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Updated 9/1/2010 8:21 PM GMT

Turkey

Trial over ‘Insulting Turkishness’ Again Yields No Evidence

Published in 2010

ISTANBUL, May 28 (CDN) — The 11th hearing of a case of two Turkish Christians accused of "insulting Turkishness" closed just minutes after it opened this week, due to lack of any progress. Prosecutors produced no new evidence against Hakan Tastan and Turan ....

New Evidence Stalls Murder Trial in Malatya, Turkey

Published in 2010

MALATYA, Turkey, April 21 (CDN) — On the eve of three-year commemorations of the murders of three Christians in southeast Turkey, defense lawyers’ absence and new evidence kept a Malatya court from concluding the case here on Thursday (April 15). Two defense lawyers ....

Turkish Court Pushes to Close Malatya Murder Case

Published in 2010

MALATYA, Turkey, February 24 (CDN) — On Friday (Feb. 19) judges eager to wrap up the trial over the murder of three Christians here rejected plaintiff appeals to investigate the suspected masterminds behind the stabbing deaths. At the 24th hearing regarding the 2007 murders of Turkish ....

Baseless Case Against Turkish Christians Further Prolonged

Published in 2010

SILIVRI, Turkey, February 15 (CDN) — Barely five minutes into the latest hearing of a more than three-year-old case against two Christians accused of “insulting Turkishness and Islam,” the session was over.The prosecution had failed to produce their three final witnesses to testify ....

Assailant in Street Attack in Turkey Ordered Released

Published in 2010

ISTANBUL, February 12 (CDN) — An Istanbul court has ordered the release of a jailed Turk who publicly threatened and held a knife to the throat of a Christian he attacked six months ago. In a ruling on Wednesday (Feb. 10), the Kadikoy Seventh Court of First Instance convicted ....

European Court Rules Against Turkey’s Religion ID

Published in 2010

ISTANBUL, February 5 (CDN) — A European court on Tuesday (Feb. 2) ordered Turkey to remove the religious affiliation section from citizens’ identification cards, calling the practice a violation of human rights. Religious minorities and in particular Christian converts in ....

Turkish Court Seeks to Link Murder of Christians to ‘Cage Plan’

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, December 29 (CDN) — Malatya’s Third Criminal Court on Friday (Dec. 25) took further steps to connect the murders of three Christians in southeastern Turkey to a Turkish military plan to destabilize the pro-Islamic government. Evidence surfaced in Turkish ....

European Human Rights Court Rules in Favor of Turkish Church

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, December 18 (CDN) — In a decision many hope will lead to greater religious freedom in Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that a Turkish court ruling barring a church from starting a foundation violated the congregation’s right to freedom of ....

Plot Targeting Turkey’s Religious Minorities Allegedly Discovered

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, December 16 (CDN) — ISTANBUL, December 16 (Compass Direct News) – Chilling allegations emerged last month of a detailed plot by Turkish naval officers to perpetrate threats and violence against the nation’s non-Muslims in an effort to implicate and unseat Turkey’s ....

Turks Threaten to Kill Priest over Swiss Minaret Decision

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, December 15 (CDN) — In response to a Swiss vote banning the construction of new mosque minarets, a group of Muslims this month went into a church building in eastern Turkey and threatened to kill a priest unless he tore down its bell tower, according to an advocacy ....

More than Half in Turkey Oppose Non-Muslim Religious Meetings

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, December 4 (CDN) — More than half of the population of Muslim-majority Turkey opposes members of other religions holding meetings or publishing materials to explain their faith, according to a recently issued survey. Fully 59 percent of those surveyed said ....

Court Seeks Help to Link Murders in Turkey to ‘Deep State’

Published in 2009

MALATYA, Turkey, November 17 (CDN) — Judges and prosecutors in the trial regarding the murder of three Christians in this southeastern city in Turkey on Friday (Nov. 13) renewed their request for help from the Istanbul High Criminal Court as reports mounted linking the slayings to top ....

Turkish Police Official Axed amid Allegations in Murders

Published in 2009

MALATYA, Turkey, October 22 (CDN) — The head of Turkey’s police intelligence department was removed on Friday (Oct. 16) amid allegations that he failed to prevent the murder of the Christian editor of an Armenian weekly and the slayings of three Christians in this city in southeastern ....

Lawyer Calls Turkish Christians’ Trial a ‘Scandal’

Published in 2009

SILIVRI, Turkey, October 16 (CDN) — After three prosecution witnesses testified yesterday that they didn’t even know two Christians on trial for “insulting Turkishness and Islam,” a defense lawyer called the trial a “scandal.” Speaking after yesterday’s hearing in the drawn-out ....

Turkish Murder Defendant again Admits Perjury

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, August 25 (CDN) — Turkish murder suspect Emre Gunaydin admitted in court last week that he had again committed perjury in the trial over the savage murders of three Christians in southeast Turkey. Gunaydin, 21, faced off in Malatya’s Third Criminal Court on ....

