Who ordered the murder of Christians?

Çınar penetrated the Christian community and gathered a lot of information, while he was pretending to be a missionary. He became a church leader, and upon receiving another order, he became “Muslim” again and launched a campaign against missionaries across the country.

From the second indictment of the Malatya massacre we also learnt that he was also ordered to work with the Malatya gendarmerie against missionaries. From the statements of Çınar, who is now a confessor trying to receive immunity in exchange for the information he gave, we understand that Malatya was one of the centers from which psychological warfare against missionaries and Christians was being lead.

Çınar gave quite a detailed account of how both the Malatya gendarmerie conducted this psychological warfare and how they paved the way for the Malatya massacre. Çınar told us that he traveled to Malatya many times to join these “workshops.” In these workshops they produced many documents to be used for disinformation against missionaries. For example, some of these documents “prove” that missionaries are connected to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), whereas some “show” some links between them and the CIA. In fact, from 2005-2007 there were a lot of these kinds of rumors circulating in Turkey.

What is also amazing to see is how much the Malatya gendarmerie spent on this “job.” Çınar said that he was given TL 100,000 (approximately equivalent to $55,000). Whenever he came to Malatya he stayed at the most luxurious hotel, and all his daily expenses were paid. Apparently, the Malatya gendarmerie spent a lot of money to monitor missionaries and to prepare black propaganda about them. Çınar was only one of the persons they worked with.

While he was visiting Malatya for these workshops, he also witnessed preparations for another “operation.” Çınar was not directly a part of this so-called operation, but through his frequent contacts with the gendarmerie, he became familiar with some details. In one of the meetings he saw that the gendarmerie commander took out large photos of Necati Aydın, Tilman Geske and Uğur Yücel, who were killed on April 18, 2007. The gendarmerie commander had allegedly stated that a strong “message” was going to be sent to all missionaries across the country through the ones in Malatya.

Çınar once witnessed Mehmet Ülger, gendarmerie commander, leave their meeting to talk to Varol Bülent Aral, who is now being tried in the Malatya massacre case for his role as an instigator. Çınar once witnessed Ülger praising Emre Günaydın, prime suspect in the massacre, for his bravery and said that he was ready for his “task.” Çınar found out that one of the workers at the Zirve Publishing House, in which the massacre was carried out, Hüseyin Yelki, was actually working for the gendarmerie as an informant. Immediately after the murders, theology professor Ruhi Abat, who was receiving a salary from the gendarmerie for his anti-missionary work, told Çınar on the phone, “We asked them to strike, but they went and killed them.” Abat is a close friend of Emre Günaydın’s father.

There are so many other details that basically show that the Malatya massacre was directly planned by the Malatya gendarmerie, apparently under direct orders by TUSHAD.

Where are we now, five years after this murder? I believe we are now at the beginning of the road, which will lead us to “truth.” For the first time I am hopeful that we can solve the puzzle of the Malatya massacre. And I also believe that if we can fully uncover the truth in this case, we will also make serious progress in the solving of the Hrant Dink and Father Santoro murders and probably others as well.