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Press overview about the Christians in Turkey & Middle East Prepared by: Suleyman GULTEKIN Mobile +32 (0) 474 540 744 [email protected] Christian gathering says Lebanon must restore “missing sovereignty” .................................................. 3 Rai to hold Mass in Iraq on anniversary of church attack ....................................................................... 3 Iraq's Christians torn between staying or facing death at home ............................................................ 4 Lebanon's Christians concerned by Islamic revival ................................................................................. 6 NEWS ALERT: Christian Convert Missing In Iran ..................................................................................... 7 Parliament stands up for Christians in Egypt and Syria ........................................................................... 8 Archaeology in Turkey: Major Finds in Asia Minor ................................................................................. 9 Viewpoint: Egypt's Copts must not submit to grief............................................................................... 11 Who’s afraid of the Arab Spring? .......................................................................................................... 14 Iran Clamps Down on Evangelical Christians ......................................................................................... 15 Canada speaks up for Coptic Christians in Egypt .................................................................................. 16 Christians Under Threat as Radical Islam Spreads in 'New Middle East ............................................... 17 Gemayel urges guiding charter for the Arab Spring .............................................................................. 19 Open Doors USA: Extremists Want to Eliminate Christians From Iraq ................................................. 20 ElBaradei consoles Egypt Copts and criticises toothless cabinet .......................................................... 22 Lawyer: International pressure has not helped Iranian pastor’s case .................................................. 24 U.S. bishops find Iraqi Christians want return to peace, meaningful jobs ............................................ 25 Winter for Christians in the Arab Spring? ............................................................................................. 26 Egyptian army must answer for deadly toll at Coptic protest .............................................................. 28 Cairo witnesses blame security forces for bloodshed at Coptic march ................................................ 29 Mideast church leaders worried about Christians if Syria has civil war ................................................ 32 Turkey. Some Refugees Are More Equal Than Others .......................................................................... 34 Egypt: The Cry of the Copt ‐ Continuing Sectarian Violence ................................................................. 35 Syriac Christians to get first church in Istanbul ..................................................................................... 36 Iraq: Double targeted killings against the Christian community in Kirkuk ............................................ 37 Iraq’s Christian Community Stirred by Targeted Murders in Kirkuk ..................................................... 38 ‘Textbook includes provocative language against Syriacs’ ................................................................... 39 Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 2 ChristiangatheringsaysLebanonmustrestore“missingsovereignty”
October 31, 2011 The “Our Lady of the Mountain” Christian gathering issued a statement Monday that that the
Lebanese state must “restore” the country’s “missing sovereignty.”
There is no justification for the presence “of two armies in one state,” the statement said in reference
to Hezbollah’s arms.
The gathering also called for “establishing a civil state” based on the Taif Accord.
“Lebanon’s peace also requires ending a black phase of Syrian-Lebanese relations and supporting the
Syrian people’s right to establish a democratic system in Syria. This is a basic condition for
establishing friendly [relations] between the [two countries].”
“Lebanon’s peace also calls for [opening] a new page with the Palestinians. Supporting efforts to
establish an independent Palestinian state is a condition to [achieve] peace in the region.”
The statement also said that the gathering rejects political positions that jeopardize Christians and
“link the Christians’ fate to suppressive regimes.”
“We reject schemes that aim to harm the Christians’ presence in the [Middle] East and that aim to
transfer Christians to a minority seeking protection.”
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=327969#ixzz1cTrAQFsc
RaitoholdMassinIraqonanniversaryofchurchattack
October 31, 2011 Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai participates in a memorial mass at Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation church, Oct. 31, 2011 to mark the first anniversary of a massacre of worshippers and priests in which 44 people were killed, including seven security forces. AFP PHOTO/SABAH ARAR BKIRKI: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai leaves for Iraq
Monday to head a Mass at the Our Lady of Salvation church on
the occasion of the first anniversary of an attack that left 58 people dead.
The delegation, scheduled to leave Beirut airport shortly before midday Monday, includes Bishop
Camille Zaidan and Environment Minister Nazem al-Khoury, on behalf of President Michel Sleiman.
The Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad came under attack Oct. 31, 2010, which
left at least 58 people dead, including two priests, after gunmen stormed the church.
The al-Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgent group the “Islamic State of Iraq” claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 3 Rai is expected to hold talks with a number of Iraqi officials before his return home Wednesday
evening.
His Iraq visit prompted the postponement by one day of the monthly meeting of Maronite Bishops,
which is scheduled to take place on the first Wednesday of every month.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Oct‐31/152673‐rai‐to‐hold‐mass‐in‐iraq‐on‐anniversary‐of‐
church‐attack.ashx#ixzz1cTiDf5fW Iraq'sChristianstornbetweenstayingorfacingdeathathome
By Aidan Clay, ASSIST News Service ‐ Posted: Monday, October 31, 2011 October 31 marks the anniversary of last year's four‐hour siege on a Syriac Catholic church in that ended with al‐Qaida linked militants massacring 58 worshippers. The attack was the worst against Iraqi Christians since the US‐led invasion in 2003 and enticed many of the already dwindling Christian population in Baghdad to leave the city permanently. "We've had enough now. Leaving Iraq has become a must," Jamal Habo Korges, a Christian mechanic and father of three, told the United Nation's humanitarian news outlet IRIN. "We've been suffering since 2003 and we can't take it anymore. The latest carnage is the final warning." Father Douglas al‐Bazi, who was kidnapped and tortured four years earlier, told The Christian Science Monitor after the attack that his Chaldean parish in Baghdad had dwindled from 2,500 families in the 1990s to less than 300. "Of course I cannot ask anyone to stay," he said. "Everyone tells me 'Father, I am sorry ‐ I will leave.' I tell them, 'Don't be sorry, okay? No one is pushing you to die, what's the benefit of dying?'" Iraq's Christian population prior to 2003 was estimated at one million or more. Today, fewer than 350,000 remain. Those who leave either become internally displaced ‐ most going to the less violent Kurdish north ‐ or flee the country altogether. Of the two million Iraqi refugees worldwide, nearly half reside in neighboring Syria. Twenty‐five per cent of them are Christian according to local church leaders ‐ a stark comparison to the four percent that made up Iraq's Christian population before the war. Upon arrival in Syria, many Iraqi Christian immigrants have nothing more than the shirt on their backs. "Most of these families arrived with their hand bags and nothing else in their hands. It is a pitiful situation," a Syrian church leader told World Magazine. The Syrian government does not allow refugees to hold jobs or apply for residency, and does not offer public assistance for health care, schooling, or other legal services needed to file for refugee status. Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 4 Conditions are similar in Turkey, but there is generally greater optimism among refugees that eventually they will be allowed to immigrate to a western country. However, the wait period often takes two to five years and refugees, including asylum seekers registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), have been known to be arbitrarily deported back to their homeland by the Turkish government. Ala'a and her family had fled to Turkey three years ago from Mosul. Her father, from a Sunni background, and mother, from a Shia background, converted to Christianity in 2005, the result of a close friendship with a local Chaldean bishop who encouraged them to read the Bible. When returning to Mosul after a trip outside the country in April 2008, Ala'a's family learned that the bishop had been murdered and their conversion had become known. Hiding in obscure hotels and plotting their escape, a family relative eventually found them. With a knife and gasoline, he entered their hotel room, but only found Ala'a present. Pinning Ala'a to the ground, he poured petrol over his cousin's body from the neck down and lit her on fire. "I'm doing this because you're a Christian and you're going to have to marry a Christian now," Ala'a, who was only fourteen at the time, recalls him saying. Returning to the room from an outdoor latrine, Ala'a's younger brother Muhammad found his unconscious sister on the floor and sought help. Ala'a was confined to a hospital bed for a month before she and her family could flee Mosul to Erbil and later to Turkey for refuge. "[Our nephew] would have tried to kill the entire family if we had been home," Ala'a's father told ICC. "Thankfully, our 12‐year‐old son was not in the room also or he would be dead." Ala'a's story sounds all too familiar among Iraqi Christians. Three years after Ala'a's flight from Iraq, the situation for Iraqi Christians remains the same. On August 15, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mar Afram in Kirkuk was bombed by insurgents, making it the third time the church has been bombed in the past five years. On September 30, three Assyrian Christians and a Turkman Muslim were ransomed after being kidnapped a week earlier near Kirkuk. And, on October 1, the bodies of two Christians, Hanna Polos Emmanuel and Bassam Isho, who had been shot, were found in or near Kirkuk. Of the hundreds of thousands of Christians who have left Iraq because of religious‐based violence, few wish to return. "If all of Iraq was given to me, I would not go back. There is no life, no law," a Christian mother in the Kurtulu district of Istanbul, which is often called 'Little Baghdad' and is populated by mostly Christian refugees, told the Turkish daily Hürriyet. Iraqi Christians, many of whom were formerly doctors or business owners in their homeland, now wait years without employment as impoverished refugees to immigrate to a western nation. Their desperate circumstances raise the question: are western governments and agencies that are mandated to protect and support refugees doing enough? Many Iraqis reply by saying that they are not getting the help they need. Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 5 "These Assyrian [refugees] have no land to return to. Assyrians need security [in Iraq], they are not leaving for any other reason. Why is it that the West is not assisting?" Mar Dinkha IV, Patriarch of the Assyrian of the East church in Iraq, asked me in genuine disbelief. Sadly, no adequate response to his question can be given to grant Iraqi Christian refugees the consolation they need during these difficult times. http://www.christiantoday.com/article/iraqs.christians.torn.between.staying.or.facing.death.at.hom
e/28841.htm Lebanon'sChristiansconcernedbyIslamicrevival
By Weedah Hamzah Oct 29, 2011
Beirut- Lebanon's Christian community is beginning to fear for its wellbeing amid signs that prodemocracy revolts could end up giving more power to less tolerant strands of Islam.
'We saw what happened to the Christians in Iraq after Saddam (Hussein) was ousted: many of them
fled the country and are now living as refugees in Lebanon and Syria,' Bilal Haddad, a Christian
banker who used to live in Syria, told dpa.
In Tunisia, where the so-called Arab Spring was born, an Islamic party banned under the rule of
dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has won the country's first free election.
In Egypt, Coptic Christians and Muslims have continued to engage in violent clashes well after the
ouster of Hosny Mubarak.
And in Libya, victorious anti-Moamer Gaddafi rebels have announced their support for Muslim Sharia
Law.
'All this seems to confirm that early critics of the Arab Spring revolutions may have been correct - that
the hated dictators that were deposed may not have been as bad as they seemed to be and that some
minorities who lived under their rule were protected then more than now,' Christian analyst George
Deeb told dpa.
'From these outcomes, Christians in the Middle East are becoming increasingly fearful of the
tremendous political and social change sweeping the region,' Deeb said.
Christians in Lebanon, where they represent about 39 per cent of the population, and in neighbouring
Syria, have so far enjoyed a protected status.
But given the growing influence of Islamic movements in post-revolutionary North Africa, they are
now beginning to question where their loyalties should lay.
The head of the Christian Maronite community, Patriarch Bishara Boutros al-Rai, recently described
Syria's despotic president, Bashar al-Assad, as an 'open-minded' leader who should be given more time
to implement reforms rather than be ousted because of his brutal crackdown on pro-democracy
activists.
He also expressed concern about 'a transitional phase in Syria that might threaten the Christians of the
Middle East.'
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 6 'Of course we are going to be afraid that extremists will come, because the entire region is boiling and
we cannot bear any more fundamentalists,' said Sana Maroun, a Christian living in Beirut.
Former Lebanese president Amin Gemayel, himself a Christian, wants his country to introduce a new
bill to ensure that Christians 'no longer remain victims.'
The revolts should abide by certain principles to assure the people that they are keen on reaching
democracy and freedom without threatening any other sect living in the same country, he said.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1671878.php/Lebanon-sChristians-concerned-by-Islamic-revival
NEWSALERT:ChristianConvertMissingInIran
Saturday, October 29, 2011 ‐ By Marshall Ramsey II, BosNewsLife Special Correspondent TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)– A Christian with a Muslim background, Fariborz Arazm, remained missing in Iran Saturday, October 29, nearly two weeks after his detention by plain clothes security officers, Iranian Christians said. Mohabat News, an independent Iranian Christian news agency of activists and local Christians, said four officers engaged in "a commando‐style raid" on the house of Arazm on October 17, transferring him to an unknown location. The raid in the city of Robat‐Karim, 27 kilometers (17 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital of Tehran, reportedly took place around 7:30 am local time, just before he left for work. Officers allegedly searched the house, confiscated Arazm's Bibles as well as computer hard disk, Compact Disks and pictures, leaving a chaos behind them, Iranian Christians said. The 44‐year‐old Arazm, a father of two children, has not been able to contact nor visit his family since the arrest, Christians said. FAMILY "WARNED" His family was reportedly warned to not to talk about the incident.  "Due to the nature of the situation, Mr. Arazm's family has suffered stress and anxiety, and are also concerned for his health," Mohabat News said. While no more details were immediately available, Iranian Christians say thety believe he is held because of his Christian faith. In recent days another Christian, only identified as "Mohammad", was reportedly also detained in the city of Shahriar, south‐west of Tehran, on charges that local Christians have linked to his conversion to Christianity. The Christian, who is reportedly studying Christianity, was reportedly interrogated about his Christian faith and "threatened" before being released several hours later. Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 7 "This incident took place even though Article 23 of the constitution states that, "Inquisition is prohibited and no one should be harassed or interrogated because of his/her belief," Mohabat News commented. Another Article, 32 of the constitution, states that, "no one should be arrested, unless the legal warrant has been issued for the person," the agency added. UN CONCERNS Ahmad Shaheed, the United Nation's special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, said this month that religious minorities inside Iran face "serious restrictions" regarding their rights and religious practices. The latest detentions follow mounting international pressure on Iran to release Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who faces the death penalty for refusing to abandon his faith in Christ and return to Islam, according to written court documents seen by BosNewsLife. Some Iranian officials have recently denied he may be executed as a ruling is still awaited from the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was appointed supreme leader for life in 1989 by Shiite Muslim clerics. Rights groups and local Christians have linked the crackdown on Christian concerts to concerns among Iranian officials about the spread of Christianity in the strict Islamic nation. (With additional reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos) http://www.bosnewslife.com/18884‐news‐alert‐christian‐convert‐missing‐in‐iran ParliamentstandsupforChristiansinEgyptandSyria
External relations − 27‐10‐2011 ‐ 14:25 ‐ Plenary sessions MEPs strongly condemn the killing of peaceful protesters in Egypt and Syria and call on both
countries’ authorities to protect Christian communities, in a resolution passed on Thursday.
