Greek Church attacked in Turkey

[Tsontos]

A Greek church, whats left of it, the Agaph church in Samsun has been stoned, presumably by Turkish nationalists. They are still attacking old Greek churches when their are no Greeks that part of the country country:clap2:

Unidentified attackers stone Turkish church in north

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Unidentified attackers threw stones at a church in the northern Turkish town of Samsun yesterday in the latest attack on Christians in predominantly Muslim Turkey, the Anatolia news agency said. Windows were broken but Mehmet Orhan Picakcilar, a priest at the Agape Church, was quoted as saying there were no casualties. “This does damage to Turkey. This attack depicts Turkey in a bad way before international public opinion,” Picakcilar said. A Catholic priest was killed in his church in Trabzon last February by a Turkish teenager.

[Tsontos]

apparently its got to do with "revenge" for the "reaction" to the murder of Armenian author Dink. I didnt realise it was possible to avenge a reaction to a MURDER of cold blood! But once again the grey wolves have taken their stupidities to new heights

Popular sentiment over Dink killing causes backlash

The New Anatolian / Ankara with wires
29 January 2007


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An unknown group over the weekend stoned a two-story building housing a Protestant church in the northern city of Samsun in the backdrop of chaotic atmosphere triggered by the Armenian origin Turkish journalist Hrant Dink murder.

Dink was killed by an underage gunman fro neighboring Trabzon "under influence of nationalist feelings," as put by Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, last Friday in front of his bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos. The killing peaked tension in the country and ended up with suspension of two top state officials of Trabzon, Governor Huseyin Yavuzdemir and Police Chief Resat Altay.

The gunman and two other people allegedly encouraged the murder were arrested. The police and the Interior Ministry said the murder was isolated incident and that the gunman has no relation with an ideological group.

However daily Radikal on Sunday claimed that there was a second man at the crime scene with Samast contrary to all police reports. The claim was not supported by other media institutions, but the police have yet to deny it.

"The assailants broke at least 10 windows in an overnight attack," Mehmet Orhan Picaklar, the pastor of the Agape Church, told The Associated Press by telephone. "This is the seventh or eight such attack over the past three years.

Separately, I am constantly receiving death threats by e-mail."

The killer, Ogun Samast, was caught by the police at the bus station of Samsun a day after the assassination. Thousands shouted "We're all Hrant, We're all Armenian," at Dink's funeral ceremony which was met by a political backlash putting scolding the participants for the slogans they shouted.

Turkish people are not Armenian or Hrant, these slogans bear rather dangerous symbolic connotations which meant to alienate Turkish people from their national identity, several political party elites argued.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the latest comment over the slogans, said people should me more careful about what they're saying.

The attack to Samsun's church also recalled the killing of Italian Catholic Priest Andrea Santoro, who was gunned down by yet another underage who is reported to be a mentally unbalanced high school boy.

The attack was believed linked to widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Two other Catholic priests were also attacked last year.

Picaklar said the church had moved into the building just two weeks ago. Uniformed police officers were deployed outside the church after the attack.

Of Turkey's 70 million people, some 65,000 are Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 are Roman Catholic, and 3,500 are Protestant, mostly converts from Islam.

Arabaslik: Man who threatened to blow up ferry detained

Also over the weekend the police have detained a man who held up a ferry and threatened to blow it up to protests against pro-Armenian slogans chanted at Dink's funeral.

The man, claiming to be armed and have plastic explosives on him, seized the ferry in the Dardanelles strait as it was on its way from Gelibolu to Lapseki late Saturday, said Yusuf Ziya Ince, deputy governor of Canakkale province. Ince identified the hijacker as Nihat Acar.

He gave himself up to police after 2-and-a-half hours and released all passengers unharmed, Ince said. A private news agency said there were 80 passengers aboard the ferry.

The man was carrying a fake gun but no explosives, Ince said. Police were investigating reports that the man was a former army sergeant. Reports said Acar was discharged from the military in 2002 for disciplinary reasons but did not provide details.

Television footage showed the man shouting, "I did it for the country," as he was being led away from the ferry to a police vehicle.

Ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who spoke out about the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century, was gunned down outside his newspaper a week ago.

His funeral inspired a massive outpouring of support for reconciliation between Armenians and Turks.

Ince said the man was angered by the pro-Armenian slogans chanted at the funeral. The protester called himself a "Patriotic Turkish Fedai," or one who sacrifices himself for homeland, and unfurled a Turkish flag aboard the ferry, Ince said.

[Spartan]

"Turkish people are not Armenian or Hrant, these slogans bear rather dangerous symbolic connotations which meant to alienate Turkish people from their national identity, several political party elites argued."

This is the funniest line! Yeah right so minorities and other ethnicities don't exist in Turkey?! They also seem to forget that there is a huge difference between Ethnicity and Nationality.

Of course this goes along the lines that country has had since the Young Turks. One that all people are Turkish irrespective of their Ethnicities and if you refuse to believe that you will be harrassed, killed or imprisoned for believing so! What a joke!