CCTV footage shows two youths attacking the storefront of Söz Kitapevi, a Christian bookstore, kicking and smashing glass in both the window and door. The door frame was also damaged.
A bookstore employee discovered the damage when he came to open the store. He described the security footage of the attack at 8:19 p.m. "They came at the store as a target," he said. "They attacked in very cold blood and then walked away as if nothing had happened."
The video camera did not clearly capture the faces of the youths and police are still trying to identify the perpetrators.
In the first attack on 07.02.09, the glass in the front door was smashed and the video camera was missing. Both have since been repaired. The employee told the Turkish daily Milliyet that these are the first such incidents he has experienced in the 10 years he has worked there.
"We sit and have tea with our neighbors and those around us and there is no problem," said the employee, although he admitted that the local attitude is not all positive. "This is a Muslim neighborhood and many have asked us not to sell these books."
The bookstore has received threats from both Muslim fundamentalists and nationalists. In November last year, a man entered the store and accused Söz Kitapevi Bookstore of being in cahoots with the CIA. "You are working with them to kill people in Muslim countries and harm Muslim countries."
Systematic bias
The attacks are yet another example of the hostility Turkish Christians have faced recently, especially the small Protestant communities. The Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey released its annual Rights Violations Report in summary form last month. It describes some of the abuses experienced by Protestant congregations in 2008.
The report makes it clear that violent attacks, threats and accusations are symptoms that come from an anti-Christian environment of both mistrust and misinformation that the Turkish state allows to exist. The report cites as the main culprit for the animosity felt towards Christians the negative image of Christians in the media, as well as state bodies or officials who "have invented a 'crime' called 'missionary activities' and identify this crime with a certain denomination."
The report calls on the government to develop effective media monitoring mechanisms that ensure the absence of intolerant or provocative programs and that the state contributes to making the public aware of the rights of Turkish citizens of all faiths.
