Plot to Assassinate Pastor in Turkey Thwarted

Worshipers at the Izmit Protestant Fellowship. (Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation photo)

ISTANBUL (Morning Star News) – Police in Turkey arrested 14 people for planning to assassinate a pastor in Izmit, 62 miles (100 kilometers) east of Istanbul, during an evangelistic event this week.

Of the 14 suspects, two attended the church for a year claiming to be Christians, said the target of the plot, pastor Emre Karaali of Izmit Protestant Church. Members of the Kocaeli District Police Department’s counter-terrorism branch arrested the group on Tuesday (Jan. 15).

Two members of the group were active participants in the fellowship for a year, pretending to be Christians, Karaali told Morning Star News. One acted amiable – “like a Christian,” he said – and visited the pastor’s house a number of times. He had been well-accepted into the congregation.

The second member displayed suspicious behavior, asking strange questions of parishioners, documenting everything that happened in the church, and writing down every detail about the pastor, he said.

“He was always asking people questions and was taking notes about everything,” Karaali said. “Such as when I was going, when I was coming, who I was talking with, and what I was talking about. But nobody thought he wanted to kill anyone.”

In the last three months, four other members of the group began attending the church. They were “invited” by the two others and pretended to be interested in learning more about Christianity.

Over time the police became suspicious of their actions, feared an impending attack and arrested the group on the Tuesday morning, Protestant church leaders said. Karaali was informed the next day and went to police to give a statement and answer questions, he said.

Police have not issued a report following the arrest. The nature of the group and its intent is unknown, said Carlos Madrigal, leader of the Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation. The group reportedly wanted to carry out an attack during the church’s four-day long event that included music, theater, and evangelistic seminars.

Kocaeli Gov. Ercan Topaca said that in addition to the 12 members of the Izmit-based group, two others were taken into custody: one in another Turkish province and another abroad, according to the Anatolian Agency news service. A firearm and other deadly weapons were reportedly found at the suspects’ houses. Police arrested the members when it became apparent their attack was imminent, Topaca said.

The governor reportedly added that he could not determine if the group was connected to a larger organization. He noted, however, that “people coming together and planning something like this, trying to carry out an action like this is an organizational effort. But we don’t have much information.”

The local Kocaeli Gazette reported that the group was not believed to be a radical Muslim group but only wanted to perform “an action that would influence Turkey,” possibly a reference to a desire to challenge the perceived threat posed by Christianity.

Madrigal complimented the state security forces on their work in preventing the attack, but he noted that government officials had not given the Protestant community any message of consolation.

“In such an attack, when state leaders do not give statements such as, ‘Whatever happens to our Christian citizens happens to us,’ it can’t be expected that people’s minds will be changed [about Christians].”

This is not the first attempted assault on Izmit Protestant Church. Five years ago, 28 people were taken into custody for charges of forming a criminal organization involved in violent extortion, and among their objectives was to assassinate Izmit Protestant Church’s then-pastor, Wolfgang Hade.

During the Christmas 2006 season, an unknown arsonist started a fire outside the wall of the church building.

Only 30 to 40 Protestants are estimated to live in the industrial city. Between 15 and 20 are actively involved in the congregation.

The church’s unassuming, two-story building displays only a sign and small cross signifying it as a house of worship. Karaali, 33, and his wife have been involved in the congregation for four years. They have two children.

The planned killing in Izmit by locals feigning interest in Christianity recalls recent episodes of violence against Turkey’s small Protestant church. In 2007 five youths in the Eastern Anatolian city of Malatya killed three Christians – a German missionary and two Turkish converts from Islam.

The case is ongoing, as over the years the prosecution has attempted to link the case to a vast government conspiracy.

Some 14,500 evangelical Christians live in Turkey, a nation of 75.7 million that is 96.6 percent Muslim, according to Operation World. Christians can legally practice their religion, but registering new church buildings is difficult and converts face significant informal social discrimination from family members, the government, and work places.

Despite the initial shock of the arrests, the congregation has gone on with their activities. The events and evangelistic seminars continued normally until their conclusion Thursday evening (Jan. 17).

Karaali asked that Christians pray that his congregation be granted courage and their faith be increased. He also said he desires that if there are any other members of the attacking group, they be detained as well.

“Pray that if there are others involved [in this plot] then they be found,” he said. “I don’t think there are only 14 people.”

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