Release International

Church leaders in Turkey say growing nationalism and intolerance are behind the murder of three workers at a Christian publishing house.

The three men were found at the Zirve offices in Malatya, eastern Turkey, their hands and feet bound and their throats slit.

Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, both Turkish, worked for the Bible publisher's: Tilmann Geske, a German, worked for a translation firm in the same city, says Middle East Concern.

The publishing manager has told local media that his staff had received threats, amid accusations they were involved in missionary activity. Aydin, who was also an amateur actor, had recently played Jesus in an Easter broadcast on Christian satellite TV TURK-7.

The Daily Telegraph reports that police acting on a tip-off apparently burst into the Zirve offices while at least some of the suspects were still at the crime scene on April 18.

Officers questioned 12 suspects and charged five of them with murder. One of the 12 was hospitalised, after apparently leaping from the fourth-floor window to try to escape arrest.

These murders are just the latest in a string of attacks on Christians in Turkey. In February 2006, a priest was stabbed at the altar in Trabzon; soon afterwards an Armenian journalist was shot dead in Istanbul. In both instances, the killers claimed to be defending Islam.

Christian leaders believe Islamist nationalists are fuelling hostility towards immigrants and non-Muslims as Turkey struggles to establish its place in the world. Turkey's (so far unsuccessful) bid to join the European Union has only made nationalists more entrenched.

At a news conference in Malatya, Rev Ihsan Ozbek of the Kurtulus church in Ankara spoke of a 'witch hunt' against minorities such as Christians. 'Our lives are in danger,' he said.

• Pray for the friends and relatives of the three murdered men. Aydin was married with two small children; Geske leaves a wife and three children.
• Pray for Christians in Turkey, who make up less than one per cent of the population. Ask God to strengthen and encourage His church there.

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