Planned church assassination might signal further attacks
The Ä°zmit Protestant Church in the northwestern province of Kocaeli,
the orange building in the photo, was targeted in an anti-Christian
plot. (PHOTOS SUNDAY’S ZAMAN, Cahit Kılıç)
27 January 2013 /BARIÅ? ALTINTAÅ? / CAHÄ°T KILIÇ, Ä°STANBUL / KOCAELÄ°
One person was arrested last week in Kocaeli on charges of planning an
attack on the Ä°zmit Protestant Church to assassinate its pastor
following a round of detentions in the town shortly after the Kocaeli
Police foiled the alleged plot, which has brought fears that an
illegal group behind many attacks on non-Muslims in 2006 and 2007 is
currently highly active.
The discovery is not only very important because it prevented a
potential attack, but also shows that groups looking to trigger a coup
d’état and who have planned and carried out attacks in the past
against non-Muslims as part of a larger plan against the Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) government are still operating.
Recent trials involving the Ergenekon gang — a clandestine group that
includes generals and officers of other ranks, both active and
retired, as well as many civilians, including journalists — and
several other coup plots have revealed that Ergenekon and related
groups worked hard in the 2000s to create chaos in the country for the
purpose of manufacturing panic about and distrust in the AK Party
government. Although hundreds of suspects have been arrested in many
trials, including the now concluded Sledgehammer trial, the plot
uncovered in Kocaeli might indicate that they have extensions.
Details linking the murderers of three Bible publishers in Malatya in
2007, in a case known as the Zirve trial, to Ergenekon have emerged.
Similar links also came up in the trial regarding the murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, which also took place in 2007,
and in the murder case of Father Santoro, a Catholic priest killed in
Trabzon in 2006.
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a journalist and contributor to Today’s Zaman, who
is also Christian and was in fact targeted by a similar group
according to documents found on the computer of a major general who
has been arrested in connection with the Zirve murder trial, said
there was no way of capturing the entire Ergenekon network without
focusing on the anti-Christian activities of the group. He said: `The
Ergenekon trial is all about anti-Christian movements. The prosecutors
are far too focused on the coup attempt; the anti-Christian activity
was not investigated thoroughly. There is a problem in their outlook
here.’ He said attacks, assassinations and other planned atrocities,
some of which have been carried out, against non-Muslims comprise the
`core’ of the Ergenekon trial. `These couldn’t be exposed, and as we
have seen recently in the investigation of the parliamentary Coup and
Memorandum Commission, the [Ergenekon-linked] Special Operations
Department [inside the military] has civilian extensions, and only if
we can find these can we see the entire criminal network clearly.’ He
said the Ä°zmit assassination plan looked very professional and
sophisticated. He also said recent attacks targeting Armenian women,
the stoning of a Greek Orthodox Church and an unpublicized attack on
an Armenian intellectual — who would rather not have his name in
print — are all connected. `None of these are random acts and we may
see major atrocities like we saw in 2007,’ Cengiz warned.
But why are Ergenekon and its shadow groups going after non-Muslims,
and particularly Christians? `There are always many different layers
in relation to these kinds of attacks,’ Cengiz said. `Of course one of
these layers is the great Ergenekon plan to isolate Turkey from the
world,’ he also said, creating the image that `Islamic fundamentalist
come to power and massacre Christians,’ to send the message that the
religious-minded AK Party is responsible for attacks against
non-Muslims. `But the other thing not to be ignored is that there are
historical dimensions to this and Turkey has a history of massacring
Armenians, non-Muslims, etc. There are some elements in society more
than willing to participate in this kind of action, and without
understanding this tendency we cannot understand the whole picture. We
should look at all these different layers at once in order to get the
real picture of this crime.’
Erdal DoÄ?an, a lawyer who also represented the co-plaintiff side in
the Dink trial, agreed with Cengiz, saying as long as the AK Party
government only focuses on protecting itself (from overthrow attempts)
and is not concerned with protecting the people, such assassination
plans and actual attacks will always be a reality. He agreed that the
documents sent to the parliamentary commission investigating coups
should be the subject of a court trial by themselves. `As long as the
government doesn’t grant assurance and protection to prosecutors and
judges in this issue, as long as the national security policy document
of Turkey remains in force and as long as the National Security
Council [MGK] is allowed to exist in this system, such provocations,
assassination and murder plots will always be.’
