Despite the conviction and sentencing, however, all five walked out of court free men while their case awaits higher legal review, infuriating Turkish Christians.
Gokhan Talas, close friend of the three slain Christians and witness at the murder scene, said……They need to be in jail right now…This process is unjust. There’s no justice for Christians in this country. This is the proof of that.
How much justice is there for Christians (and other infidels and apostates) in any Muslim country? But Turkey has, of course, long been known as “moderate”; as recently as 2012, Turkey was referenced as a “new model.” The Brookings Institution declared:
In Turkey, a tradition of free and fair elections and capitalism has encouraged Islamic parties to play by the rules. Turkey’s radical secularism, enforced by the military, has also tamed the strident religious dogma that once landed Islamic politicians in trouble—and even in prison.
Now, however, as Erdogan’s Turkey is casting off secularism and Islamizing, Westerners are still often fooled into believing that Turkey remains a moderate ally to the West and even a security partner. In contrast, persecution Watchdog Open Doors reported a few months ago on the real face of Turkey:
Fifteen Turkish Protestant congregations and their leaders have been targeted by a strident campaign of death threats sent to their Facebook, email, websites and mobile telephones. One of the messages warned: ‘Perverted infidels, the time that we will strike your necks is soon. May Allah receive the glory and praise’. ….A link was also posted for an Arabic video subtitled in Turkish on YouTube entitled, ‘The religious proofs why apostates should be killed’.
Even more recently — since the Turkish coup attempt — Christians reportedly have been paying a stiff price “as extreme Islam surges.” Recall that Erdogan has also virulently denied the Armenian Genocide.
Erdogan’s unjustified and “unhinged” hatred of Israel is yet another troubling matter. In fact, Jews are the target of most hate speech in Turkey.
Given the reality of Turkey’s anti-democracy, anti-Christian, anti-Jew record, and its advancing Islamization, it would be advisable to withhold celebrations of justice until the “Killers of Malatya Martyrs” actually make it into Turkish prison.
After a nine-year legal saga, a Turkish criminal court today sentenced five men to life in prison for the torture and murder of three Christians in southeast Turkey in 2007.
The Malatya First Heavy Penal Court found Salih Gurler, Cuma Ozdemir, Abuzer Yildirim, Hamit Ceker, and Emre Gunaydin guilty on three counts each of premeditated murder, and sentenced them all to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Despite the conviction and sentencing, however, all five walked out of court free men while their case awaits higher legal review, infuriating Turkish Christians.
Gokhan Talas, close friend of the three slain Christians and witness at the murder scene, said he was “okay” with the decision, but was angry that the convicted men walked away free while the sentence is reviewed by higher courts.
“They need to be in jail right now,” Talas said. “This process is unjust. There’s no justice for Christians in this country. This is the proof of that. They are just hiding behind the laws. These people are killers.”
In a press release issued by the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, chairman and pastor Ihsan Ozbek echoed Talas’s dismay that the perpetrators were free despite being handed life sentences.
“Of course the legal process will continue as the case passes to the Regional Administrative Court, and then will go to the Supreme Court. This process can take years, and the killers of our brothers brutally murdered can move around freely for years to come,” Ozbek said. “The continuous postponement of the punishment they deserve severely wounds confidence in justice.”
On April 18, 2007, in the office of the Zirve Publishing House in Malatya in southeastern Turkey, Gurler, Ozdemir, Yildirim, Ceker, and Gunaydin killed Ugur Yüksel, 32, and Necati Aydin, 36, both Turkish converts from Islam, as well as Tilmann Geske, 45, a German national. The five Muslim, Turkish nationalists bound the three men, interrogated them about their Christian activities, mutilated them, and then slit their throats, according to court evidence and testimony.
Police arrested the five men almost immediately after the crime was reported. Gunaydin attempted to escape police by jumping out of an upstairs window of the office and suffered serious injuries. Several others were later arrested in connection with the crime, including Turna Işıklı, Gunaydin’s girlfriend.
According to several Christians close to those killed, one or more of those arrested cultivated relationships with the victims. Several Christians said Gunaydin went so far as to pose as being interested in the Christian faith or even becoming a Christian to get as close as possible to the three men.
