Recent Christian Persecution in Turkey

On 18 April of this year, three Christians were murdered in an attack that took place at a Christian publishing house in Malatya, Turkey.

The victims were Turkish converts Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, and German Christian Tilmann Geske.

Shortly afterwards, details began to emerge of the horrific torture the victims had suffered before being killed:-

The three Christians who were martyred in Turkey last week were horribly tortured for three hours prior to being killed, Christian Today has learned, as details continue to emerge.

According to the Washington-DC based human rights group International Christian Concern, the three were put through a horrific ordeal which included multiple stabbings before finally being killed.

An ICC statement tells: “As difficult and sorrowful as it is to learn more, we believe that we must expose the truly hellish nature of this attack for what it is.”

On Easter Sunday, five of the killers had been to a service that one of the victims, Pastor Necati, had arranged in the city of Malatya.

The attackers had pretended an interest in Christianity and had met with their victims on the pretext of learning more about the bible. They first tied their victims to chairs and then proceeded to torture them:-

ICC then continued to describe the nature of the torture, which included disembowelment, emasculation, and the slicing open of various orifices.

“Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur’s stabs were too numerous to count. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated,” ICC reports.

Five Turkish Muslims were quickly arrested and charged with these crimes. Their trial is due to start on November 23:-

All news about the pending trial in the Turkish press last week sensationalized justifications the killers offered for their crimes while under police interrogation, including far-fetched allegations against the victims.
. . .
One headline of one of the most repeated claims read, “Missionaries were linked with the PKK,” highlighting the murderers’ claim that the three Christians had “praised” the violent, separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
. . .

Sabah newspaper’s headline quoted Emre Gunaydin, the alleged ringleader of the five killers, as saying, “We committed murder out of fear they would harm our families.”

One newspaper, the widely circulated Hurriyet, targeted a Protestant pastor in western Turkey by naming him in its headline. The report quoted Gunaydin’s claim that he had planned to travel to kill the pastor once they had murdered the other three.

Most of the news reports also repeated Gunaydin’s claim that the Christians were forcing local girls into prostitution.

“It is clear from these statements of the suspects that there is some group of powerful influence behind them,” spokesperson Isa Karatas of the Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey told Compass. “These people want to portray Turkey’s Protestants as enemies of the nation.

“At the same time,” he added, “because honor is such an important concept in our culture, they are trying to accuse us of having weak morals, so that they can find a justification for their murders.”

The slayers had claimed the motive for the gruesome torture and murder of Aydin, Yuksel and Geske was to stop Christians from defaming Islam and the Turkish nation.

While this crime was condemned by the Turkish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Niyazi Güney, Justice Ministry Statutes Directorate General manager said:-

"Missionary work is even more dangerous than terrorism and unfortunately is not considered a crime in Turkey."

This article describes the effect of Pastor Necati Aydın death on his family:-

On a recent Sunday night while on the way home from church services, a sad little voice came from the back seat of the car.

“Mommy, I miss my Daddy so much. Can't Jesus bring him back to us?”

Her mother sighed, and then turned from the front seat to explain gently once more to her 6-year-old daughter, "Esther, Jesus decided to take Daddy to heaven, to be with Him. So we have to wait until Jesus takes us to heaven to see Daddy again."

The little girl thought for a few seconds and then declared, "Well, if Daddy isn't coming back, then I want to go to heaven too!"

. . .

As their mother put them to bed on another recent evening, Elisha finally asked, "Mommy, are you crying about Daddy?"

Admitting it had been hard for her to cry since his death, his mother told him, "I am crying in my heart every day, Elisha."

Bravely trying to comfort her, Elisha answered, "You don't need to cry, Mommy. We know he is in heaven with Jesus, along with Uncle Ugur and Uncle Tilmann."

. . .

Ten years ago, Necati Aydin's strict Muslim family had violently opposed his decision to become a Christian. They literally kidnapped him when they learned of his pending marriage, threatening both of them if he did not change his mind and come back to Islam.

"I was afraid for his life, and that he would renounce Jesus," Aydin

said. "So I told the Lord I would give him up, that I would sacrifice our marriage. I prayed that the Lord would just keep Necati for Himself, not for me."

But Necati Aydin stayed firm in his new faith in Christ and, after writing a farewell letter to his family, he married Semse in 1998.

In reading about these dreadful killings we must try to emulate the example set by Semse Aydin:-

Despite the personal cost of her pain, Aydin stands by her public statement to the Turkish media two days after her husband's death, declaring that she has forgiven the five culprits, now jailed and awaiting trial.

In fact, she is actively praying for at least one of them to repent of their deeds and come to faith in Christ.