoration of Muslim prayer in historical sites like Trabzon’s Hagia Sophia is unlikely to stop non-Muslim tourists from visiting them, but it contributes to foreign impressions that the country is growing more religious, particularly in more distant regions like North America and East Asia.
“They might think that Turkey is going to be an Islamic country and they might refrain from coming,” said Yarcan. “They might have an image of Turkey as a negative one.”
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