When they were arrested, at least one of the suspects had a note claiming they committed the slaying for their country.
“They are trying to take our country away, take our religion away,” the note read in part.
Gunaydin today showed no remorse. According to Ozbek, Gunaydin told the court regarding the killing, “I am thankful that I did not shame my country or cause any embarrassment.”
Today’s hearing was the 115th hearing in the trial. The number of hearings, and the fact that the case took so long to prosecute, was the source of a great deal of anguish for Turkey’s Christians.
In 2008, the court held its first hearing in the case, but the proceedings were problematic and difficult from the start. The judges and prosecutors were changed more than once, causing significant delays, and subpoenaed witnesses simply refused to show up in court to testify without legitimate reason and without being punished later for contempt of court.
Most significant in delays was the attempt to explore links between the killings and a larger alleged attempt by the Turkish military to subvert the Justice and Development Party-led government. There was much speculation that arrests of lawyers and judges in the wake of a coup attempt in July would further delay proceedings.
From the beginning of the trial, Gunaydin was portrayed as the leader of the attack, with links to nationalist groups and to nationalist writer Varol Bulent Aral. According to testimony by Gunaydin, Aral urged the killing of the Christians and said he would have support of the state, meaning hardcore nationalists within the military.
In 2009, the murder case was linked to the Ergenekon file, concerning a suspected cabal plotting against the government. As a result of this, a host of new witnesses were called into court, including a colonel in the gendarmerie and three army officers.
Ozbek referred to the efforts to investigate those connections in his press statement.
“Today the judge explained the verdict saying that the murders could not have taken place without connections to a [criminal] organization, but it was important for the court to admit that they had not exposed this connection,” he said, adding that the court ruled, in its own words, “Yes, there is an organization, but [the court] did not find the link.”
Especially galling to families of the victims was that the five suspects on March 10, 2014, were released on bail under a new reform law that reduced the allowable period of pretrial detention from 10 years to 5 years. Under public pressure, authorities required them to wear electronic monitoring devices, a practice that continues after the conviction. But the release has caused extreme distress among the families and friends of the victims.
The suspects had in the past threatened family members of the victims. At one point after the release in March, Talas’s wife suffered a nervous breakdown due to stress and was hospitalized, Talas told Morning Star News. He said the continued freedom of the now convicted killers leaves him “very concerned.”……

mortimer says
SIGNAL TO ISLAMISTS BY TURKISH COURTS: “Have fun persecuting Christians…we will look the other way.”
faraway says
In the early 19th century,there were still 30% christians in Turkey;now it’s less than 1%.Is anyone wondering how that happened?We should be taking in only persecuted minorities as refugees.
Shane says
Yes, let the muslim countries take in muslim refugees, we should be taking in the non-muslim refugees.
Defen0derofIsliam says
The treaty between Turkey and Greece that end WW1 have christian in turkey have to move to Greece it they want to or not. Moslim in Greece have to go to Turkey. Not all christian and obey the treaty by moveing.
gravenimage says
What “Defen0derofIsliam” does not tell you is that most of the Greek Christians who opted to stay in Turkey were slaughtered in the last years of the Armenian Genocide.
Notice he has not a word of criticism for his coreligionists who murdered Christians in the story above.
And why would he? What could be more Islamic than murdering unbelievers?
Linde Barrera says
To gravenimage- Thank you dear graven for your comment of 11:53 pm, Oct. 4, 2016 to Defenderof Islam. I like it because you told the truth. And the truth about doctrinal Islam and its barbaric practices is something that millions of Islamists have a difficult time acknowledging and understanding. So do millions of non-Islamists, because they heard the big lie that Islam is a “religion of peace” and haven’t bothered to research it like many of us anti-jihadists at JihadWatch.org. I hope you are doing great, gravenimage.
gravenimage says
And there are only a tiny remnant of Christians surviving in Turkey today–the rest were all butchered by “Defen0derofIsliam’s” fellow Muslims.
