Christian Missionaries in Turkey Become Targets for Militant ‘Nationalists’

‘Turkish nationalists’ see Islam as a ‘unifying force of the country’, yet some try to claim that their attacks against Christians have ‘nothing to do with Islam.’  Yet every single ‘Turkish nationalist’ is Muslim.  Are the deniers really that ignorant?  Or is this yet again another blatant example of taqiyya?

Thomas Seibert – “ISTANBUL // When a Protestant minister in the city of Izmir left his church one day this month, he saw a man pointing a weapon at him and shouting: ‘Stop proselytizing! You will pay!’

The attacker in front of the Dirilis Kilisesi, or Church of the Resurrection, was quickly overwhelmed, but the incident on the evening of April 1 was a reminder of the hatred that some radical Turkish nationalists feel for Christian missionaries. Radical nationalists in Turkey are not opposed to Christian missionaries for religious reasons, Ferhat Kentel, a sociologist at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, said about the hatred against missionaries.

‘It is an effort by nationalists to create enemies, a perception of threat,’ Dr Kentel said. ‘It has nothing to do with Islam. It is an ideological phenomenon.’ He said the fear of missionaries was ‘a symbol for dangers coming from outside’. Turkish nationalists see Islam as a unifying force of the country that will be undermined if Christians are allowed to proselytize.”  Read more.