AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- On 18 April 2007 Turkish convert Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and a German Christian, Tilmann Geske, were tortured and murdered in the Zirve Publishing House in Malatya, southern Turkey. They had not realised that two young Turkish Muslims who appeared to be showing an interest in the gospel were actually part of a group plotting their assassination. The murder trial of the five assassins, all aged 19-20, opens in Malatya's Third Criminal Court on Friday 23 November. Seven others have been charged with 'aiding and abetting' but have not been named or arrested.

At the time, most Turks were shocked by the brutality of the senseless slayings. But time has passed and several local issues are fuelling Turkish nationalist zeal. The Kurdish separatist PKK has recently escalated its campaign of terror, killing more than 40 Turkish soldiers in eastern Turkey in the past month. Now Turkey is positioned to launch an incursion into Northern Iraq to shut down PKK sanctuaries there. The Iraq Kurds are allied to the US, straining Turkish-American relations. Furthermore, Turkey is once again being challenged to confront its history and, for the sake of reconciliation, accept its culpability in the Armenian genocide of 1915. Accordingly the European Union is demanding that Turkey repeal a controversial law, Article 301, which makes it illegal to denigrate Turkishness (for example through accusations of genocide). Turkish nationalist politicians and journalists are capitalising on the widespread Turkish fear that, nearly a century after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish territory, religion and dignity are again under threat from both external foreign powers and internal ethnic and religious minorities.

Compass Direct reports (5 Nov): 'All news about the pending trial in the Turkish press last week sensationalised justifications the killers offered for their crimes while under police interrogation, including far-fetched allegations against the victims', including the 'missionaries' were  prostituting girls and were linked to the PKK. One of the assassins claimed also to have been planning to kill another Protestant pastor, who has been identified in the Turkish media. One Protestant leader in Turkey told Compass, 'These people want to portray Turkey's Protestants as enemies of the nation.' He also explains: 'Because honour is such an important concept in our culture, they are trying to accuse us of having weak morals, so that they can find a justification for their murders.' The killers, all young Turkish Muslim nationalists, claim the motive for the murders was to stop Christians from defaming Islam and the Turkish nation. Disinformation mixed with rising Turkish and Muslim nationalism is making security tenuous for Christians in Turkey.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR -

• God to protect Christian pastors, leaders, evangelists and church members in Turkey who are now at risk due to disinformation and incitement. 'On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.' (2 Corinthians 1:10,11)
  
  
• God to restrain the voices that incite hatred by fabricating or perpetuating lies intended to justify murder and remove shame.
  
  
• our sovereign and provident God to use this trial for his glory, exposing the danger and ugliness of ethnic and religious hatred, as well as illuminating the honour and grace of his servants and his wonderful gospel of atonement through Jesus.
  

Elizabeth Kendal is the Principal Researcher and Writer for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) http://www.WorldEvangelicalAlliance.com. This article was initially written for the WEA RLP(Religious Liberty Prayer) mailing list Elizabeth can be contacted by e-mail at rl-research@crossnet.org.au.