The resolution on the situation in Egypt and Syria, in particular of Christian communities, was adopted
by a show of hands.
Egypt
Since March 2011, tens of thousands of Coptic Christians have reportedly left Egypt. On 9 October, at
least 25 were killed and more than 300 wounded in Cairo during a peaceful march organised by Copts.
Parliament strongly condemns the killing of protestors in Egypt, and stresses the importance of an
independent and transparent investigation.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 8 Authorities should ensure that Copts do not fall victim to violent attacks and can live in peace and
freely express their beliefs throughout the country, the resolution says. MEPs call for protection of
churches, to put an end to their destruction and to continuous aggression by Islamic extremists.
MEPs are concerned about the kidnapping of Coptic girls who have been forced to convert to Islam.
They add that Egyptian authorities must end discrimination against Coptic Christians. Parliament
considers that the EU should take measures if serious human rights violations occur in Egypt.
Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces should put an end to the emergency law and to military
trials of civilians immediately, as it violates the rights to freedom of expression, association and
assembly, MEPs underline.
Syria
MEPs are also deeply concerned about the situation of Christians in Syria. The resolution notes that
thousands of Iraqi Christians went to Syria to escape targeted violence in Iraq. Nevertheless, the
Christian population in Syria may have dropped from 10% to 8% of the total.
Parliament condemns actions inciting inter-confessional conflict, urges Syrian authorities to provide
reliable and efficient protection for the Christian communities, and expresses support for Christians in
the country.
It also condemns the brutal use of force by Syrian authorities against protesters, pro-democracy
activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and medical personnel, and reiterates that President
Bashar al-Assad and his regime must relinquish power immediately.
Finally, MEPs believe that the EU should further encourage and support the emergence of organised
Syrian democratic opposition forces both within and outside the country.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/pressroom/content/20111027IPR30446/html/Parliament-stands-upfor-Christians-in-Egypt-and-Syria
ArchaeologyinTurkey:MajorFindsinAsiaMinor
But researchers say Turkish government is shutting them out. Gordon Govier | posted 10/27/2011 A deadly 7.2 magnitude earthquake has drawn renewed global attention to Turkey. For archaeologists
and early church scholars, the country was already a renewed focal point. A surge of archaeology
projects in the country have uncovered more of the Christian legacy of Paul and other early
evangelists. But archaeologists from the U.S. and other countries face growing barriers put up by
Turkish authorities.
Turkish archaeologist Mehmet Ozhanli of Suleyman Demirel University recently reported the
discovery of a fourth-century church in the ruins of Antioch of Pisidia, the scene of a pivotal moment
in the history of the early church. Here Paul chose to extend his missionary message of salvation to
Gentiles. Paul also delivered his longest recorded sermon (Acts 13:16-41).
The ancient church, a converted pagan temple and the fifth church uncovered so far near the modern
city of Yalvac in central Turkey, represents one of the first communities of Gentile Christians.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 9 "That number of churches in one city is not unique," said Regent University professor Mark Wilson
who runs the Asia Minor Research Center in Antalya, approximately 125 miles south of Yalvac.
"Laodicea had as many, if not more, [and] another church has been discovered there recently."
But Ozhanli's find does represent a surge in biblical discoveries in Turkey; no surprise, given that twothirds of the New Testament was written either in Turkey or to churches or people in Turkey, said
Wilson. Italian archaeologist Francesco D'Andria has just reported the discovery of the tomb of Philip,
one of the original 12 apostles, in Hierapolis in southwestern Turkey.
Wilson said that in 1990, the total number of excavations was 38. Last year more than 200 excavations
took place, according to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
However, Hurriyet reports that the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry has begun cancelling
excavation permits for some foreign archaeologists and turning the permits over to Turkish
archaeologists. Ministry head Ertuğrul Günay said many foreigners simply weren't in the country
enough. "If they don't work on it, they should hand it over."
"The government's goal is to have universities in each of Turkey's provinces, and an archaeology
department in each of these universities," said Wilson. This means the number of archaeologists is
expanding rapidly. Foreign archeologists now run less than 25 percent of Turkey's 200 current digs.
American archaeologist Andy Bennett put together a team of seven volunteers in 2008 to work with
the Pamukkale University excavations at Laodicea. After a lengthy application process working with a
consulting firm hired by the university, the team failed to get the final approval needed from Turkish
authorities in time to participate in the excavation. The trip had to be canceled.
Colossae, where a first-century community of believers received one of Paul's letters, is one of three
biblical sites that remain unexcavated in Turkey. Alan Cadwallader of Australian Catholic University
has his eyes on Colossae, but excavation approval from Turkish authorities has been slow in coming.
A rigorous analysis of the historical background of the site was requested first. "That has been our
focus over the last decade," he said. "The fruits are now beginning to be published."
None of the estimated dozen ongoing American excavations in Turkey—including Aphrodisias,
Gordion and Sardis—have been cancelled so far, said Timothy Harrison, a Wheaton College and
University of Chicago graduate now teaching at the University of Toronto. He directs excavations at
Tel Tayinat, which may be the Kalno mentioned in Isaiah 10:9.
"We feel we have barely uncovered the tip of the iceberg in terms of the archaeological potential of the
site," said Harrison. "We work closely with the Ministry of Culture, and we have just received
regulatory approval to open an archaeological park at the site, equipped with a permanent on-site
research facility."
The increased attention to archaeology in Turkey could reveal many new attractions that would bring
increasing numbers of Christian pilgrims to the Muslim country. And the fact that Turkey is taking
responsibility for excavating its rich heritage is a positive trend in a region where foreign interests
have had too much influence in the past.
But red tape and the fact that archaeologists working in Turkey for many years are having their
permits pulled is frustrating, said Wilson. "It's a very disturbing trend."
Meanwhile, Sunday's earthquake in eastern Turkey may have had an archaeological impact.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 10 The city of Van, which is near the epicenter, was the capital of the ancient Urartian Empire. The ruins
are located at a site west of the city called Van Castle.
"There are no reports yet whether its ruins, which contain Urartian cuneiform inscriptions dating to the
8-7th centuries BC, have been damaged in the earthquake," Wilson said. "The major emphasis at this
point, of course, is to deal with the human tragedy wrought by the earthquake."
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/november/turkey-archaeology.html?start=2
Viewpoint:Egypt'sCoptsmustnotsubmittogrief
26 October 2011 Egyptian Christians have been mourning those killed earlier this month Earlier this month Egypt saw some of the worst religious
violence in decades. Twenty-five people were killed in
clashes between Egyptian security forces and mainly
Coptic Christian demonstrators protesting against an
attack on a church.
Here Yousef Sidhoum, editor of the Coptic newspaper al-Watani, argues that the situation for Egypt's
Copts has worsened following the country's revolution, but that the Copts can still play a crucial role
in building a liberal, civil state.
Since the start of Egypt's revolution on 25 January, the world has watched the country's attempts to
transform itself from a dictatorship to a democracy with a considerable degree of admiration and
respect.