Linde Barrera says
To DefenderofIslam- As per your 11:40 pm comment of Oct. 4, 2016 you are referring to the population exchange between Greece and Turkey of 1923 (Treaty of Lausanne) when about 400,000 Turks had to leave Greece and almost 1,500,000 Greeks (Hellenes) had to leave Turkey. It came about because Greece had been promised land in Asia Minor (Turkey) for siding with the Allied Forces (Britain, France and Russia). The Ottoman Empire, also known as the Turks, had for centuries since 1453 AD invaded different parts of Greece, and kingdoms from various parts of Italy as well as Russia, France, Great Britain, Serbia and Bulgaria helped Greece fight the Turks during those centuries. I thank God that the Islamists lost, and that the vast majority of people in Greece worship God Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
Pal says
“The three victims were hands and feet tied to chairs.”
“Torture was 3 hours, filmed.”
“One of the victims, a German missionary, was stabbed 156 times, another was stabbed 99 times, and the third’s stabs were too numerous to count.”
“The three were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated.”
http://asinthedaysofnoah.blogspot.bg/2007/05/butchering-of-3-christians-in-turkey.html
Pal says
Anatomical clarification: Beloved ear-to-ear slicing in islam is usually practiced to ensure cutting of the two of the largest human body’s arteries, the carotid arteries that run immediately behind two ears and supply blood and oxygen to the brain:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carotid_artery
Edrogan’s, i.e., islam’s Turkey.
The so called Muslim Democracy.
Friend of the whole world…
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9047/turkey-muslim-democracy
Kolga says
The extent of the savagery exhibited by these people is mind boggling.
The horrendous methods the Islamists use to bring about someone’s death are beyond believable.
Burning people alive, boiling people alive, detonating people alive, the list goes on.
Islam really is the religion perfectly suited to sadists and psychopaths.
Jay Boo says
Muslims even call Muhammad their example.
That alone proves that Muslims have no shame.
Walter Sieruk says
There are many Muslims who strongly dislike Christians. Some Muslims even hate Christians so much that they even become violence against them and burn their Bibles. One reason for this is that in the mosques and madrasas the Muslim clerics, as the imams who speak many awful and unproven terrible things against Christians and Christian doctrine. So much so the many Muslims get all worked up against Christians and Christian teachings and some those Muslims commit violent actions against Christians. Such false religious teachers, as those Muslim clerics, who speak to people unfounded and invalid evil things about Christians and Christian doctrines have been described in the Bible. For the Bible informs the reader in Second Peter 2:12. “They speak evil of things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption.” [N.K.J.V.]
It also should be make clear that in this specific above Bible verse, as well as in John 3:16. The word “Perish” does not mean loss of being but loss of well-being. As in going to ruin by ending up in languishing in torment in a terrible place of suffering that the Bible calls hell. Luke 16:19-31.
Walter Sieruk says
One of the main reasons that those Muslims in Turkey murdered those Christians is because the Christians believe and worship in One specific God. In contrast the Muslim believe in and worship a totally different specific god. As the following explains.
First, In the Bible it gives the account of the Prophet Elijah declared “If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal be ,then follow him.” First Kings 18:21.[N.K.J.V.] In other words follow one of the other. Not both.
Second, many people say that the God of the Bible and the god of Islam are one the same. Is the majority always right? That’s not always the case. As an example the Christian pastor and scholar, Michael Youssef, who is also an Arab in his book entitled JESUS, JIHAD AND PEACE on page 69 informs the reader that “The name Allah comes from pre-Islamic times, and it corresponds to the Babylonian mane Bel or Baal. According to the Middle East scholar E.M. Wherry, pre-Islamic Arabs worshiped gods they called Allah. Both pre-Islamic Allah-worship and Baal –worship involved worship of the sun, the moon and the stars, which is why they are called astral religions. The crescent moon, the symbol of pagan moon worship, is also the symbol of Islam. It is printed on flags of many Islamic countries and placed atop minarets and mosques.” Likewise, a former Muslim who is now a Christian, Dr. Daniel Shayesteh, who used to live in the Middle East but now he lives in America . In his book ISLAM AND THE SON OF GOD. On pages 7,8. Reads “Allah is the generic term for God in many Middle –Eastern cultures. Allah is identified as one of the 360 or so idols worshiped by the Arabian people for centuries before Muhammad was born. Many do not know that Allah was the good god of the Arabians. This explains the crescent moon found on minarets and mosques and the flags of Muslim nations. .. .Historic writings also identify Allah with Baal.” It’s also worth mentioning that the Bible condemns such astral religions. As in, for example, Second Kings 23:5.
