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October 31, 2003

Turkey: Attackers critically injure Turkish Christian

Compass Direct reports today that Yakup Cindilli, a Turkish convert to Christianity, is in a coma after receiving a savage beating from members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a political party which "has historically linked its platform with an Islamic-tinged version of nationalism."

Cindilli's offense? According to the Turkish paper Milliyet, Cindilli and a companion received their beatings "doing missionary propaganda." It seems that he was passing out copies of the New Testament.

This is a case that bears watching. His attackers are in prison, and in secular Turkey, they should be punished in the same way as would be anyone who commited an assault.

However, the fact that Cindilli was beaten up at all is an indication that no matter how secular Turkey may be, old attitudes stemming from Islamic law — conversion from Islam is a capital offense, and missionary activity among Muslims intolerable — are still very much alive there. Radical Muslim influence has been growing steadily in the Turkish government, and may result in Cindilli's attackers getting off with a slap on the wrist or less.


Posted by Robert at October 31, 2003 2:34 PM
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Comments
(Note: The Comments section is provided in the interests of free speech only. It is mostly unmoderated, but comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying stand a chance of being deleted. The fact that any comment remains on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch, or by Robert Spencer or any other Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch writer, of any view expressed, fact alleged, or link provided in that comment.)

I quote Ann Coulter,

"Kill their people"
"Topple their governments"
"Christianize their people"

Note to Dubya,
1. convene a full meeting at the UN, make sure the reps from Britain, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, and Israel, all suddenly have to take a leak at the same time. While they are quietly evacuated, drop a JDAM on the building. Shoot any survivors. Announce war on whoever attempts to reconstitute the UN.

2. Send the embassy staff home from all non-friendly western nations (France, Belgium, Canada, et al) with the warning to stay off our soil until the wake the fuck up.

3. Dissolve NATO. Withdrawal all troops from Europe. Let the Europeans provide their own defense. Tell them to expel all Arabs back to their native countries (exceptions for all those who vociferously prove their loyalty, and ability to produce and provide for themselves, and who resend, under penalty of immediate death, their Islamic faith). Warn them that non-compliance will result in WAR.

4. Kill and return the heads of (wrapped in pig skin) of all representatives from hostile (all 22) Arab Muslim nations, especially those of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, et al to their dictators.

5. Find and kill Saddam. Package his body in dry ice and Fed-ex it to baby Kim in NK. Explain to that madman that any retribution towards us, Japan, South Korea, or any other of our friends will result in the largest Nuclear bomb we have to be detonated in the middle of their country.

6. Invade and conquer all Arab lands. Carpet-bomb any of them who resist. If they all resist, so be it. Eventually the inherent human need to survive will prevail. Warn that any retribution by any of them or any other governments will result in nuclear war. Christianize them

7. Wait 10 years.

8. Enjoy the century of peace that will follow.

Yes, I am serious about all of this. Challenge any of it, and I will be happy to respond with a clear, logical, and rational defense of my position.

Posted by: Infidel#11 at October 31, 2003 10:42 PM

Aagin: Mr. Infidel, I am leaving your comments here for now, but I must emphasize: it is absolutely wrong to target anywhere or everywhere in the Muslim world indiscriminately without a valid military objective. If we start considering all Muslims to be enemy combatants, we have sunk to the level of Osama.

Also, the enemy is not Arabs. There are many Christian Arabs, as well as many Muslim Arabs (and non-Arab Muslims) who have no interest in or sympathy for radical jihad ideology.

Posted by: Robert Spencer at October 31, 2003 11:26 PM

wow...Infidel#11...you're going to make my point in a left-handed sorta way...My first response before reading your replies would be that if we were to let some of the fundamentalist (I love that "mentalsist" part) Baptists beat the shit out of prostlytizing Muslims, all hell would break loose, and we in the States would surely prosecute and sentence to the fullest extent such an act as a "hate-crime"

If Turkey subsrcibes to the rule of law, then these simple-minded assaulters will be punished appropriately...I would hope harshly, even, to send the message that such barbarity in a civilized world *will* be punished. Hey it only comes down to their own "quality of life" if things go otherwise...but that's another story...

Another point I would like to make is that given our own weapons of mass-destrruction, if we left them in the hands of *ANY* religious group that were to run our country, would be succeptible to a (seemingly eventual) rise of fundamentalism in whatever religion holds those keys...(yes that was poorly worded)

Infidels solution would be efficient for *any* theocracy in control of the U.S...(save those pesky nuclear retaliation threats...)