To tell the truth, Egyptians of my age group - I am 62 years old - never imagined that their fellow
citizens could successfully revolt against a corrupt regime backed by fierce security services and the
military.
But our youth did it and proved that we had mistakenly underestimated their determination to change
their harsh fate.
During the uprising, all Egyptians flocked to Tahrir Square calling for reforms to bring social justice,
more jobs and the cancellation of forged parliamentary elections. Muslims and Christians were bound
by the same challenges and aspirations.
The Copts of Egypt cannot afford to fall into grief and desperation”
In the square a strong, unprecedented bond of national solidarity was forged. This amazing bond
moved the hearts and souls of Egyptians all over the country - little wonder, as previously it had been
absent in daily life except when Egypt played in international football matches.
'Discriminatory tide' As a Coptic Christian, deep down in my heart there lies a wound that does not heal. It has festered
over more than three decades as the grievances of Egypt's Copts have mounted.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 11 In the 1970s, our good-natured, amicable Egyptian character began to change. Copts started to feel
that they were rejected, marginalised, and denied their full citizenship rights both by the state and their
Muslim fellow citizens, merely because of their religious denomination.
A strong wave of fanatic, fundamentalist Islam invaded our country, a vicious, discriminatory tide that
flooded state bodies, official establishments and educational institutions and affected Muslim clergy. It
resulted in legislative inequalities and selective rules that had an Islamic flavour and meant Copts were
treated as second-class citizens.
At the top of the list of Coptic complaints is the restriction on the right to build and maintain churches.
The difficulties begin with acquiring a site and continue through the entire process.
National security police have the right to reject any application or suspend approvals for years without
being held to account. A new church also requires a presidential decree, while repairs need a
governor's approval. The same restrictions do not apply to mosques.
This sends a signal to Muslim fanatics that the state does not mind harassing Christians. It fuels
negative sentiments and helps trigger attacks by mobs against existing or newly built churches.
These are often accompanied by general violence against Copts, looting and burning of their property
and threats to their lives.
Local authorities often turn a deaf ear and blind eye to these authorities and do not enforce the rule of
law.
Underrepresented Another form of inequality Copts suffer from lies in the
fact that far too few occupy chief executive jobs and
high-ranking positions in all state bodies.
While Copts make up between 10 to 15% of the
population, their share of such posts is estimated to be
3.5% or less.
Egypt's Copts Estimates of the number of Coptic Christians in Egypt range from 5.6m to 11m 


Descended from ancient Egyptians; Coptic language is derived from ancient Egyptian Split from Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics in 451AD in row over nature of Christ On most issues doctrinally similar to Eastern Orthodox Church Copts are actually banned from joining presidential administrative or security bodies, the national
intelligence service and state security police.
They are underrepresented in the military, police, judiciary, the diplomatic corps, state banks and
universities. In all electoral bodies - from local councils up to the parliament - there is a similar
picture.
This situation has built up over the past 40 years and is linked to the political and economic
domination of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
This allowed a small number of fragile opposition parties to create only an image of a multi-party
system.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 12 As the NDP refrained from nominating Copts on its candidate lists, their chances for political
representation and participation were reduced to a drastic minimum.
Perhaps the most harmful of inequalities for the Copts and all Egyptians, has been the creeping
Islamisation of our educational system.
This started with our history books, in which the six centuries when Egypt was a predominantly
Coptic Christian country, prior to the introduction of Islam, were shrunk down to a shameful
minimum. Eventually all curricula were affected.
Our children have been taught that Islam is superior to any other religion and the one and only source
of ethics and morals.
Some teachers with extremist beliefs also fostered divisions among their pupils, spreading the idea that
Christians are infidels. Such evil attitudes have created ignorance, mistrust and dangerous segregation
among our young generation.
In many fields and activities in their own country, many Copts feel a bitter sense of estrangement,
rejection and insecurity.
The extent to which they do so depends on many factors including geography and social background.
Unanswered questions There are some Copts who have reacted to years of constant marginalisation and humiliation by
withdrawing from Muslim company. They stick within their churches and Coptic company.
Those who have managed to keep amicable relations with Muslims - neighbours, classmates,
workmates and friends - have a healthier outlook.
Nine months have now elapsed since Egypt's revolution ousted the president and still important
questions lie unanswered.
Are the Copts in a better situation than before? And, can we emerge from this transitional period as a
civil state for all Egyptians?
I believe the situation of Copts has worsened since the revolution.
This is because of the revival of political Islam and the eruption of violence inflicted upon them by the
emerging Salafist Islamic groups coupled with a very worrying failure of the ruling regime to enforce
the rule of law or to offer Copts protection.
Yet the Copts of Egypt cannot afford to fall into grief and desperation.
They must strive to be an integral part of the current transitional process by stepping into the political
arena and joining liberal parties where they are now welcomed.
Along with moderate Muslims they can support the idea of a civil state for Egypt and keep
fundamentalists at bay.
I remain confident that if Copts can meet this challenge, we will meet the promise of a new Egypt for
all Egyptians, where democracy, equality and justice reign.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15385063
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 13 Who’safraidoftheArabSpring?
Ana Maria Luca, October 26, 2011 Demonstrators against the regime of Bashar al‐Assad in Ramallah. Christians across the region have been slow to embrace the Arab Spring. (AFP photo) Around 680 Christian politicians, academics and civil society
activists gathered in Adma last Sunday to show support for the
Arab Spring.
The Lady of the Mountain Gathering, as the summit was called, released a statement saying Lebanese
Christians “reject any attempt to link the Christians’ fate to the fate of the oppressive and tyrannical
regimes that have turned the Arab world into a big prison and have historically marginalized its
citizens… We will not accept to be with the executioners against the victims.”
“The meeting was meant to counter the widespread opinion that the Christians are afraid of the Arab
Spring,” Kamal Yaziji, one of the organizers of the gathering, told NOW Lebanon. “We want to give a
chance to the Arab Spring; we are not an endangered minority, and we want to play a part in the Arab
Spring.”
The gathering is the first initiative to come up with a statement and a plan of action to integrate the
Christian community into the wave of uprisings that have swept the Middle East in the past 11 months,
according to Yaziji. Before the gathering, Christian analysts and clerics were either silent on the
uprisings or raised concerns that violence in Syria might spread to Lebanon or that Islamist
movements might take over governments in the region, endangering Christians.
The gathering is going to announce its strategy to integrate Christians into the region-wide reform
movement early next week. It will set up four groups: a secretariat, a political coordination committee,
an international relations committee and a research center devoted to the Arab Spring, Yaziji said.
Another key organizer of the gathering, MP Samir Franjieh, also announced that members will discuss
their goals with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai.
The patriarch’s stance on the Syrian uprising was most controversial, especially after calling Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad “open-minded” and a reformer. “There are fears over a transitional phase in
Syria that might threaten the Christians of the Middle East,” Rai said in a statement published in
September during his visit to France. “We are not with [the Syrian] regime, but we are worried about a
transitional phase, and we must defend the Christians… I am hoping Assad will be given more
chances to implement the reforms he already launched.”
But after his statement raised eyebrows within the Christian community in Lebanon, he said his words
had been taken out of context, without elaborating further.
