Tag: Malatya

Turkish military linked to Christian murders

September 26, 2013 Turkey Converts, Malatya, Trabzon

Memorial photo banner of the three slain Malatya victims: Ugur Yuksel, Necati Aydin, and Tilmann Geske, April 2008.World Watch Monitor Nearly six years into the court trial over the murder of three Christians in southeastern Turkey, documents have emerged confirming that secret military units were involved in those assassinations . . . Read More

Police break up plot to assassinate Turkish pastor

January 18, 2013 Turkey Converts, Diyarbakir, Izmit, Malatya, Turkey

Police in Turkey say they thwarted an assassination plot against a Christian pastor Tuesday when they arrested 14 suspects, two of whom had been part of his congregation for more than a year. Emre Karaali, pastor of Izmit Protestant Church and the target of the alleged plot, said two of . . . Read More

Prosecutor yanked from Turkish Christian murder trials

December 7, 2012 Turkey Malatya

A High Council prosecutor probing links between the Malatya murders of three Christians in eastern Turkey and the earlier assassination of a Christian newspaper editor was abruptly transferred from his position last week and re-assigned prosecution duties in an Istanbul court. Prosecutor Hikmet Usta was preparing objections to the verdict . . . Read More

Perpetrators of Turkey’s ‘Malatya Massacre’ Put on Trial

September 19, 2012 Turkey Malatya

Nineteen suspects accused of inciting the brutal 2007 murders of three Christians in eastern Turkey went on trial before Malatya’s Third Criminal Court in early September. With the court’s acceptance in June of a third indictment in the case, known as the “Malatya Massacre” in the Turkish media, allegations against . . . Read More

Attacked Turkish pastor joins in memorials for slain Christians

April 18, 2012 Turkey Malatya, Mardin, Turkey

After a memorial service for three Christians who were murdered in Malatya, Turkey five years ago today, an Istanbul pastor who was attacked over Easter weekend said he’s experienced hostility from Muslims nearly all his life. Semir Serkek, 58, pastor of Grace Church in Istanbul’s Bahcelievler district, said he personally . . . Read More

Turkey’s religious freedom record slides

April 9, 2012 Turkey Greek Orthodox, Malatya, Orhan Picaklar, Religious freedom, Turkey

Sentiment against Christians in Turkey has persisted long enough for a U.S. religious rights monitor to recommend it as a “Country of Particular Concern,” and pastor Orhan Picaklar knows such anti-Christian hostility first-hand. Picaklar, of Agape Church in Samsun, lives in the Black Sea region, a bastion of Turkey’s unique . . . Read More

Indictment of ‘masterminds’ of murders in Turkey expected

February 28, 2012 Turkey Armenians, Malatya, Trabzon, Turkey

Judges in Turkey’s southeastern city of Malatya have announced the preparation of an indictment in the case of three murdered Christians that is expected to reveal a shadowy network that incited five young men to carry out the crime. The Third Criminal Court of Malatya is expected to announce the . . . Read More

Turkish Christians subject to discrimination, attacks, report says

February 14, 2012 Turkey Education, Malatya, Protestants, Turkey

Despite some promising developments, Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media, according to a study by a Protestant group. In its annual “Report on Human Rights Violations,” released in January, the country’s Association . . . Read More

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