Today, January 28, 2024, a Turkish citizen was killed during mass at the Italian Catholic Santa Maria Church in Istanbul. Two masked assailants broke into the service and opened fire.
It is noteworthy that the victim in the Italian church was a Turkish citizen. We do not yet know if the victim had converted from Islam to the Christian faith.
In recent years, many Turks have converted to the Christian faith. According to Danish European Mission's contacts in Turkey, a new openness to the Gospel has been noticed in the country over the past 4-5 years.
Read more about how Turks convert to the Christian faith; Turkish church expects revival
We do not yet know what the motive was for Sunday's killing in Santa Maria and whether the victim's death can be characterized as a martyrdom. The last time a Christian was martyred in Turkey was in 2019, when a South Korean missionary, Jinwook Kim, was stabbed to death in Diyabakir. In 2007, two Turkish Christians, Ugur Yuksel and Necati Aydin, and a German missionary, Tilman Geske, were stabbed to death at the Christian publishing house Zirve in Malatya. It took 12 years before a verdict was reached in the case.
Read more: Final verdict in the Malatya case
In general, however, physical attacks on Christians in Turkey are rare and the authorities make efforts to protect not only ethnic Christian minorities, but also convert Christians. The Danish European Mission works with a convert church in Turkey that was visited by anti-terrorism police in the run-up to Christmas 2022. The special unit had received intelligence that Islamic State in Turkey would attack the church during the Christmas holidays. The officers checked that the church's surveillance cameras were working and asked when Christmas services were taking place so they could keep an eye on the participants. The church made it through Christmas and several curious Muslims even showed up for a Christmas event.
Fortunately, official Turkey has strongly condemned the murder in Santa Maria. What is crucial in this situation is that the police solve the case and the courts judge fairly.
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