The organizers of Sunday’s gathering said they needed to remind their religious leaders that the Arab
Spring is not a Muslim movement, but one that believes in human rights and freedoms, which are
values Christians and Muslims hold dear. “This document [we came up with on Sunday] is based on
earlier Church documents. It would be strange for any religious dignitary to refuse these principles,”
Yaziji noted.
According to journalist and analyst Michel Hajji Georgiou, Lebanese and Syrian Christians should
take an active part in the Syrian uprising. “They are not participating because they are afraid because
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 14 somebody put in their minds the idea that their community, a minority in Syria, might be at risk if the
regime in Damascus falls,” he said. “The Christians have seen what has been happening in Iraq, after
Saddam Hussein’s fall, and now most Christian leaders are falling into this trap,” he added.
Georgiou pointed out that Iraq had nothing to do with the Arab Spring, but was invaded by a Western
coalition that created resentment within the Muslim community and resulted in Christians being
attacked.
He also noted that the Arab Spring will most probably be a long process. “We are barely past the first
step of the revolutions: overthrowing the dictatorship. But it doesn’t end here. We have seen in
Lebanon after the Cedar Revolution how the authoritarian regime can come back to govern through
the window and how sectarianism can rise from it. That’s what is threatening Egypt today.”
“The Lebanese Christians have a lot to bring to the Arab Spring, because they were socially and
politically more active and stronger because the political system in Lebanon allowed them to,” he said.
According to Antoine Kurban, a professor at Saint Joseph University in Beirut and also a participant in
the gathering, “The uprising is a popular uprising. Everyone is free to support or not to support it from
a citizen’s point of view,” he said.
“But in terms of ethics, it is quite different. The Arab Spring is very much Christian. It is about
individual dignity and individual freedom. Islam is more focused on collective freedom and collective
ethics,” he said.
“We must talk to the Christian conscience. A Christian individual, if he or she is committed to
spiritual values, cannot side with the oppressor using fear as an excuse. He or she has to take the
victim’s side,” he concluded.
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=326220&MID=0&PID=0
IranClampsDownonEvangelicalChristians
Wed, Oct. 26, 2011
Iran’s court system is tightening its hold on Christian prisoners, pushing Islamic religious literature on
them and transferring some to higher security prisons in an attempt to quell Christianity in the Middle
Eastern country.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has been informed that during Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani’s
stay in prison, officials provided him with religious Islamic literature “allegedly as part of an official
campaign to convert Christian prisoners.”
Nadarkhani has been in an Iranian prison since Oct. 2009, awaiting a verdict on charges of apostasy
and evangelizing Muslims.
According to Dr. Khataza Gondwe, Team Leader for Africa and Middle East at CSW, Christian
prisoners who receive such literature have been advised to practice caution when responding to official
interrogation pertaining to it.
Gondwe told The Christian Post that if prisoners read the literature and respond when interrogated, it
must be “done very carefully because [the prisoners] may be open to further charges,” including
blasphemy against Islam.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 15 One member of the Church of Iran, prisoner Mehdi Furutan, has recently been transferred to an
underground cell in the Adelabad Security Prison, which has a reputation for torturing prisoners.
Although unconfirmed, sources close to CSW fear that Furutan may have presented his own views on
the Islamic religious texts pushed on him, and this is why he has been transferred to the underground
cell at Adelabad.
“CSW is deeply concerned at news of a further increase in the harassment of Iranian Christians,” CSW
Special Ambassador Stuart Windsor said in a statement.
"Iran has also been arresting Christians under the charge of “actions against the security the state.”
Critics affirm that the clampdown on Christian leaders is an attempt to set an example for the rest of
practicing Christians in Iran.
“There is an increasing tendency by Iranian courts and officials to characterize legitimate Christian
activities as crimes against the state,” said CSW in a press release.
Although the Iranian authorities are striving to quell evangelical Christianity in Iran, critics agree that
international pressure helps keep the cases of victims of religious persecution alive.
One Middle Eastern analyst told the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) that international
pressure “may be the only reason [Pastor Nadarkhani is] still alive.”
Gondwe of CSW agrees: “I think we’ve gone passed the time when publicity would cause problems."
“Some pressure works better than others. There are certain countries that Iran is interested in
maintaining a good relationship with,” she added.
According to Jordan Sekulow of ACLJ, Iran’s court has a history of prolonging court cases in order to
diffuse international attention.
Katherine Weber
Christian Post Contributor
http://global.christianpost.com/news/iran-clamps-down-on-evangelical-christians-59436/
CanadaspeaksupforCopticChristiansinEgypt
By Kris Sims ,Parliamentary Bureau - First posted: Monday, October 24, 2011
Coptic Christians protest against the killings of people during clashes in Cairo between Christian protesters and military police, and what the demonstrators say is persecution of Christians, in Los Angeles, California on October 16, 2011. (REUTERS/David McNew) OTTAWA - As Coptic Christians are reportedly being slaughtered by
soldiers in Egypt, Canada's political leaders are speaking out on their
behalf.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 16 "Countless murders of Copts have been reported in Cairo and across Egypt and many others are going
unreported," said Joe Daniel, a Conservative backbencher from Ontario, in a set-up question in the
House of Commons on Monday. "What is our government doing to address this unprecedented
violence toward the largest religious minority in this region?"
The Conservative government has met Egyptian Christians living in Canada and many fear for the
lives of their family members.
"We have called upon the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the most recent
killings," said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. "We are creating an office for religious freedom
to, in the words of the Prime Minister, make the promotion of religious freedom a key pillar of
Canadian foreign policy."
Coptic Christians are a religious minority in the now turbulent country, at about 10% of the
population. The future for the country is unclear since the former long-time president Hosni Mubarak
was ousted in February.