Turkish Christian Held Hostage at Knife Point

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, August 6 (CDN) — In a bizarre show of Turkish nationalism, a young Muslim here took a Christian Turk at knife point, draped his head with the national flag and threatened to slit the throat of the “missionary dog” in broad daylight earlier this week. Yasin ....

Christian Murdered on Busy Street in Istanbul, Turkey

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, July 28 (CDN) — On a crowded street here last week a German businessman died after a Turk with a history of mental problems stabbed him for being a Christian. Witnesses saw İbrahim Akyol, 26, stab Gregor Kerkeling in the chest on July 20 at 10:50 a.m. after ....

Turkish ‘Deep State’ Suspected of Silencing Witnesses

Published in 2009

MALATYA, Turkey, July 21 (CDN) — Under the pretext of recovering from medical treatment he received earlier this month, a key suspect in the murders of three Christians in southeast Turkey dodged court for the second time, further stalling the legal process, prosecuting attorneys ....

Alleged ‘Middleman’ in Murders in Turkey a No-Show

Published in 2009

MALATYA, Turkey, June 25 (CDN) — A suspected “middleman” between the alleged masterminds and young executors in the stabbing murders of three Christians here failed to appear at a hearing on Friday (June 19) because of a procedural error.The state prosecutor’s office failed to set ....

Iranian Refugee in Turkey Beaten for His Faith

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, June 15 (CDN) — Since Iranian native Nasser Ghorbani fled to Turkey seven years ago, he has been unable to keep a job for more than a year – eventually his co-workers would ask why he didn’t come to the mosque on Fridays, and one way or another they’d learn that he ....

Efforts to Tie Malatya Murders to ‘Deep State’ Fizzle in Turkey

Published in 2009

MALATYA, Turkey, May 28 (CDN) — Prosecution efforts to tie the murderers of three Christians here to state-linked masterminds were set back on Friday (May 22) when the alleged ring-leader unexpectedly contradicted his previous testimony implicating a suspected “middleman.” As ....

Local Officials' Role Emerges in Malatya Murders

Published in 2009

MALATYA, Turkey, April 15 (CDN) — Two years after the murder of three Christians in this city in southeastern Turkey, lawyers at a hearing here on Monday (April 13) uncovered important information on the role that local security forces played in the slaughter. At the 16th hearing of ....

Christians May Appeal Fine for ‘Illegal’ Funds

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, March 26 (CDN) — Fearing that a court-ordered fine of two Turkish Christians here for “illegal collection of funds” would set a precedent crippling to churches, their lawyer plans to take the case to a European court. Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal each paid the fine ....

‘Insulting Turkishness’ Case Proceeds under Revised Law

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, March 20 (CDN) — Turkey’s decision last month to try two Christians under a revised version of a controversial law for “insulting Turkishness” because they spoke about their faith came as a blow to the country’s record of freedom of speech and religion. A Silivri ....

Links to Masterminds of Murders in Malatya Pursued

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, February 24 (CDN) — The identities of the middlemen linking the attackers and the alleged masterminds in the murder of three Christians in Malatya, Turkey are expected to take clearer focus following the latest hearing. “These five troubled youths didn’t wake up one ....

Christian Bookshop in Adana Vandalized

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, February 17 (CDN) — Following threats from Muslim nationalists, a Turkish Bible Society bookshop in the southern city of Adana was vandalized for the second time in a week on Thursday (Feb. 12).Security camera footage shows two youths attacking the storefront of the ....

Two More Arrested in Malatya Murders

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, February 12 (CDN) — A Turkish court has charged two more men for instigating the murder of three Christians in Malatya in 2007 – a former volunteer worker at the Christian publishing house where they were killed, and an ex-journalist suspected of ties to a group that ....

Ancient Monastery Threatened

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, January 22 (CDN) — Syriac Christians in southeastern Turkey say a land dispute over the historic Mor Gabriel Monastery is part of a larger system of discrimination against the religious minority in this overwhelmingly Islamic country. Muslim residents of southeastern ....

Lawyers Move to Expand Scope of Malatya Trial

Published in 2009

MALATYA, Turkey, January 20 (CDN) — Lawyers in the case of three Christians who were murdered for their faith here are lining up witnesses in an effort to expand the accused from five young suspects to subversive forces at the top of state power. Evidence in recent hearings suggests ....

Muslim Sentenced for Stabbing Priest in Izmir

Published in 2009

ISTANBUL, January 12 (CDN) — A judge in Turkey sentenced a 19-year-old Muslim to four-and-a-half years in prison on Jan. 5 for stabbing a Catholic priest in the coastal city of Izmir in December 2007. Ramazan Bay, then 17, had met with Father Adriano Franchini, a 65-year-old ....