4 Killed in Bible Publisher

[LeftEyeNine]

http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/405826.asp

(I looked around and couldn't find an English source for the time being)

MALATYA - In Niyazi District, 3 killed after a mob to a publisher named Zirve which was publishing books on Christianism. Of those dead, Necati Aydin and Uğur Yüksel were working at the publisher. One of the wounded was named Emre Günaydın, and the other injured person's whose surname is not know yet is named Uğur.

Malatya major Halil İbrahim Daşöz, Headofficer of Security Ali Osman Kahya and Republic Chief Prosecutor Mustafa Demirdağ are inspecting the incident on the location.

Thanks to Mr. Erdoğan & His Friends' encouragement, we have been exposed to some assualt we had forgotten for long.



P.S. One of the wounded has passed away, which makes casualties 4.

[LeftEyeNine]

Here is a Reuters report:

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, April 18 (Reuters) - Attackers on Wednesday slit the throats of three people in a Turkish publishing house which printed bibles, security officials said, the latest attack on minorities in mainly Muslim Turkey.

NTV said a fourth person had died in hospital, but the report could not be confirmed.

Security officials said six people had been detained in connection with the attack in the southeastern city of Malatya. Television pictures showed police wrestling one man to the ground and leading several young men out of the building, apparently in handcuffs.

An official from the publishing house told local television that they had received threats over its publications.

The attack follows the murder earlier this year of Armenian-Turkish editor Hrant Dink by an ultranationalist, which prompted extra security measures to be taken for writers and journalists. Dink was also from Malatya.

Last year a priest was shot dead in the Black Sea province of Trabzon, which coincided with worldwide protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

The government and other officials in Turkey have in the past criticised Christian missionary work here while the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, has called for more freedom for the tiny Christian minority.

For some Turkish nationalists Christian missionaries are seen as enemies of Turkey working to undermine its political and religious institutions.

[Gregoshi]

LEN, is my impression correct that the Turkish people don't want religion messing with politics? This story seems to indicate concern about Christian missionaries and politics, then there was the huge march you posted about last week protesting some Islamic candidates.

[LeftEyeNine]

LEN, is my impression correct that the Turkish people don't want religion messing with politics? This story seems to indicate concern about Christian missionaries and politics, then there was the huge march you posted about last week protesting some Islamic candidates.

There is an Islamist society, although -for the worst ratio- not larger than secularists living in Turkey, who'd like to see Shariya as the state law. And they are largely encouraged with AKP governments so-called "moderate Islam" approach which is actually a monster with a teletubbie mask.

However the secularist march on the 14th of April has no connection with this unfortunate event. During the last days of Ottoman Empire, the non-Muslim institutions like churches were actively working in favor of invaders. So that a secularist, or someone who is claiming himself a patriot who is aware of the recent history, mainly the foundation period of Turkey, can not open arms wide to non-Muslim activities without any doubt. Such actions somehow blur one's mind and would like to be assured that it's only about religion, not anything else. This is simply a reaction regarding the memories.

But none of the people who marched there, or those who supported this march do favor murderous intentions on the non-Muslim society or activities. I mean, the motive behind this killing is a fanatic Islamist mindset, not a secularist one.

And no, whoever did this, calling it for the sake of Islam, has a lot to forget about what he knows as Islam.

[Gregoshi]

But none of the people who marched there, or those who supported this march do favor murderous intentions on the non-Muslim society or activities. I mean, the motive behind this killing is a fanatic Islamist mindset, not a secularist one.

I didn't think so or wish to imply that. It just seems that from what little I understand about the issues is that the Turkish people cast a suspicious eye at Christian and Muslim influences in government affairs. Regarding the Bible murders, as with many things, there are always the extreme few who feel that killing is preferable to just voting against the undesired influences - whether that "vote" be expressed politically, economically or socially.

Sorry if, through my ignorance of Turkey's history & politics, I'm missing the point of these issues you posted about.

[Strike For The South]

So much for the EU

[Azi Tohak]

Scratch Turkey off my list of places to visit! Need to make them give Constantinople back to Greece before I can go see it I guess.

