Turkey:
Malatya murder scandal

By Elizabeth Kendal, World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC),
Special to ASSIST News Service, December 12, 2007

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- As was reported in RLP 454, the files prepared by prosecutors for the Malatya murder trial focus primarily on the 'missionary activities' of the three victims -- Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and Tilmann Geske -- while failing to investigate the crime or its perpetrators. The prosecutors and much of the Turkish media appear keen to find justification for the murders. Furthermore, the prosecutors included in the files (which are public and available to the killers) material downloaded from the personal computers of Necati, Ugur and Tilmann, including the contact details of numerous Christians. We specifically asked God to 'protect Christians, reveal truth, and secure justice'.

Investigation of the prosecutor's files has revealed some ugly truths, resulting in scandal and a media storm. Compass Direct reports it appears the murderers had 'direct, repeated links with local police officers, members of the special military forces, a regional council member of the Nationalist Movement Party and even a chief public prosecutor'. Turkey's Interior Ministry has now opened a judicial investigation into alleged collusion of public officials. Investigators want to know why the prosecutors did not pursue evidence they had, such as cell phone records, video footage (now erased), incriminating letters from informers (including one who was willing to testify) and links to leading ultra-nationalists.

At the time of the murders, RLP 427 (2 May) commented: 'Turkey at the moment is like a restless sea with several dangerous currents getting stronger and stronger, threatening to create a serious storm.' We prayed for the storm to be stilled (Matthew 8:23-27). These 'dangerous currents' are being whipped up by monster s raging with agitation. The stronger one is 'Turkish nationalism' and the weaker but growing one is 'Islam'. Please pray that they will be fully exposed, confronted and dealt with.

See Compass Direct for a full report.

For WEA RL Prayer and News & Analysis on Turkey go to http://www.ea.org.au and run a site search for Turkey.