Anti-missionary culture
Not everybody agrees that the recent threats directed at the Ä°zmit
church necessarily mean that Ergenekon extensions are making a
comeback. Ziya Meral, a London-based Turkish analyst and academic told
Sunday’s Zaman in an e-mail interview: `It is not clear whether these
individuals are part of a larger network that carried out similar
attacks on non-Muslims in the 2003-2008 period. It might well be that
this is a local independent initiative.’ He said, however, that he did
not find the threats surprising, noting: `Last year, there were
various false reports in local media that the Ä°zmit area was a target
for missionary activities and there were thousands of secret churches
in the city. Sadly, years of scapegoating non-Muslims in Turkey and
paranoia over activities of non-Muslims continue unchallenged by the
courts or the state. It was only a matter of time for various
ultranationalist groups to be incited to act on such dangerous media
reports and statements by public officials.’ He said the role of the
overall atmosphere could not possibly be ignored: `While attacks
against non-Muslims in Turkey stopped overnight in 2008 when
deep-state trials and arrests began, we are seeing a dangerous
comeback of attacks and sinister media reporting. This might well be
signs of a new play by groups seeking to create unrest, or it might
well be the automatic outcome of years of social manipulation through
psychological warfare. In other words, this attack might not be
directly led by the deep state, but it carries the marks of what they
started and sustained.’
But it is clear as day now that past atrocities against non-Muslims,
such as the Wealth Tax of the `30s, the deportation of Jews in Thrace
and the pogroms against Greek Orthodox residents of Ä°stanbul in 1955,
the Dink murder, the murder of Father Santoro in Trabzon and the Zirve
murders are parts of a long-running campaign by shady groups, says
Cemal UÅ?ak, a journalist and writer who is the vice president of the
Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV). He said he agreed that
recent, almost simultaneous, acts targeting non-Muslims do create the
impression that they are part of the same plan and a continuation of
it. `Certainly, the judiciary will have the last word on this, but the
developments don’t leave us much room to think of this in any other
way.’ He also noted that a culture of hate that allows viewing one’s
fellow citizens as if they are an enemy has been engrained in the
subconscious of some segments. `Heinous social engineering can make
murderers from this subculture. Ogün Samast [Dink’s shooter] is an
example. In the long term, what we should fight is this culture of
hate.’
Planned attack in Ä°zmit
The Ä°zmit Police Department’s counterterrorism unit was monitoring a
group in the ÇukurbaÄ? neighborhood of Ä°zmit, following the emergence
of intelligence indicating that they were gathering information on the
Ä°zmit Protestant Church and its Ä°zmit representative, Emre Karaeli.
After a lengthy period of surveillance, police conducted an operation
to take the suspects into custody on Jan 15. Twelve suspects were
detained in the provinces of Kocaeli, Å?anlıurfa and Diyarbakır in
connection with the group. Six were released; six others were referred
to the Ä°stanbul Prosecutor’s Office, while one was arrested by the
court and placed in prison.
Speaking about the discovery, Kocaeli Governor Ercan Topaca said the
governor’s office has been monitoring the church to ensure the safety
of the congregation. He said an attack was planned to take place
during a four-day church event between Jan. 17 and Jan. 21. He said
the fact that 12 people came together to gather intelligence, make
observations about the church and plan the attack is an organized
criminal activity.
`Ä°zmit Protestant Church’s doors are open to everyone who wants to join’
Ä°stanbul Protestant Church Foundation Ä°zmit representative Emre
Karaali said his church’s door was open to everyone. `We don’t ID
people who come to the church or do any other kind of questioning.’ He
said the police work that led to the operation started about a year
ago, when he reported receiving threats. Karaali also said there had
previously never been threats directed at the church or any of its
officials. The church has been active in Kocaeli for 14 years.
He also said there were some he knew among the suspects, saying these
were individuals who attended church services and meetings from time
to time. `Some of them told us they were Christians. Two of these
suspects I know personally. They have played with my kids, spent time
with my family, we have broken bread together. What I find odd here is
this: Outside, many people might hold biases against us without
knowing anything about us at all. Two of the suspects were people we
knew, and never ever suspected.’ He also thanked the security forces
for their good work.
He said his church only sought to serve people trying to live
according to their beliefs. `They say everyone thinks of the other in
terms of who they are. We have never held any ill will towards anyone,
and we don’t think ill thoughts about people. We believe the sincerity
of those people who come here. What we are doing here in the end is
serving people in the best way we can to help their relationship with
God. In this respect, we don’t eye people suspiciously or with worry.
Our door is open to anyone who wants to sincerely live their faith, or
learn about our faith.’