TURKI: penganiayaan luas terhdp Kristen****
Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:59 pm
Inikah negara sekuler yg di-idamkan Kemal Ataturk ?
Tunggu ... tunggu ... apa kalian bilang ? Ini khan karena orang2nya yang jahat, bukan agamanya ... agama Islam khan damai ... YEAH RIGHT ! IF ISLAM IS PEACEFUL, I AM THE QUEEN OF SHEBA !!!
(Blind assholes !)
http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/news/news ... 001389.php
TURKEY – Anti-missionary 'witch-hunt' haunts city
21/04/06
Followers of Jesus live in 'disgrace'
The Gunyels
Fanned by local media and a Muslim mufti, an anti-missionary witch-hunt targeting Christians in Turkey's eastern city of Bingol left a Muslim woman beaten in her tailor shop last month whilst police allowed her attacker to walk free.
Guler Morsumbul has not yet found a lawyer willing to represent her in court against the man who attacked her six weeks ago, accusing her of 'Christianising' his daughter.[/b'
On the morning of 8 March, Mehmet Caf entered the Muslim woman's tailor shop in Bingol's city centre, vandalised the premises and beat Guler's face black and blue.
In front of police and Guler's neighbours, Mr Caf claimed Guler had been trying to "Christianise" his 13-year old daughter, Bingol's local Kent Haber newspaper reported on 9 March.
'We're Being Christianised' shouted the paper's banner headline. Providing only Mr Caf's initials, the article quoted his claims that Guler and other 'missionaries' had forced his daughter and 100 other students to attend a secret mass.
Ismet Gunyel, a relative of Guler's and one of only four known Christians in the city, confirmed reports that Mr Caf had not been arrested. But he refuted Kent Haber's claims that Guler and her husband did not want to open a case against Mr Caf.
Another relative of Guler, who requested anonymity, confirmed that the woman's family wished to prosecute Mr Caf:
"She is the complainant in the case," the relative said. "They should have arrested Mr Caf, but they didn't and he's still free."
Mr Gunyel told Compass that it took Guler, aged 49, three days to find a doctor who was willing to examine her and issue a medical report. Finding a lawyer has been even more difficult.
As one local source commented, area lawyers have said in essence, "I don't want to be an advocate for these missionaries."
Climate of fear
Mr Gunyel told journalists that many others have suffered from rising anti-missionary sentiment in Bingol since reports of missionary activity first appeared in a national newspaper three years ago.
"Whoever has a grudge against someone else, whoever wants to destroy someone's business, simply calls the other person a Christian," said the 45-year old who converted to Christianity over 10 years ago.
According to Mr Gunyel, Caf attacked Guler as part of a revenge campaign by one of Mr Caf's relatives, a former business partner, and now competitor, of Guler's husband.
After the two business associates parted ways in 2004, Caf's family began to spread rumours that the Morsumbuls were building a church and converting Muslims.
Mr Gunyel said the main responsibility for the growing fear of missionaries in the city lay primarily with Bingol's mufti, Yalcin Topcu. As the state-appointed Muslim authority for the province, the mufti had organised an anti-missionary conference in 2004.
Yet in an interview with Compass Direct, Mr Topcu said anti-missionary fears in Bingol were so strong that he himself was a potential victim.
When Guler's husband came to see him after she was attacked, the mufti said, "I told him, 'If today I support you and explain everything, tomorrow they're going to come after me and say I was the one doing Christian propaganda.' I don't feel safe."
'Complete disgrace'
Talk of suspected Christian proselytising first emerged in May 2003, when Mr Gunyel helped Turkish Christians from the nearby city of Diyarbakir distribute tents in the wake of an earthquake.
A 22 May article in the national daily Vakit claimed Mr Gunyel was helping missionaries "profit from the suffering of the earthquake victims" by distributing Bibles in relief packages.
Mr Gunyel said that life with his wife and two sons (also Christians) remained relatively peaceful until January 2004, when they happened to appear on national television attending a church service.
During the evening news, Kanal 7 TV station ran a 10-minute clip on the Turkish Protestant Church in Diyarbakir, where Mr Gunyel and his family happened to be visiting. Mrs Gunyel drew the attention of both television cameras and commentators because her head was covered in the typical Islamic style.
"After that, everyone in Bingol started to ask questions," Mr Gunyel told reporters. Neighbours and relatives reacted by cutting all ties with the family. "Our business relations terminated. Our lives were a complete disgrace."
Mufti Topcu said that in order to help 'ease everyone's anxiety', his office organised a week-long conference in April 2004 on the danger of missionary activities in Bingol.
"Don't give in to the illusion that our surroundings are secure," the conference's keynote speaker, Mehmet Keskin from the Ankara Religious Affairs Directorate, was quoted by local Bingol newspaper as saying.