...and when it comes right down to it the U.S. can win any war of mass destruction in the middle east...(this is not news, guerrila-warfare is a rational military response) but I'll save rehashing military stragey here and get to Bishop Sako...

The United States will sacrifice for Freedom and Democracy, not for theocracy and subjugation. Jihadists will not win...they will not win, they will not drive us out, they will not stop the emergence of a democratic state, they will not stop, they can not stop, the prosperity that will accrue to Iraq...They cannot change the minds of those Iraqis who will see their barbaric acts for what they are, they cannot deny the murder of their own brethren...I pray one day the Muslim world realizes we are all brothers...all children of the same creation...

...but I digress

Until they realize that, a free and prosperous Iraq is our best weapon of mass-destruction against the jihadists...

...it just takes a little while to build.

Posted by: Orbit Rain at November 1, 2003 1:45 PM

Our known enemies are the Taliban, Ba'ath Party, Al Qaeda, but one that has been left out is truly a big enemy, the Wahabi's of Saudi Arabia.
By the way, I found it strange that a Christian founded the Ba’ath Party, but as I was saying, the Wahabi's are so terroristic in nature that they hate everyone, including other Muslims!
What the US really needs to do is to apply the law that is fairly common here, when a child causes property damage, make the parents pay! Now if this would be instated and if 15 of the 19 terrorists on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia, then we need to calculate the damages and sent them the bill!

Posted by: Hank at November 4, 2003 6:51 PM

I am writing as a Christian living in Turkey in response to the news you have reported on your site about a Christian who was beaten and is in a coma. Though I do not know this brother personally, I pray for him and his family that they may be comforted at this time and that God will see fit to raise him from his bed with an even deeper love for the people who did this to him. I pray too for the men who have done this crime.

Saul of Tarsus (did you know Saul was born here in this land) before he was a follower of Christ used to persecute those who followed Jesus of Nazareth. At that time Jesus the Messiah said to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” So when Saul was persecuting the Christians he was really doing this against the Lord Jesus, not only them. Saul, after this encounter became of the most influential Christians in history, known as the apostle Paul.

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” said Jesus the Messiah to His disciple not long before He went to the cross. This is why the apostle Peter could write, “Don’t be surprised at the fiery trail that comes upon you as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of the sufferings of Christ, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

It seems to me that Turkey as a nation has increasingly supported the rights of Christians to practice their faith since I have lived here (in the last 6 years). For this I am thankful. We pray, as we are told to in the Scripture for “rulers and all those who are in authority, that we may live a quite and peaceful life.” For this reason we continue to pray for the current government of Turkey and those who are in authority here.

As Christians one aspect of our faith that makes us different from others is that we “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us”. This is not our own idea, but the very words of the Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus the Word, the Messiah, the Price of Peace, said on the cross “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” If He, while dieing of the my sins and yours was able to ask for the forgiveness of His murderers, how much more should we (as Stephen the first martyr) forgive those who sin against us.

I watch daily with grief as I see the pain of in the hearts of the many of the Turkish people because of jealousy and lack of forgiveness in families, business, schools and everyday life. How wonderful it would be if they could knew the love and forgiveness of the heavenly Father that comes to all mankind though the death and resurrection of Christ. Instead they see the immorality of “Christian” nations on the TV and remember the hate of the Crusades.

As a modern example of this may I quote the words of Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, whose son, Bahram, was killed shot and killed by those filled with hate for those who belong to Christ:

A Father's Prayer for the Murderers of His Son

“Oh God, we remember not only Bahram but also his murderers, not because they killed him in the prime of his youth and made our hearts bleed and our tears flow...but because through their crime we now follow Thy footsteps more closely in the way of sacrifice.

The terrible fire of this calamity burns up all selfishness and possessiveness in us. Its flame reveals the depth of depravity and meanness and suspicion, the dimension of hatred and the measure of sinfulness in human nature. It make obvious, as never before, our need to trust God's love as shown in the cross of Jesus and His resurrection. Love which makes us free from hate towards our persecutors. Love which brings patience, forbearance, courage, loyalty, humility, generosity, greatness of heart. Love which more than ever deepens our trust in God's final victory and the eternal designs for the church and for the world. Love which teaches us how to prepare ourselves to face our own day of death.

Oh God, Bahram's blood has multiplied the fruit of the Spirit in the soil of our souls. So when his murderers stand before Thee of the Day of Judgment, remember the fruit of the Spirit by which they have enriched out lives, and forgive."


Posted by: world traveler at November 5, 2003 3:03 AM

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