And I really didn't need to see this before I go work in Turkey's religious-nut cousin either

Azi

[Slyspy]

Why? The tourist's money is still welcome, and I believe that you are involved in engineering rather than missionary work?

Edit:

Greece has never owned that city. Nor is it now known as Constantinople.

[ajaxfetish]

Modern Greece no, but during the days of the Byzantine Empire both the city and the Greek peninsula were part of the same political entity, Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian.

Ajax

[AntiochusIII]

Modern Greece no, but during the days of the Byzantine Empire both the city and the Greek peninsula were part of the same political entity, Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian.

It'd be quite a big stretch for Greece to claim Constantinople based on the old Eastern Roman Empire's cultural ties, though. If they get on it then that's one big slippery slope. And while Istanbul was a multicultural city throughout the entirety of the Ottoman Empire (Thrace being not even particularly Turkish), the modern Turkish state has a much better claim as the direct successor state of the Ottomans than Greece as Byzantium's...and they defended it in the War, a big reason for Kemal's gigantic popularity with the Turkish people as such.

So to give it "back" to Greece is a strange wording. Give it to Greece perhaps, as Azi is making this not-so-serious remark from his standpoint of not wanting to visit Turkey but would've liked to visit the City, but not give "back."

But that's all off topic. All I really do know about Turkey is that it is an extremely interesting nation...one of those nations that receive more attention, be it academic or popular, than others in terms of their history -- USA, Greece, Japan, France, the UK, China -- and that it has its share of truly unique problems. I also admit to real ignorance of Turkish history past the fall of the Ottomans and only a general idea prior (except that the forging of the nation-state out of the crumbling Empire was a real mess). This murder is a terrible sign in a country apparently in conflict with its own identity -- is Turkey Islamic, or secular; what should Turkish Nationalists support between the two; how far would the extremists go, etc.

After all, we outsiders see Turkey from the perspective that it sits on an extremely volatile region of the world.

[ajaxfetish]

It'd be quite a big stretch for Greece to claim Constantinople based on the old Eastern Roman Empire's cultural ties, though.

Agreed. I was just pointing out that there was at least some justification for Azi's choice of words.

Ajax

[Slyspy]

Modern Greece no, but during the days of the Byzantine Empire both the city and the Greek peninsula were part of the same political entity, Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian.

Ajax

They were ruled from Constantinople. So Greece proper should belong to Constantinople? I'll just ring the Turkish government and tell them they are the official owners of Greece. They'll be so happy!

[ajaxfetish]

They were ruled from Constantinople. So Greece proper should belong to Constantinople? I'll just ring the Turkish government and tell them they are the official owners of Greece. They'll be so happy!

Constantinople was the capital of the 'Greek Empire.' If the French conquered London and held it for some time, and then someone suggested giving London back to the English, would that mean that France should annex the rest of England?

I'm not advocating any modern connection between Constantinople/Istanbul and Greece. That would be purely ridiculous. It's a Turkish city now and should remain so. But Azi's comment about it being given back to Greece is not as misinformed as you suggested. The city was once a Greek city, and the most important one in the world. Anyhow, we're derailing a thread with a tangent that has no bearing on the issue at hand, so let's step aside and let the proper discussion continue.

Ajax

[Adrian II]

Scratch Turkey off my list of places to visit! Need to make them give Constantinople back to Greece before I can go see it I guess.

And I really didn't need to see this before I go work in Turkey's religious-nut cousin either

Azi

Don't you think you are overreacting? The Turks are among the most hospitable people in the world and they have a good sense of humour too. If you have a chance to visit, say, İstanbul, you would be a complete idiot to miss it. İstanbul is a country by itself, a huge sprawling city with a riverfront that hasn't been destroyed by developers, it has layer upon layer of magnificent history, great food, bookshops and libraries, incredible antiques, storytellers on streetcorners, beautiful women, nightlife, &cetera &cetera. And in the early morning you sit down in one the docks with coffee and a ciggy and watch the sun rise thorugh the Bosporus fog.