|
Turkey Shocked By "Savage" Triple Murder of Christians
Turkey's mainstream media is headlining its front-page stories on yesterday's murders in Malatya "Savagery" (see "Turkish Daily: Three Dead in Grisly Attack at Bible Publishing House"). Protestors at a demonstration in Istanbul hours after the murders carried signs saying "We Are All Christians" (see photo). While foreign media have been attributing the execution-style murders to increasing Turkish nationalism, the Turkish press is pointing fingers at the growing Islamism and intolerance over the last few years. The three Christian victims, two Turks and a German citizen, worked in the city of Malatya at a branch of the Zirve publishing house, which prints and distributes Christian Bibles. According to reports, five assailants entered their third floor office, bound the victims' hands and feet, and slit their throats. According to some, the manner of the slaying links the crime to the Kurdish Islamist organization Hizbullah in Turkey, which aims to establish an Islamist state in southeast Turkey, and had allegedly enjoyed government support in the past as an antidote to PKK terrorism. The organization is not connected to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Four assailants were captured at the crime scene and one, believed to be the mastermind, was arrested outside the building after he threw himself out a window. All five are aged 19-20. Sources: Hurriyet, Vatan, Zaman, Turkey, April 19, 2007
Posted at: 2007-04-19
| 
