Church Stoned and Damaged in Northern Turkey
Pastor Paul Ciniraj,
Salem Voice Ministries
Samsun (Turkey), SVM News, 29 January, 2007: Samsun Agape House, a Protestant church in the Turkish Black Sea Port city of Samsun was damaged by unknown assailants on Sunday, the 28th of January.
The attackers stoned the two story church building in an overnight and broke more than 10 windows.
"The attack was the latest against Christians in this predominantly Muslim country" Pastor Mehmet Orhan Picaklar, the priest of the Samsun Agape House said to the SVM News Service. "There were no casualties, but this makes damage to Turkey. This attack depicts Turkey in a bad way before international public opinion," he commented.
"It is the seventh or eight such attack over the past three years. Separately, I am constantly receiving death threats by e-mail", Mehmet Picaklar told.
He said the church had moved into the building just two weeks ago. Uniformed police officers were deployed outside the church after the attack, the private Dogan news agency reported.
The attack came nine days after a Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul on 19th January, provoking widespread condemnation.
Nationalists have been angered by pro-Armenian sentiment in Turkey following responses to the murder of Hrant Dink He was among those, including church groups, who have tried to speak out about the 1915 Armenian genocide, which claimed one million lives. It is illegal in Turkish law to raise this issue, and the authorities deny that the event happened.
A rise in nationalism among young people from Turkey's Black Sea towns has come under the spotlight since the teenager suspected of killing Hrant Dink and his alleged supporters were found to have come from the town of Trabzon.
Last February, Rev. father Andrea Santoro, a Catholic Priest was shot dead by a Turkish teenager, as he knelt in prayer in his church in the Black Sea port of Trabzon. 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.
Of Turkey's 72 million people, Armenians, Greeks, Syriacs, Catholics, some Protestants who are mostly converted from Islam and Jewish - make up less than one percent of the country.
The country, now 99 per cent Muslim, has a significant Christian past going back two millennia.
After Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, his followers scattered across the ancient world. What is now called Turkey was a key crossroads between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and the fledgling Christian faith took hold in what was then a Roman province with a rich Greek heritage.
Some of the Christian groups, including Agape House Church involving to spread the Gospel in Turkey. The Salem Voice Ministries also involves reaching the Gospel to the Muslims and establishing house churches in the midst of afflictions. Many Muslims are converting into Christianity. This also provoking Muslims to attack Christian leaders and Churches.
The Salem Voice Ministries requesting prayers for the missionaries, converted christians from Islam and all other christians in Turkey and all over the Middle East, Africa and Asia to be sealed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ as the protection of God, the Father Almighty through the Holy Spirit. Also requesting the UN authorities as well as the Humanitarian Rights Organisations to ask Turkey to stop Christian persecution immediately.
Read this news at the original site: http://salemvoice.org/news129.html
Samsun (Turkey), SVM News, 29 January, 2007: Samsun Agape House, a Protestant church in the Turkish Black Sea Port city of Samsun was damaged by unknown assailants on Sunday, the 28th of January.
The attackers stoned the two story church building in an overnight and broke more than 10 windows.
"The attack was the latest against Christians in this predominantly Muslim country" Pastor Mehmet Orhan Picaklar, the priest of the Samsun Agape House said to the SVM News Service. "There were no casualties, but this makes damage to Turkey. This attack depicts Turkey in a bad way before international public opinion," he commented.
"It is the seventh or eight such attack over the past three years. Separately, I am constantly receiving death threats by e-mail", Mehmet Picaklar told.
He said the church had moved into the building just two weeks ago. Uniformed police officers were deployed outside the church after the attack, the private Dogan news agency reported.
The attack came nine days after a Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul on 19th January, provoking widespread condemnation.
Nationalists have been angered by pro-Armenian sentiment in Turkey following responses to the murder of Hrant Dink He was among those, including church groups, who have tried to speak out about the 1915 Armenian genocide, which claimed one million lives. It is illegal in Turkish law to raise this issue, and the authorities deny that the event happened.
A rise in nationalism among young people from Turkey's Black Sea towns has come under the spotlight since the teenager suspected of killing Hrant Dink and his alleged supporters were found to have come from the town of Trabzon.
Last February, Rev. father Andrea Santoro, a Catholic Priest was shot dead by a Turkish teenager, as he knelt in prayer in his church in the Black Sea port of Trabzon. 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.
Of Turkey's 72 million people, Armenians, Greeks, Syriacs, Catholics, some Protestants who are mostly converted from Islam and Jewish - make up less than one percent of the country.
The country, now 99 per cent Muslim, has a significant Christian past going back two millennia.
After Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, his followers scattered across the ancient world. What is now called Turkey was a key crossroads between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and the fledgling Christian faith took hold in what was then a Roman province with a rich Greek heritage.
Some of the Christian groups, including Agape House Church involving to spread the Gospel in Turkey. The Salem Voice Ministries also involves reaching the Gospel to the Muslims and establishing house churches in the midst of afflictions. Many Muslims are converting into Christianity. This also provoking Muslims to attack Christian leaders and Churches.
The Salem Voice Ministries requesting prayers for the missionaries, converted christians from Islam and all other christians in Turkey and all over the Middle East, Africa and Asia to be sealed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ as the protection of God, the Father Almighty through the Holy Spirit. Also requesting the UN authorities as well as the Humanitarian Rights Organisations to ask Turkey to stop Christian persecution immediately.
Read this news at the original site: http://salemvoice.org/news129.html
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Pastor Paul Ciniraj is the founder-director of the Salem Voice Ministries and the Chairman of the SVM News Service. He was also one of the Co-ordinators of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). He was a muslim by birth, accepted Lord Jesus Christ as his Personal Saviour and called for His ministry about 32 years ago. He is a well known Gospel Preacher and the author of many Christian books, literature and Gospel tracts. Several times he and his family were attempted to death and still facing persecutions. Around 500 missionaries of the Salem Voice Ministries spreading Gospel to the Muslim populated countries of Africa, Asia and Middle East.
Salem Voice Ministries,
Devalokam (P.O), Kottayam,
Kerala-686038, India.
http://salemvoice.org
Salem Voice Ministries,
Devalokam (P.O), Kottayam,
Kerala-686038, India.
http://salemvoice.org
posted by Salem Voice @ 7:40 AM
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