The powerful imams in Turkey’s 85,000 mosques played a major role in thwarting the attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and in so doing unleashed attacks on Christian places of worship, reports say.
Christians are pointing to a transformation in the political cultural character of Turkey under Erdogan’s Islamist path to power.
“The reality is that Turkey is neither a democracy nor a secular republic,” said Yuce Kabakci, a pastor in Istanbul. “There is no division between government affairs and religious affairs.”
Gangs chanting “Allahu akbar” smashed the glass frontage of a Protestant church in Matalya, the UK’s Express reported. “The attack on the church was light. But it’s significant that it was the only shopfront attack in those three days,” said the church’s minister, Pastor Tim Stone. “We were the only targets.”
Protestants are not allowed to build churches in Turkey. Even the name church must be coupled to the non-threatening “association.”
In the Black Sea city of Trabzon, the Santa Maria church was hit as, under the guise of an anti-coup protest, demonstrators smashed windows and used hammers to break down the church’s door.
Turkey, which once boasted two million Christians, has barely 120,000 remaining, fewer than Iran.
“There’s is an atmosphere in Turkey right now that anyone who isn’t Sunni is a threat to the stability of the nation,” Kabakci said. “Even the educated classes here don’t associate personally with Jews or Christians. It’s more than suspicion. It’s a case of ‘let’s get rid of anyone who isn’t Sunni.’ ”
An Iranian in Istanbul told the Express that “Turkey is like Iran in 1975. I’m sure we will see it become an Islamic Republic very soon.
linkErdogan is in the process of establishing a Salafist dictatorship with the second largest military in NATO. With the strategic location of his country, he will be the controlling factor in Middle East policy.
Since he is allied with Saudi Arabia, we can kiss our meager influence goodbye. Give him nukes and he threatens the world.
Since Syria, Iran, and Iraq are aligned with Russia, I say let them worry about it.
We need to get our nukes and get the hell out of there. Imagine if, during the time of the Shah, we had nukes forward based in Iran. Then the Islamic revolution came. That's where we are right now.
"For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it." - Patrick Henry
The level of injustice and wrong you endure is directly determined by how much you quietly submit to. Even to the point of extinction.