By Theodore Shoebat
On the day of the coup, I briefly wrote that Erdogan will use the failed coup to increase his power and pave the way to implementing full on Islamic despotism and eventually genocide on Christianity. We are already seeing the signs of this societal arrogance, flamed by a short victory over a weak coup. Muslim mobs, motivated by zeal for Erdogan, are now attacking churches in Turkey. Here is the report:
Concerns are growing for the future of Christians in Turkey, the birthplace of St Paul, in the wake of the failed coup.
Two churches in eastern Turkey in places already known for historic murders of Christians were vandalised during the attempted coup, reports Middle East Concern.
In Trabzon on the Black Sea, ten people attacked the Catholic church of Santa Maria where Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in 2006. Muslim neighbours intervened and drove them away.
In Malatya, where three Christian workers were murdered in 2007, there was an attempt to smash the windows of the Protestant Church.
Canon Ian Sherwood, Anglican chaplain of the British consulate in Istanbul, is calling for Turkey’s President Erdoğan to respect human rights and champion the rights of Christians. “As long-centuries established Christians in Turkey we are alarmed at how life is evolving in Turkey,” Sherwood told The Spectator. He warns of a rising undercurrent of intolerance towards Christians and other non-Muslims and says many indigenous Christians are now trying to flee Turkey.
“Bear in mind we’ve had a Roman Catholic Bishop murdered, we’ve had clergy threatened, we’ve had one priest murdered 10 years ago. Any Christian leader, if they’re being honest, would say that some of what’s going on is quite alarming.”
A century ago, as many as one in four Turks were Christian but at least 1.5 million were slaughtered in the Armenian genocide of the First World War alone. Today there are barely 250,000 Christians, fewer than one per cent of the population, with the largest number being Orthodox. Most Turks are Sunni Muslims.