A call on Erdoğan: Throw political will behind judicial processes
by Markar Esayan

A person who is currently under arrest and behind bars in connection with the Ergenekon case wrote books one after another, claiming that Christian missionaries were swarming into the country and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity and even to divide the country with their treacherous US-backed activities.

These programs were so provocative that killing a Christian -- even better, a Christian cleric -- had come to be perceived as a service to the homeland. Those groups currently mourning after Soner Yalçın and certain circles that describe detentions at five o’clock in the morning as a crime against humanity were all silent about these programs. But let’s be fair -- as at that time, they were busy giving logistical support to these people for making them do this dirty work and making promises to Gen. Levent Ersöz at the General Staff about having Show TV re-hire Tuncay Özkan.

Guests who appeared on these programs accused the state of doing nothing about these missionaries and called upon it to take action. They waged war against these thousands of missionaries and conditioned the public, saying, “If the state fails to take measures, my people know how to act against them.”

On Feb. 28, 2005, the TV program “Ceviz Kabuğu” (Walnut Shell), anchored by Hulki Cevizoğlu on Flash TV, showed Tarsus Protestant Church priest İlker Çınar and his aide, Sinan Yorulmaz, converting back to Islam. Çınar said he had explained everything in his book “Şifre Çözüldü” (Decoded): There were 40,000 churches across the country, and missionary organizations trying to divide Turkey had set aside a budget of $73 billion for this purpose, and over 15 million Bibles had been given away for free in Turkey during the last 10 years. Çınar noted they were focusing in particular on Alevis and Kurds, and that EU harmonization laws passed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) were facilitating separatism in the country.

Everything was progressing in such an organized and planned manner that one must be blind not to see the imminent disaster. Then, a wave of deadly attacks hit missionaries and secularist groups.

First, on Feb. 5, 2006, Father Andrea Santoro was killed by 16-year-old O.A. in Trabzon. O.A. said he was inspired by the missionary debates on TV. Hot on the heels of this murder, the Council of State attack occurred on May 17, 2006, and Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin was killed. Alparslan Arslan said he carried out the attack because of the headscarf ban. Özbilgin’s funeral ceremony turned into an anti-government demonstration, with attempts to lynch Abdullah Gül and AK Party officials. Today, the case concerning the Council of State attack has been merged with the Ergenekon case.

In early 2007, on Jan. 19, they killed Hrant Dink.

Kemal Kerinçsiz and Sevgi Erenerol, who are today standing trial in the Ergenekon case, attempted to lynch Dink by shouting after every court hearing, “Hrant, the missionary child.” Several years after the General Staff issued a statement targeting him and he was allegedly threatened by the governor upon request by the General Staff, he was murdered by a child who said, “I killed an Armenian.”

The most scandalous attack took place in Malatya on April 18, 2007. Necati Aydın, Uğur Yüksel and a German citizen, Tilman Geske, were brutally killed at the Zirve Publishing House. The apparent murderers were again young, anti-missionary children.

Every line of the book, titled “Bi Ermeni Var: Hrant Dink Operasyonu’nun Şifreleri” (There’s this Armenian: The Codes of the Dink Operation), written by my friend Adem Yavuz Aslan, who recently received death threats, contains valuable information. But I will quote only the section on Çınar and missionary activities so that you can clearly see the game being staged. It is a must read.

First, evidence indicates Çınar was a sergeant in the Land Forces Command, and his insurance premiums were paid by the military, although he claimed to be a priest. He frequently held meetings with the lecturer from the faculty of theology who was involved in the Malatya killings. In his book, Aslan asks: What were gendarmerie officials of one province doing with a priest from a church in another province? What did they discuss? What did they plan at that meeting?

Let us have a look at the real figures of the missionary business. Let us refer to Aslan’s book: “A National Security Council (MGK) document dated Nov. 17, 2003, and signed by MGK Secretary-General Şükrü Sarıışık gives the number of missionaries in 2000. 

It says: ‘As of 2000, 54 missionaries -- 45 foreigners and nine Turks -- were found to be conducting activities in Turkey.’ The number of missionaries operating all across Turkey is just 54, but the number of pages of the report the MGK prepared to report this threat is 40. That is, every missionary produced a threat that accounts for 1.3 pages of the MGK’s report.

“Of course, one is urged to ask, ‘Is there any other purpose of this campaign’?” Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it was you, the civilian politician who was targeted by these dark and obvious murders. Santoro’s murder, the Council of State attack, Dink’s murder and many other numerous unresolved murders can only be illuminated if you support the police, prosecutors and judges dealing with them with all of your will. And Turkey can see better days only if this organization is completely unveiled and punished. In a political milieu where the leader of the main opposition party is eager to be a member of Ergenekon, there is no one else to whom this article can be addressed.

With the hope I get from your last speech, I, as an ordinary citizen, would like to make this known to you.