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/24/canada-speaks-up-for-coptic-christians-in-egypt
ChristiansUnderThreatasRadicalIslamSpreadsin'NewMiddleEast
Monday, 24 Oct 2011 ‐ By Henry J. Reske Attacked by mobs and terrorists, repressed by the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islamic law and cut off from crucial business ties, Christians are fleeing the Middle East in an unprecedented exodus. More than half of Iraqi Christians — an estimated 400,000 people — have left that country over the last decade as power has fallen in the hands of increasingly hostile Shi'a Islamic leaders. In Egypt, home to at least 8 million Copt Christians — a number that exceeds the populations of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Tunisia — at least 95,000 Christians have emigrated since March 2011. The number could reach 250,000 by the end of this year, reports the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights. "At the present rate, the Middle East's 12 million Christians will likely drop to 6 million in the year 2020. With time, Christians will effectively disappear from the region as a cultural and political force," reports Daniel Pipes, a leading scholar of the Middle East. The most popular destination for fleeing Christians was the United States, which took in an estimated 42,000 of the Egyptian Copts. Other destinations included Canada, Australia and western Europe. The situation threatens to worsen as the Arab Spring removes dictators who, paradoxically, shielded Christian communities. The parties that are gaining power in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and other countries tend to be offshoots of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 17 In Libya on Sunday, transitional government leader Mustafa Abdul‐Jalil laid out a vision for the post‐
Gadhafi future with an Islamist tint, saying Islamic Sharia law would be the "basic source" of legislation and existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified. In Egypt, where Christians make up about 10 percent of the population, Coptic Christians have been subjected to a series of attacks. On New Year’s Day, 21 Coptics were killed leaving Saints Church in Alexandria, and dozens more killed in clashes that followed, all leading up to the Oct. 9 demonstration killed at least 24 Christians, many run over by military vehicles, and injured hundreds more. In an attack on a Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation church in October of 2010, 58 Syriac Catholic worshippers were killed and 78 wounded. The al‐Qaida‐linked Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the massacre. On Sunday, in a speech that stirred fears among some Middle East observiers, Jalil called for all laws to conform to Islam. The myriad of practices that declaration covers is widespread and includes charging interest on loans, which Abdel Jalil promised will be abolished. “We are an Islamic state,” he declared to a cheering crowd in Benghazi Sunday. While Iraq was not part of the Arab Spring, the toppling of Saddam Husseim in 2003 by the U.S. military created its own vacuum and hundreds of thousands Christians have fled the country due to sectarian strife. In Syria, where Christians make up about 10 percent of the population, a similar fate is feared should President Bashar al‐Assad be toppled. “Virtually the entire region now experiencing the convulsion of the Arab Spring lived inside the very large tent of the Ottoman Empire until World War I,” James Traub wrote in Foreign Policy. “Ottoman rulers welcomed the Jews who fled the Inquisition. In great Ottoman capitals like Aleppo, in modern Syria, Jews, Christians, Kurds, and Sunni Muslims lived in the same neighborhoods.” However, the fellow of the Center for International Cooperation and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine noted that the pluralism once found in the region was destroyed by those stoking nationalism to consolidate power. “Populist rulers can accommodate diversity, as they have largely done in today's Turkey, or they can unleash the forces of sectarianism, as they have in Iraq, where Shiites and Sunnis kill one another and both kill Christians. Older Iraqis will tell you that no one ever spoke of ‘Sunni’ and ‘Shiite’ when they were young; but whether in Bosnia or Iraq, sectarianism, once provoked, has a very long half‐life. There is no more volatile substance in the modern nation‐state.” Christian Syrians have clung to the government of Assad, fearing what might follow should it fall, having seen what has happened in neighboring countries. Indeed many Christians who have fled sectarian strife in countries such as Iraq have ended up in Syria. Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 18 Traub wrote that while violence against Egyptian Copts does not approach what has occurred in Iraq, it has been growing in recent years. “There's no wishing away the anti‐Coptic attitudes, or prejudices, of ordinary Egyptians. But Copts have lived with that for a long time,” he wrote. “The big question is whether it will get worse — and how much worse. And that will be a matter of political choices and political leadership.” Traub concluded that the situation could go either way. “Egypt's new military rulers, like the military ruler they replaced, have proved all too willing to exploit street‐level resentment. Power‐sharing cannot wait until a new president is elected in mid‐2013 or so. Egypt's democratic forces say that they are determined not to allow themselves to be divided against one another. Let's hope so. In Egypt, and all across the former Ottoman outposts of the southern Mediterranean — Tunisia, Libya, Syria — it is not just democracy but also pluralism that is at stake. It would be a terrible thing, and a deeply unnecessary one, if the rise of the former meant the end of the latter.” http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/christians‐egypy‐iraq‐islam/2011/10/24/id/415526 GemayelurgesguidingcharterfortheArabSpring
October 21, 2011 ‐ By Wassim Mroueh ‐ The Daily Star
Kataeb leader Amine Gemayel speaks during a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. (Mohammad Azakir/The Daily Star)
BEIRUT: The Arab League should produce a guiding charter to correct the
“vague” and “dangerous” course of Arab uprisings and protect minorities,
Kataeb (Phalange) Party leader Amin Gemayel said Thursday.
“We refuse that Christians in Egypt or any other Arab state pay the price of the struggle between the
East and the West, between regimes and revolutions and between moderation and extremism,”
Gemayel told a news conference to brief reporters on his recent visit to Egypt. The country saw deadly
clashes between Coptic Christians and the Egyptian army earlier this month.
“The Christians of Lebanon and the East are not scapegoats for any side and the time has come to
protect their presence” through legislation that treats them as equals, he said.
Gemayel urged the Arab League to lay down a charter by which revolutions commit to democracy and
the respect of all components of Arab society.
“I proposed to the [Arab League] Secretary General that the Arab League hold a closed seminar
embracing academicians and elites from various Arab countries to discuss these ideas and come up
with the charter.”
During his stay in Egypt, Gemayel held talks with Qatar’s Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jaber
al-Thani, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Amr, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, Coptic Pope
Shenouda III and Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayeb, the head of Cairo’s Al-Azhar.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 19 Gemayel warned that his visit to Egypt came as popular movements in the Arab world “are passing
through a dangerous phase.”
“Not only because of the oppression of the regimes but because of vagueness which surrounds the
course of these revolutions,” he added.
Asked whether Lebanon should recognize the opposition Syrian National Council, he declined to
discuss the “particularities” of Syria. “There is no single party representing the opposition and
revolutionaries in Syria, there are several sides inside and outside [Syria],” he said. “Let’s wait until
the opposition has a unified stance … and wait for efforts made by the Arab League and in light of this
we will have a stance.”
Gemayel said it was “natural” for Syrian Christians to be involved in their country’s uprising against
President Bashar Assad.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Oct‐21/151831‐gemayel‐urges‐guiding‐charter‐for‐
the‐arab‐spring.ashx#axzz1d9lZkKFq OpenDoorsUSA:ExtremistsWanttoEliminateChristiansFromIraq
Tue, Oct. 18, 2011
(Photo: REUTERS / Ako Rasheed)
A man stands among debris inside a church after a bomb attack in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad August 2, 2011. A car bomb and two attempted bombs targeted three churches in northern Iraq on Tuesday in coordinated attacks that wounded at least 16 people in the ethnically and religiously mixed city of Kirkuk, a senior police official said. SANTA ANA, Calif. – Ongoing violence against Christians in Iraq has produced an accelerated
exodus of believers recently and numbering in the hundreds of thousands over the last 10 years, said
Open Doors USA officials.
Members of the Orange County, Calif.-based organization that provides help to persecuted believers in
Jesus worldwide say that while the world’s attention has shifted to such countries as Syria, Egypt,
Afghanistan and Pakistan, the mass movement of Christians in Iraq continues unabated.
Before the Gulf War in 1991, the number of Christians was about one million, stated Open Doors in a
news release. “That number fell to an estimated 850,000 in 2003 at the start of the U.S.-led invasion
that ended the Saddam Hussein regime. Since then the numbers have plummeted.
“At the beginning of the summer, Open Doors estimated the number of Christians remaining in Iraq at
345,000. However, the number decreases every month,” officials stated.
“It is an estimation; some even think there are less Christians left in the country than that,” another
Open Doors member said.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 20 Bassam Isho, 30, who was killed by unknown gunmen on Oct. 1 is considered a martyr by Christians
in Mosul. The gunmen entered the restaurant where Isho worked and opened fire, killing him instantly,
according to Open Doors.
During the same week, two more Christians were killed in Kirkuk. It is this type of violence, including
the continuing harassment from Muslim extremists that has many Christians in Iraq seeking refuge.
"Iraqi Christians feel that the government fails to give them the security and freedom to worship in
peace," Open Doors USA spokesman Jerry Dykstra told The Christian Post. "Countless Christians
have been threatened, robbed, raped, kidnapped or killed."