According to the 8 April 2004 article, Mr Keskin claimed there had been reports that 50 to 60 people in Bingol had converted to Christianity and were trying to take over Turkish soil.
Mr Gunyel said that, far from calming fears, the conference only made the situation worse:
"At that time we were always afraid," the Christian said. "They were talking about missionaries, but in a qualified way they were talking about us, because there are no other Christians in Bingol."
Mr Gunyel told reporters his relatives were constantly threatened with violence if Mr Gunyel did not publicly renounce Christianity or leave the city.
Soon after the conference, a group of women barged into a store belonging to one of his relatives, thinking it belonged to Mr Gunyel. Store employees quickly told the women they had come to the wrong place; when the women asked them for directions to Mr Gunyel's clothing shop, they claimed ignorance.
"Those were terrible days. We kept thinking, 'Now they're going to attack us,'" Mr Gunyel said. "Within seven months of the conference I suffered a terrible heart attack."
The 15 November 2004 heart attack left the Christian dependent on medication to control erratic blood pressure.
"All of this is happening because of the mufti," a relative of Mr Gunyel's opined. "He really wants to drive Mr Gunyel out of this city."
Rights advocate deported
Mr Gunyel also took issue with Bingol's governor and security directorate for remaining silent on the issue.
Bingol Gov Vehbi Avuc repeatedly declined to talk with journalists by telephone, and his personal secretary said he had no knowledge of the situation.
Mufti Topcu acknowledged that anti-missionary fears had been misused for personal advantage but also said that missionaries with ulterior political motives were a problem in Bingol:
"In my personal opinion, missionary activities are political – they aren't actually a service to religion."
With the resurgence of Kurdish separatist attacks throughout Turkey in the past year, Bingol's ethnic Kurdish majority has made city officials especially sensitive to perceived political meddling.
Last week Turkey deported Human Rights Watch researcher Jonathan Sugden, who was investigating human rights abuses in Bingol.
The British national said he had been officially deported on 13 April for carrying out research on a tourist visa. Thus he refuted claims by Turkish media that he had been 'making inflammatory speeches to villagers'.
Mr Gunyel admitted he was worried that anti-missionary violence will continue if Mr Caf is not duly punished. He said that, as Christians, his own family is in danger now because anyone can "go to Bingol, beat up someone and not get arrested because the person they beat up is [labelled] a Christian."
Compass | Easy print
Tunggu ... tunggu ... apa kalian bilang ? Ini khan karena orang2nya yang jahat, bukan agamanya ... agama Islam khan damai ... YEAH RIGHT ! IF ISLAM IS PEACEFUL, I AM THE QUEEN OF SHEBA !!!
(Blind assholes !)
http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/news/news ... 001389.php
TURKEY – Anti-missionary 'witch-hunt' haunts city
21/04/06
Followers of Jesus live in 'disgrace'
The Gunyels
Fanned by local media and a Muslim mufti, an anti-missionary witch-hunt targeting Christians in Turkey's eastern city of Bingol left a Muslim woman beaten in her tailor shop last month whilst police allowed her attacker to walk free.
Guler Morsumbul has not yet found a lawyer willing to represent her in court against the man who attacked her six weeks ago, accusing her of 'Christianising' his daughter.[/b'
On the morning of 8 March, Mehmet Caf entered the Muslim woman's tailor shop in Bingol's city centre, vandalised the premises and beat Guler's face black and blue.
In front of police and Guler's neighbours, Mr Caf claimed Guler had been trying to "Christianise" his 13-year old daughter, Bingol's local Kent Haber newspaper reported on 9 March.
'We're Being Christianised' shouted the paper's banner headline. Providing only Mr Caf's initials, the article quoted his claims that Guler and other 'missionaries' had forced his daughter and 100 other students to attend a secret mass.
Ismet Gunyel, a relative of Guler's and one of only four known Christians in the city, confirmed reports that Mr Caf had not been arrested. But he refuted Kent Haber's claims that Guler and her husband did not want to open a case against Mr Caf.
Another relative of Guler, who requested anonymity, confirmed that the woman's family wished to prosecute Mr Caf:
"She is the complainant in the case," the relative said. "They should have arrested Mr Caf, but they didn't and he's still free."
Mr Gunyel told Compass that it took Guler, aged 49, three days to find a doctor who was willing to examine her and issue a medical report. Finding a lawyer has been even more difficult.
As one local source commented, area lawyers have said in essence, "I don't want to be an advocate for these missionaries."
Climate of fear
Mr Gunyel told journalists that many others have suffered from rising anti-missionary sentiment in Bingol since reports of missionary activity first appeared in a national newspaper three years ago.
