In Turkey, 2 men interrogated after Christian conversion

ISTANBUL, Turkey (BP)-A Turkish prosecutor has filed criminal charges against two converts to Christianity, accusing them of "insulting Turkishness," inciting hatred against Islam and secretly compiling data on private citizens for a local Bible correspondence course, according to an Oct. 31 report by Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency based in Santa Ana, Calif.

Hakan Tastan, 37, and Turan Topal, 46, joined the ranks of 97 other Turkish citizens taken to court in the last 16 months over alleged violations of the country's controversial Article 301 restricting freedom of speech, Compass reported.

The attorney for the two Christians, Haydar Polat, said a state prosecutor in the Silivri Criminal Court filed a formal indictment against Tastan and Topal on Oct. 12. If convicted, the accused men could be sentenced from six months to three years in prison, Compass reported, noting that the first hearing for the trial is set for Nov. 23 in Silivri, 45 miles west of Istanbul along the Marmara Sea coast. Polat told Compass the trial could be expected to continue for a year or more.

Citing articles 301, 216 and 135 of the Turkish penal code, the indictment accuses the defendants of approaching grade school children and high school students in Silivri and attempting to convert them to Christianity, Compass reported.

According to the written charges, the three plaintiffs, identified as 23-year-old Fatih Kose, 16-year-old Alper and Oguz, 17, claimed the two Christians had called Islam a "primitive and fabricated religion" and had described Turks as a "cursed people," Compass reported.

They also accused Tastan and Topal of opposing the Turkish military, encouraging sexual misconduct and procuring funds from abroad to entice young people in Silivri to become Christians. Tastan and Topal deny all charges, Compass reported.

Neither of the men knew they were under investigation until Oct. 11, when two carloads of gendarme officials appeared with a search warrant at Tastan's home at 8 a.m., Compass recounted. The officers informed Tastan that a complaint had been made against him claiming he had unlicensed guns and was conducting illegal missionary activities, Compass reported. While Tastan and his wife and two small children looked on, according to the Compass report, the search team spent two hours combing their apartment in Buyukcekmece, on the western outskirts of Istanbul.

"Now let's go to your office and find Turan," the soldiers told Tastan, instructing him to call Topal and ask him to stay at the office until he arrived, without explaining why, Compass reported. Tastan was surprised that they knew his office address and the name of his office partner; he later learned that a Silivri prosecutor had given the gendarme written permission to follow, photograph and secretly tape them for one month, according to Compass.

After searching the small bureau in Istanbul's Taksim district, the gendarme confiscated two computers and an array of books and papers, Compass reported. They then loaded the two Christians into their vehicles and drove them back to Silivri, the news agency said.

After hours of interrogation by military intelligence officials, the two men were released for the night and ordered to return the next morning to complete the investigation, Compass reported. By the end of Oct. 12, they reportedly had recorded their formal statements before the prosecutor.

Both men said they had categorically denied all the accusations against them, Compass reported, noting that the charges apparently are based on three or four trips they had made to Silivri months ago to meet a teacher and several high school students who had contacted an Istanbul-based Bible correspondence course requesting a visit.

We had an exchange (from Germany) student a couple of years ago who became a Christian (born again). She told us she could never tell her father (a muslin) because he would kill her. I told her she was exaggerating. I realize now she was not.
Yes, she goes to church (sneaks) does Bible devotions (hides her Bible at a friends house). We pray for her daily, what strength this young woman has.

She is not the first Christian to do so. History is filled with such persecuted Christians. Popular history ignores them and pretends there is no persecution of Christians or slavery in the modern world.

3 posted on 11/09/2006 10:16:17 AM PST by weegee (Remember "Remember the Maine"? Well in the current war "Remember the Baby Milk Factory")

4 posted on 11/09/2006 4:18:19 PM PST by eleni121 (sometimes you have to cut off the limb to save the body)

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