"I think we need to pray that the Christians who have fled the country or live in the Kurdish area can
come back home in the near future – with complete freedom of religion," Dykstra said. "We need to
keep the pressure on the U.S. government to speak out for minority faith groups in Iraq. Just because
the U.S. troops are leaving, does not mean we can ignore the ongoing violence and lack of protection
of Christians inside Iraq."
The anniversary of one of the bloodiest attacks on the country’s dwindling Christian community is on
Oct. 31, Dykstra said. Last year, 58 people were killed when Islamic extremists assaulted a Syrian
Catholic Church in Baghdad.
“The attacks on Christians continue and the world remains totally silent. It's as if we've been
swallowed up by the night,” AsiaNews quotes one anonymous Christian as saying.
Dr. Carl Moeller, Open Doors USA President/CEO, has labeled the attacks against Christians in Iraq
as “religicide.”
“Christians in cities like Baghdad and Mosul are gripped by terrorism. They are fleeing in droves.
Their families are threatened. Extremists want to eliminate Christians from Iraq,” Moeller said.
Christians are leaving the south and center of the country and attempting to build new lives in the far
north, according to Open Doors.
“But today not only are Christians fleeing from the far southern cities of Baghdad and Basra, they also
are moving from the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul that not long ago had large Christian
communities,” Open Doors officials state. “The Iraqis who leave their cities often flee to the relatively
secure and most northern Kurdish part of Iraq. That’s why a vast majority of Iraqi Christians now live
in this part of the country. Many of them are now Internally Displaced Persons.”
Open Doors estimates the number of IDP to be at least 186,000.
The number of Christians moving into the Kurdish areas such as Ankawa is growing, but they are also
struggling with the effects of displacement. Loss of income, high unemployment, adequate housing,
schooling for children, and medical care are some of the problems coming as the result of the exodus
into new areas.
“Because many of the Iraqi Christians that have fled Mosul or Baghdad speak Arabic, they often have
no access to a Christian community that speaks their language as in the north traditional Chaldean or
Assyrian languages are spoken,” said an Open Doors worker who is a specialist on Iraq.
Open Doors helps train Iraqi church leaders, including methods of delivering Bibles and Christian
literature to the Christians in the country. The ministry also facilitates the translation of the Bible into
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 21 Kurdish dialects. Additionally, the group supports Christian refugees with loans and grants to start
small businesses, and says it has proven to be an effective tool to encourage them to stay in Iraq.
The ministry is helping refugees with vocational training and the children of the IDP are being
supported through trauma counseling.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/open‐doors‐usa‐extremists‐want‐to‐eliminate‐christians‐from‐
iraq‐58514/ ElBaradeiconsolesEgyptCoptsandcriticisestoothlesscabinet
Mohamed ElBaradei, acting presidential, tells reporters that he feels Copts' pain and that the SCAF has power but no experience while the prime minister is toothless Mostafa Ali, Sunday 16 Oct 2011 Mohamed El‐Baradei (Photo: AP) Potential presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei Sunday offered words of condolences to Egypt’s Coptic community, as well as restrained criticism of the ruling military council and the government of prime minister Essam Sharaf. ElBaradei, who cut short an international tour in Europe to return to Cairo on Monday, the day after
clashes between demonstrators for Coptic rights and military police and central security forces left 25
people dead and over 300 injured at Maspero, held his first press conference since what has come to be
called "Bloody Sunday."
Speaking Sunday afternoon to local and international reporters who packed his campaign office in the
Garden City district of Cairo near Tahrir Square, ElBaradei said that he and other Egyptians are still
reeling with sorrow from the images they saw on television at Maspero last week.
“This cannot pass in peace. We cannot just mourn and condemn the deaths. But we must find radical
solutions to the causes of sectarian strife in this country.”
ElBaradei called for an independent investigation into what triggered the violence that night,
demanding that the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) hand over all suspects it arrested
for questioning and trial in front of civilian courts
“With all due respect to the SCAF, the army was involved and therefore it cannot be jury and judge in
this case,” he said.
El-Baradei also emphasised that the bloodshed at Maspero follows nine major incidents of Muslim on
Christian violence since 2008 alone, which have left hundreds dead or injured. Therefore, he added,
the Maspero clashes, must be dealt with in this context of rising tensions.
ElBaradei praised the law that the ruling military council passed Saturday to criminalise and punish
acts of discrimination on the basis of religion and gender, but said that such a law barely scratches the
surface of a much deeper issue.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 22 “Fifty per cent of the mosques in Egypt are not under the control of Al-Azhar, the government’s
official religious body. The state must regain control of all Egyptian mosques and what is being
preached,” he said.
“Moreover, we have to reform the education curriculum in our school system in order to achieve some
sense of equality in what we teach,” he added.
ElBaradei blasted the Egyptian state TV’s live coverage of the events that unfolded on the night of the
clashes, and accused TV anchors of telling lies and inciting violence against Christians.
Ahram Online asked the potential presidential candidate to comment on calls from many critics for the
resignation of the Osama Heikal, the minister of information, who is accused of setting his anchors
loose against Copts during the tense hours of Bloody Sunday.
ElBaradei refused to hold the government’s official spokesperson solely responsible.
“I think all those who were responsible for the editorial policies and reports that lied and incited that
night should be investigated, not just one person,” he said.
“Furthermore, I cannot pass judgment on any one person until all facts are available at the conclusion
of a fair investigation," he added.
ElBaradei devoted the latter part of the two-hour long conference on reiterating his vision for how
Egypt could continue on a road towards a democratic society.
He argued that the SCAF, despite good intentions, are not fit because of their military background to
run day-to-day affairs in the country, and urged it to hand over power to a civilian administration
promptly.
Meanwhile, the potential presidential candidate said the government of Sharaf is toothless and has no
powers.
Unless we have a government that can reestablish public safety in this country, tourism will not return,
international investors will not come back, and our economy will face serious dangers,” he said.
“The government must reform the police so they go out and provide a sense of security. I am at a loss
why they have not changed the structure of the Ministry of Interior and its mentality.
“The problem we have is SCAF rules but has no experience. Sharaf’s cabinet has the experience but
does not rule anyone,” he stated.
A reporter for Al-Masry Al-Youm asked ElBaradei if he believed that recent splits between liberal
forces and Islamists, which have led to the unraveling of the Muslim Brotherhood dominated electoral
bloc, the Democratic Alliance, bodes ill for an Egypt that is trying to move in a democratic direction.
“I am not concerned that people tried to form a coalition then they parted ways. It is a learning
experience. We have lived in a dictatorship for 60 years and it will take us time to get election politics
right,” ElBaradei said.
Finally, ElBaradei warned that the country will continue to suffer political and economic turmoil until
a permanent constitution is drawn, and a president and parliament are elected accordingly with clear
responsibilities and well-defined roles.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 23 “The SCAF made mistakes because of mismanagement. Revolutionaries also erred when they split
their forces after Mubarak fell. However, I am optimistic. It might take one or two years, but I am
confident the revolution will win,” ElBaradei concluded.