Therefore, now in modern times, it may be rightly said “If Yahweh Lord of the Bible , be the one True God follow Him. Yet if Allah the lord of Islam be the one true god then follow him.” The case is very clear cut.
Linde Barrera says
Sadism is a vital part of Islam. That is another reason why I think it is doctrinal to Satan the devil. Had the victims been shot several times and died right afterward, that would not make Islam any less evil, but at least the murderers could not be labelled sadistic. ?
nicu says
Merkel loves his Erdogan and his Turks – she doesn’t care !
Tommy says
Just watch on ALL the terrorists that Obama will pardon! The Boston bomber etc…
Champ says
“Despite the conviction and sentencing, however, all five walked out of court free men while their case awaits higher legal review, infuriating Turkish Christians.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indeed they should be infuriated! …this is the height of irresponsibility.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
So the murdering Jihadists* are free men. This raises the inevitable question: will Prez Barack Hussein make them eligible for the Moslem refugee program?
* = a redundancy, I know, but for emphasis
Angemon says
And yet, when the French decided to ban the burkini because it was going against their secular laws and manners, there was an outrage. The media’s double standards never ceases to amaze me…
Veka Fitzfrancis says
Anyone who thinks Turkey is our friend is terribly deluded. The EU would do well to tell the Turks once and for all that they are not allowing them into the EU
Pal says
Turkish government removed 38,000 already imprisoned prisoners – proven criminals – from its jails, in order to free room for its newly arrested, i.e. anti-islamic, enemies, and also is started its newest ‘project’ of building 174 additional prisons:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/15/turkey-plans-to-build-dozens-of-new-jails-after-post-coup-crackdown/
Crusades Were Right! says
Remember the Ephesians of the Bible? No Christians in Ephesus (in Asia Minor) now – the Turkish Mohammedans massacred them in the early 14th century. In the 15th century they slaughtered huge numbers of Christians in Constantinople. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries they slaughtered Armenian Christians to the point of genocide – also Greek and Assyrian Christians during and after World War One.
Now in the 21st century the few remaining Christians in the region are being mopped up.
And THAT is the West’s “ally”?
dumbledoresarmy says
Did you read the article? One of the three martyred Christians was of German ethnicity. But the other two were… TURKS. Who had been raised Muslim, but had left Islam and converted to Christ.
In other words: these two men were most likely descended from Turkish Muslims who, back in the day, would have mercilessly killed, raped and tormented the Christians of Byzantium. And yet: these men *became Christian believers*. And then, rather than save their lives by renouncing Christ and returning to islam, they died a terrible death; they died as martyrs and confessors of Christ.
Sheykh Yer Weeni says
I stand in awe of their bravery and commitment to their faith. Real martyrs are not “shahids” who as the Qur’an says, “slay and are slain” (9.111); no; real martyrs (Gr. witness) are those who stand as nonviolent witnesses unto death for the gospel of Christ (alaihi al-salahm).
Sam says
And we still have believers that Islam can be “modernized”. Evil will be defeated by FORCE. Yes even btutal force wether we like it or not.
That is how Islam has been defeated in the past. Nothing is new now. Except Islam has new friends LIBERALS.
Sheykh Yer Weeni says
The Infidel Imam agrees totally with you, Sam. Wishing for an Islamic reformation, such that Islam becomes peaceful and tolerant, is like wishing for camel dung to become diamonds. To become civilized, Muslims would have to cut huge corners on the Qur’an, and disavow large portions of the life of Muhammad (alaihi al-salahm). Islam is hostile to all Kafirs (Infidels), and especially to those of us in Western democracies; of course, Islam is even more vitriolic toward Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East.
Now what is really sobering is that these back-to-the-Qur’an “extremist” groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, who want to reestablish the Caliphate, may actually represent the Islamic reformation. The Army of Liberty, Jaish al-Hurria, must come to violent blows with the Army of Muhammad (aas).
linnte says
This is so painful to read. Truly these Muslims are demon possessed!
Theodopolos says
Wow… the religion of peace shows the world it is absolutely seriously incompatible with humanity.