In April 2007, five young men tortured and killed two
Turkish converts and a German Christian at a Christian publishing house in the
southeastern city of Malatya. When the resulting trial began in January 2008,
the court and the Turkish public regarded it as a straightforward case of overzealous
nationalists killing missionaries, whose activity was widely regarded as a
national threat.
But in recent months, lawyers have tied the case to a more
serious national threat. Prosecutors have expanded their investigation beyond
the five assailants to local officials. The murders are now seen as a plot by
the "deep state" group Ergenekon, a cabal of generals, politicians, and other
prominent figures accused of trying to overthrow the government. Ergenekon is
already accused of plotting a national coup and killing several people,
including a Catholic priest.
"From the very beginning, it was clear that some other
people were involved with this, because in Turkey you cannot do something on
this scale without being noticed by state agents," said Orhan Kemal Cengiz, the
lead prosecuting attorney for the Malatya case. He invited lawyers from across
Turkey working on Ergenekon-linked murder cases to form "a common eye" on the
Malatya murders.
"We are very close to the truth," said Cengiz, who has
received numerous threats for his work on the case. "What could be a bigger
motivation than this?"
Turkey's small Protestant community is hailing the work of
the legal team, which now includes 18 top Turkish lawyers, as a victory in
itself, said Zekai Tanyar, chairman of the Association of Protestant Churches
in Turkey.
"These men and women are not Christians, and yet have
voluntarily and tirelessly taken on this cause in the face of what they feel is
a great injustice and human rights violation," said Tanyar. "They have carried
the injustice, the cover-ups, and the trial into public awareness … much
more than we could have dreamed."
The lawyers' biggest challenge has been to convince the
court that masterminds were behind the murders, pushing past the prejudices of state
attorneys who seemed to put Christianity and missionary work, not the
assailants, on the stand.
"In the beginning, the court didn't believe there was
something beyond the five youngsters," said Cengiz. "[Now] everyone believes
that … some central figures in Ergenekon had a finger in the Malatya
murders."
After reviewing files on the Ergenekon trial, which started
this winter, the Malatya prosecuting team has compiled a list of nearly 20
witnesses who may make clearer the connection between the two cases. This will
determine if the trial ends in a matter of months or years.
But the trial continues to trouble Turkish Christians as
government figures have condemned Christians along with the murders when
discussing the case.
"Public statements [on the Malatya murders], even by state
ministers, showed that the state still sees Christian activities, lumped as
'missionary activities,' as a national threat," said Ziya Meral, a Turkish
Christian who writes on religious freedom in the Middle East. "The Malatya
murders were committed not only by the five young men caught red-handed, but
also by [this] mindset."
The murders and the reaction to them have led Turkish
churches to a deeper trust in God, Tanyar said.
"Two years after Malatya, the church in Turkey is probably a
church more aware of the costs and its own frailty," he said. "In general, it
is willing to stand up and challenge issues on religious freedom—and rooted
enough to carry on pursuing its purpose in God's kingdom."
With corporate consolidation in worship music, more entities are invested in the songs sung on Sunday mornings. How will their financial incentives shape the church?
“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”