"Whoever has a grudge against someone else, whoever wants to destroy someone's business, simply calls the other person a Christian," said the 45-year old who converted to Christianity over 10 years ago.
According to Mr Gunyel, Caf attacked Guler as part of a revenge campaign by one of Mr Caf's relatives, a former business partner, and now competitor, of Guler's husband.
After the two business associates parted ways in 2004, Caf's family began to spread rumours that the Morsumbuls were building a church and converting Muslims.
Mr Gunyel said the main responsibility for the growing fear of missionaries in the city lay primarily with Bingol's mufti, Yalcin Topcu. As the state-appointed Muslim authority for the province, the mufti had organised an anti-missionary conference in 2004.
Yet in an interview with Compass Direct, Mr Topcu said anti-missionary fears in Bingol were so strong that he himself was a potential victim.
When Guler's husband came to see him after she was attacked, the mufti said, "I told him, 'If today I support you and explain everything, tomorrow they're going to come after me and say I was the one doing Christian propaganda.' I don't feel safe."
'Complete disgrace'
Talk of suspected Christian proselytising first emerged in May 2003, when Mr Gunyel helped Turkish Christians from the nearby city of Diyarbakir distribute tents in the wake of an earthquake.
A 22 May article in the national daily Vakit claimed Mr Gunyel was helping missionaries "profit from the suffering of the earthquake victims" by distributing Bibles in relief packages.
Mr Gunyel said that life with his wife and two sons (also Christians) remained relatively peaceful until January 2004, when they happened to appear on national television attending a church service.
During the evening news, Kanal 7 TV station ran a 10-minute clip on the Turkish Protestant Church in Diyarbakir, where Mr Gunyel and his family happened to be visiting. Mrs Gunyel drew the attention of both television cameras and commentators because her head was covered in the typical Islamic style.
"After that, everyone in Bingol started to ask questions," Mr Gunyel told reporters. Neighbours and relatives reacted by cutting all ties with the family. "Our business relations terminated. Our lives were a complete disgrace."
Mufti Topcu said that in order to help 'ease everyone's anxiety', his office organised a week-long conference in April 2004 on the danger of missionary activities in Bingol.
"Don't give in to the illusion that our surroundings are secure," the conference's keynote speaker, Mehmet Keskin from the Ankara Religious Affairs Directorate, was quoted by local Bingol newspaper as saying.
According to the 8 April 2004 article, Mr Keskin claimed there had been reports that 50 to 60 people in Bingol had converted to Christianity and were trying to take over Turkish soil.
Mr Gunyel said that, far from calming fears, the conference only made the situation worse:
"At that time we were always afraid," the Christian said. "They were talking about missionaries, but in a qualified way they were talking about us, because there are no other Christians in Bingol."
Mr Gunyel told reporters his relatives were constantly threatened with violence if Mr Gunyel did not publicly renounce Christianity or leave the city.
Soon after the conference, a group of women barged into a store belonging to one of his relatives, thinking it belonged to Mr Gunyel. Store employees quickly told the women they had come to the wrong place; when the women asked them for directions to Mr Gunyel's clothing shop, they claimed ignorance.
"Those were terrible days. We kept thinking, 'Now they're going to attack us,'" Mr Gunyel said. "Within seven months of the conference I suffered a terrible heart attack."
The 15 November 2004 heart attack left the Christian dependent on medication to control erratic blood pressure.
"All of this is happening because of the mufti," a relative of Mr Gunyel's opined. "He really wants to drive Mr Gunyel out of this city."
Rights advocate deported
Mr Gunyel also took issue with Bingol's governor and security directorate for remaining silent on the issue.
Bingol Gov Vehbi Avuc repeatedly declined to talk with journalists by telephone, and his personal secretary said he had no knowledge of the situation.
Mufti Topcu acknowledged that anti-missionary fears had been misused for personal advantage but also said that missionaries with ulterior political motives were a problem in Bingol:
"In my personal opinion, missionary activities are political – they aren't actually a service to religion."
With the resurgence of Kurdish separatist attacks throughout Turkey in the past year, Bingol's ethnic Kurdish majority has made city officials especially sensitive to perceived political meddling.
Last week Turkey deported Human Rights Watch researcher Jonathan Sugden, who was investigating human rights abuses in Bingol.
The British national said he had been officially deported on 13 April for carrying out research on a tourist visa. Thus he refuted claims by Turkish media that he had been 'making inflammatory speeches to villagers'.
Mr Gunyel admitted he was worried that anti-missionary violence will continue if Mr Caf is not duly punished. He said that, as Christians, his own family is in danger now because anyone can "go to Bingol, beat up someone and not get arrested because the person they beat up is [labelled] a Christian."
Compass | Easy print