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ISTANBUL: Why did they kill Christians?

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  • ISTANBUL: Why did they kill Christians?

    http://www.todayszaman.com/news-239754-why-did-they-kill-christians-by-orhan-kemal-cengiz.html

    Why did they kill Christians?
    by Orhan Kemal Cengiz

    01 April 2011, Friday


    When members of the Ergenekon gang were arrested, starting with 2007,
    several documents were seized from them, in their houses and
    businesses. One of these documents was titled `Lobby,' which explains
    how and why Ergenekon would gain control over civil society in Turkey.


    In 2004 and 2005, many ultranationalist associations were established.
    All of these associations were established by a bunch of people all of
    whom were in the core group of Ergenekon. They are Sevgi Erenerol,
    Kemal Kerincsiz, Ergun Poyraz, Muammer Karabulut and Oktay Yildirim.
    These people were also very active in the anti-Christian campaigns in
    those years. I would like to give the names of some of the
    organizations they established: the Turkish Revolutionaries
    Association, the Association for the Union of Patriotic Forces, the
    Grand Attorneys Association, the Ayasofya Association, the
    International Father Christmas Peace Council, the Association for
    Union of Great Powers, the National Union Movement Platform, the
    National Industrialists and Businessmen Association, the Private
    Security Sector Businessmen's Union Association and the Leading Youth.

    Again, all of these organizations were quite active in anti-Christian
    campaigns in Turkey. In fact, everything starts with quite an ordinary
    development. In 2002, the National Security Council (MGK), which
    consists of high military commanders and members of the government,
    defined `missionary activities' as a national threat. There was a
    parallel between this definition and the intense activity of those
    associations that were established by Ergenekon members. The media
    also gave much support in spreading paranoia about missionaries
    amongst the whole population in Turkey. If you were to look at
    `mainstream' newspaper' coverage between 2004 and 2007 you wouldn't be
    able to believe your eyes. You would get a sense that Turkey was being
    invaded by Christian missionaries and that the country was about to be
    divided. As I am writing this piece the second wave of the
    investigation into the Ergenekon-Malatya massacre connection has just
    started, and police have begun searching the homes of several theology
    professors who are known for their anti-Christian and anti-missionary
    stances. These professors were quite active in the war against
    missionaries; they appeared on TV programs almost every day and tried
    to convince the public how great a danger Turkey was in because of
    missionary activities.

    In my Wednesday piece, I tried to explain the strategic importance of
    Malatya in all these anti-Christian campaigns. Last week a tape
    recording and statement of a secret witness caused Ergenekon
    prosecutors to start a wave of arrests targeting some gendarmerie
    officers who were on active duty in 2007, when the Malatya Massacre
    took place.

    According to the statement of the secret witness, Deniz Uygar, a
    former JITEM aide who was active in anti-Christian campaigns, the
    local gendarmerie unit in Malatya, following the orders of their
    superiors, decided to scare away missionaries in this city, and
    through this action deter Christians across the country. They
    evaluated the information collected about Emre Gunaydin and his
    friends, who later killed three Christians by slitting their throats.
    Uygar also says in order to prepare these youngsters for the murders
    Ergenekon suspects gave seminars and spoke about missionary activity
    in Malatya.

    Connections between JITEM/Ergenekon and the Malatya massacres are not
    limited to only these actions. We know two prime suspects in the
    Ergenekon gang, former gendarmerie commander Sener Eruygur and former
    commander of the 1st Army Hursit Tolon, used to visit Malatya. When
    Tolon was arrested, police found a power point presentation prepared
    by him on missionary activities and slides that included the
    underlined name of Kayra Publishing, which was replaced with Zirve
    Publishing, where the Malatya massacre took place.

    I can tell you many other things that reveal a connection between
    Ergenekon and the Malatya massacre, but I think this is already
    enough. The Malatya massacre was an important event in the game of
    manipulation that the Ergenekon gang was playing. They, on the one
    hand, wanted the Turkish people to believe that there was a serious
    `missionary' danger in Turkey and wanted to mobilize nationalist
    sentiments. On the other hand, they wanted to send a message to the
    whole world by showing that as soon as an `Islamist party' came to
    power, Christians were massacred.

    I think Father Andrea Santoro, Hrant Dink and the three Christians in
    Malatya were killed for same purpose by JITEM/Ergenekon. While these
    murders were carefully being planned, I believe the police were also
    watching every step, without seeing the big picture. The police were
    not concerned with the possibility of the murder of an Armenian and a
    few missionaries. In this sense these murders present a quite
    thought-provoking picture of the system in Turkey. However, following
    recent developments in the Ergenekon case, I am quite hopeful for the
    first time. I hope these important and hopeful developments are not
    overshadowed by the hunt for Ahmet Sik's book.




    From: A. Papazian
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