Korean murdered in southeast Turkey ‘for mobile phone’

Korean murdered in southeast Turkey ‘for mobile phone’
Criminal investigations into the stabbing to death of a Korean Christian last week in southeast Turkey’s largest city are continuing under a cloak of judicial secrecy, as authorities search for evidence to resolve the controversy over the killer’s motive. South Korean Jin-Wook Kim, 41, was murdered in a late-night Nov. . . . Read More

Pastor Brunson case increased ‘hate speech’ against Turkey’s Protestants – report

Malatya’s Kurtulus (Salvation) Church posted this message on the broken glass after an attacker heaved a brick through the church’s display window on November 24, 2017:  “’Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.’ – Jesus Christ.” (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
Turkey’s high-profile criminal case against Protestant pastor Andrew Brunson has triggered a significant increase in public hate speech against the nation’s small Protestant community, creating what its church leaders last week called a ‘climate of insecurity’ for its congregations and individual members. According to the Turkish Association of Protestant Churches’ . . . Read More

Bomb scare intimidates another church in Turkey

Trabzon church in a 2007 photo (World Watch Monitor)
Turkish police were called to Trabzon’s Santa Maria Catholic Church on Sunday morning (4 February) to examine a smouldering device spotted in the garden by alarmed church staff. After discovering a partially burned homemade pipe bomb, which had failed to explode, local authorities promptly checked the church’s security camera footage. . . . Read More

Turkey: churches targeted during attempted coup

Turkey: churches targeted during attempted coup
Santa Maria Catholic Church in Trabzon, Turkey, in a 2007 photo.World Watch Monitor   Two churches in cities in eastern Turkey infamous as the sites of historic killings of Christians were vandalised during the attempted coup on 15 July, reports Middle East Concern. One of the attacks took place in . . . Read More

Verdict postponed on Malatya murders

Turkish Christians are disappointed that no verdict was given on 28th June in a long-standing, nine-year murder trial following the killing of three Christians in Malatya in 2007. Court officials said that a verdict would be given, but the trial was adjourned until 28th September. Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and . . . Read More

Malatya victims’ families awarded compensation

A Turkish administrative court has ordered the Interior Ministry and the Malatya Governor’s Office to pay compensation damages to the families of three Christians murdered nearly nine years ago in the Zirve Christian publishing house in Malatya, in eastern Turkey. Ruling that the two government institutions were “negligent in their . . . Read More

Malatya murder suspects make final appeals

Malatya murder suspects make final appeals
Four of five suspects on trial for murdering three Christians in Turkey’s south-eastern city of Malatya have all named the fifth suspect as the sole killer. It was no surprise when the four men, now in their late 20s, made their final defence appeals in court last week, each facing . . . Read More