BLAMING MISSIONARIES: BEATING THE WIFE
Recep Guvelioglu
The New Anatolian, Turkey
April 23 2007
The brutal slaughtering of three people who worked for a publishing
house which publishes the Bible and some Christian propaganda booklets
in Malatya was not a shock for the people who know what has been
going on in this country.
Almost all columnists- with the exception of a few radicals- expressed
their grief and horror about that barbaric event. They also mentioned
some events like the murder of Hrant Dink- an Armenian journalist-
in Istanbul , killing of an Italian pastor in Trabzon.
But they did not say anything about some minor events, like an Israeli
soccer player in Sivasspor was weeping after he heard anti-Semitic
curses during the game. During the TV programs about "the threat
of missionary activities", even during the famous "meeting of the
republic" in April 14th Tandogan- Ankara, one of the speakers blamed
the government by saying "the missionary activities have been increased
during their rule"
The anti-Semitic, anti-Christian mentality is on the rise in Turkey ?
What is the reason?
Turks were not that much anti-Semitic, anti-Christian , then what
happened? Why is that sick mentality getting stronger. Do those
"missionary activities" pose any danger for Turkey ?
First of all, let’s take a brief look at the history
Converting anyone’s faith is not an easy job to do.. Many evangelists
were killed in Africa or China in 19th and 20th centuries.
In the Ottoman Empire people of many religions lived together for 600
years. Approximately 500 missionary schools established in the Ottoman
Empire after the 1850’s . Those schools more or less contributed the
cultural development of the people in Anatolia . But Turkish people
did not like them, not because of their missionary activities, but
their interference into the politics. They did, to a certain extent,
many activities, but got little success in the field of converting
people’s faith. Catholics converted a few orthodox Armenians..
That was it.
They could not even accomplish one of their many duties to convert
Alawis, as a heterodox Moslem group. So as a result, even in
the poorest conditions attempts to convert Moslem Turks were not
successful.
During the Balkan War and First World War , rebellions, bloodshed,
massacres were wide spread but people did not hate each other. Let me
give you an example, Turkish Independence war ended in 1922 with the
victory over Greek invasion army and their collaborators. Exchange
of Greek and Turkish people, I am talking about a total of two
million people, between Greece and Turkey ended 1931. For nine years
there was no serious bloodshed in the two communities. There were
ultra-nationalist, religious fanatics in two communities. But ,
nothing serious happened.
With the exceptions of excessive tax operations over the non Muslim
especially Jewish citizens after the second world war and notorious
6-7 September looting of the Greek citizens of this country in 1955,
almost nothing happened.
After the collapse of Soviet Union , the world turned to be a one
bloc community. Some philosophers, historians and politics experts
were trying to evaluate the effects of that event, pointed out the
probabilities of escalation of ethnical and religious conflicts
especially in the developing countries.
That happened in this country. That is the first reason for the
Malatya brutality.
Second is the illiteracy and poverty.
New types of fanatics who are ultra nationalist and at the same time
fanatic in the faith created on this soil. These types of people are
mentally ready to act. That is the third reason.
These are reasons anybody can tell.
But the main reasons for these kinds of brutalities are only two.
The possibility of fragmentation of the country forced almost every
political movement to take an ultra nationalist motto. And people who
are mentally ready to act, illiterate and poor are ready to jump into
the operation.
The second reason is the attempts to change the map of the region.
Fanatics are very angry to what is going on in Iraq or Iran . Those
guys can not do anything other than create a "common enemy" which in
our case are Christians and Jews. We have a saying in Turkish which
I can roughly translate "if anyone is not able to beat his neighbor,
beats his wife." Now , the antagonism towards foreign forces like
the US or Europeans, rebounds on so-called "missionaries" or "pastors".
The horror on the Christians and Jews will continue to increase.
As I mentioned before, since a speaker blamed " missionaries" in the
revolutionary meeting of Tandogan, what can we expect.?
I have also a word for the so called great powers . You are trying
to replace Lausanne Treaty with Sevres. Then you must be willing to
accept the results.