The latest hearing in the trial of the five men accused of murdering three Christians in Malatya, Eastern Turkey was held on 15 April 2010. In mid April 2007 three Christian men, Necati Aydin, Ugur Yuksel and Tilmann Geske, were murdered while working at the Zirve Christian Publishing and Bible Distribution Company. Five local men were arrested at the scene of the crime and later charged with the murders. Their trial opened in November 2007 and still continues in Malatya, which, oddly enough, is also the hometown of the Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981. The area is well known as a radicalised, angry region of the country.
The most recent hearing took place just a few days before the 3rd anniversary of the murders, and there were some surprising developments. It brought to light information that had not been known before: evidence from witnesses revealed that these murders may have been linked to a series of earlier murders carried out by a group of ultranationalists using the name of “Ergenekon”. The group is named after a place in Turkish mythology located in the inaccessible valleys of the Altai Mountains, the original home of the Turkic speaking peoples; and is a shared symbol of pride.
At the previous hearing in February the prosecutors had pressed for the trial to be concluded and for the five defendants each to be given the maximum possible sentence but two of the defense lawyers excused themselves from the hearing, thereby preventing the judges from issuing a verdict. The judges have decided to call a new witness to the next hearing, which is scheduled for the 14th of May 2010. This witness provided evidence to the court that he had been offered money for killing Christians. Lawyers representing the victims are now planning to formally request that this case be integrated with the ongoing Ergenekon investigation. In the previous hearing the judges rejected a prosecution request to link the Malatya and Ergenekon trials but the evidence is now stronger.
Middle East Concern, a Christian advocacy organisation, pointed out on their website that this action is based on the allegation that the leaders of Ergenekon clearly stated that missionary activity in the region was linked to the terrorist organization known as Kurdistan’s Workers Party. Information gathered earlier by the Ergenekon investigators found that such nationalists had been documenting all the Christian activity in the region. They also found that the same people had links to one of the perpetrators of the murders as well as to perpetrators of assaults against other Christians in 2006.
The news service ‘Compass Direct News’ quoted the Chairman of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, as saying that while churches want to see closure for the sake of the families who lost their loved ones, they also want “the truth, the real culprits and mindsets behind the killings to be revealed somehow.” He said that their prayer is that “God who is the worker of miracles will work these two contradictory expectations out; a closure and an exposure at the same time.”
Turkish Christians need our awareness of their situation, our concern, and our prayers asking that a full investigation will be undertaken against Ergenekon, and others in any political group that may have participated in these crimes, that the families of the victims will know the presence of Jesus throughout the trial process, that the legal team will know the Spirit’s guiding and equipping, and that the judges, lawyers and journalists present will be receptive to the gospel of Jesus Christ.