This article was amended 17 October. The original referred to Osama El-Sheikh, the imprisoned
former head of state TV, as minister of information.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/1/64/24325/Egypt/Politics-/ElBaradei-consoles-EgyptCopts-and-criticises-toot.aspx
Lawyer:InternationalpressurehasnothelpedIranianpastor’scase
By Dan Merica, CNN – October 14th 2011
Washington (CNN) – International pressure mounting in the apostasy trial of a Christian pastor in
Iran has “not had any impact on the Iranian court,” the attorney for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani told
CNN on Friday.
“They (the court) work on the evidence and Iranian law,” said lawyer Mohammad Dadkah. “I don’t
think the statements from the United States has had any impact either on this case as this is all going
through the Iranian justice system, which is based on the law and evidence.”
Nadarkhani's trial has become a cause célèbre for a number of Christian organizations in the United
States and abroad. Many of these groups took to Facebook, Twitter and websites in an attempt to
energize their followers to protest the pastor's treatment.
Nadarkhani is the leader of a network of Iranian house churches and was first charged with apostasy in
2010 for converting from Islam to Christianity. He was sentenced to death by hanging.
There has been a back-and-forth in the case in Iran, with the Supreme Court passing on the case in
favor of a lower court's ruling. During that trial last month in Gilan province, Nadarkhani refused to
recant his beliefs.
As for the current status of the case, Dadkah said a court in Rasht has asked for Ali Khamenei, Iran's
supreme leader, to rule on whether Nadarkhani should be put to death.
“I expect an opinion for Khamenei in about a week or so when he returns to work,” Dadkah said.
According to Dadkah, Khamenei is traveling.
The lawyer has not spoken with Nadarkhani for about a week. “Last I saw him, he was doing well
both physically and spiritually and was strong,” he said.
For now, it is a waiting game for attorney and client, but Dadkah has promised not to give up.
“If he is not executed,” Dadkah said. “I will continue to fight for him through the courts so that he is
released.”
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/14/lawyer-international-pressure-has-not-helped-iranianpastor%E2%80%99s-case/
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 24 U.S.bishopsfindIraqiChristianswantreturntopeace,meaningful
jobs
13 October 2011 Written by Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News Service Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., left, and Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, right, pose for a photo with Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad at a church in the Iraqi capital in early October. CNS photo/courtesy Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas WASHINGTON - Iraqis want a return to peace, security and
stability and the chance to secure meaningful employment,
said two U.S. bishops who traveled to Baghdad in a
demonstration of the American Catholic Church's solidarity
with the country's violence-weary Christians.
Visiting Oct. 2-5 at the invitation of the bishops of Iraq, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz.,
and Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, found Iraqi Christians confronting immense daily
challenges while facing the threat of violence because of their faith.
Iraqis, the bishops said, repeatedly stressed the need for security and urged the prelates to share their
story with the American church and government officials.
"People were grateful that two bishops from the U.S. had made the trip and felt a great sense of
solidarity by our presence," said Bishop Kicanas, who visited in his position as chairman of the
Catholic Relief Service board of directors.
The bishops also were in Iraq to help promote stronger collaboration among the various segments of
the Catholic Church to help bolster the Christian presence in the country.
"Clearly to the extent that the church in Baghdad can speak with one voice and in a unified way will
make more effective their ability to impact on the society," Bishop Kicanas said. "There is a
tremendous amount of good happening by the church in Iraq, but what seemed to be possibly even
more helpful is that those efforts to be of service and to help would be more unified."
The number of Christians in Iraq has declined from about 1.5 million in 2000 to less than 500,000 in
2010, according to Iraqi Christians In Need, a British charity established to address the exodus of
Christians from the country. The agency cited long-imposed economic sanctions, continuing violence
and the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as reasons for the mass migration of Christians from the country.
The status of struggling Christians in Iraq was among the topics explored in meetings with Archbishop
Giorgio Lingua, apostolic nuncio to Iraq and Jordan, Cardinal Emmanuel-Karim Delly, Chaldean
patriarch, and other Iraqi bishops.
Bishop Kicanas and Bishop Murry said church leaders are particularly concerned about the future of
young Christians who strive to leave the country because they see no future in remaining.
"The sad reality is that the flight from Iraq by Christians leads to not stability and security but in fact
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 25 leads to economic difficulty and marginalization," Bishop Kicanas said. "The (Iraqi) bishops try to
explain that leaving isn't going to be paradise."
In a country where heavily armed government and private security forces, 10-foot concrete walls and
barbed wire barricades are the norm, the American bishops experienced the depth of security concerns
Iraqis have throughout their visit. It became readily apparent to them while praying with Syriac
Archbishop Athanase Matoka of Baghdad, retired archbishop of Baghdad, at the Syriac Catholic
Church of Our Lady of Deliverance, where 58 people died in a brutal assault last Oct. 31.
"You still see vivid remains of the attack," Bishop Kicanas said, describing the impression of a
machine gun in the church ceiling left by the force of the explosion set off by one of the suicide
bombers. "This was a defining moment for Christians realizing they weren't safe in their own homes or
their own churches."
Bishop Murry, said he found the deep feeling of fear people harbor overwhelming.
"It permeates everything there," he said. "They go on with their lives, but this sense of the difficult
situation these Christians are living, the lack of knowledge of what the future is going to be, they carry
that around. In a sense they just live with it."
http://www.catholicregister.org/news/international/item/13140-us-bishops-find-iraqi-christians-wantreturn-to-peace-meaningful-jobs
WinterforChristiansintheArabSpring?
10/12/11 Beirut -- The death of 24 Coptic Christians in Cairo this week is the latest in a string of ominous signs
that the once-inclusive Arab Spring may be turning against the region's minorities -- including burned
churches, the forced removal of Christians from government posts, and sectarian clashes in the streets.
It is a feeling shared by many Christians across the Middle East. Yet how can it be that in this age of
popular revolution and self-determination, Arab Christians -- whose communities predate the coming
of Islam -- find themselves out in the cold?
Religious tensions are common in many Middle Eastern countries. Indeed, this week's deaths -- caused
by clashes between Coptic demonstrators and state security forces -- was a tragic restaging of an alltoo-familiar scene, in which minorities find themselves vulnerable to mob violence and the whims of
their alleged government protectors. What is striking about the tensions of recent months, however, is
how old sectarian notes are sounding amidst the new symphony of freedom. Syria's Christians, who
have long lived in fear of sectarian persecution, look upon the troubles of their co-religionists in Egypt
with dread, and wonder whether their present security can withstand the fall of the Baathist state. The
fate of Iraqi Christians is perhaps the grimmest omen of all; since 2003, about half of them have fled
the country, driven out by ferocious sectarian attacks, and the remaining half marches on in dread of
further violence.
What is behind all this? First, we must remember that Western nations have long showered attention
upon Arab Christian communities. The courtship flowered during the nineteenth century, when the
European powers relied on Christians as diplomatic and commercial middlemen in their dealings with
the Ottoman Empire. This privileged relationship gave Christians unprecedented access to education,
wealth, and influence. We may regard 1926 as a culmination of this courtship, when the French
midwifed the birth of the Republic of Lebanon for their Maronite Christian clients, partly in response
to the sectarian violence that had engulfed the region in the 1860s.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 26 Animosities toward Arab Christians have ebbed and flowed over time, but a chronic anti-Western
subtext has pervaded the region's sectarian discourse. Of late, this static noise has become clearer and
clearer amidst complaints against the U.S. and Europe, corrupt pro-Western governments in the
region, and their alleged allies, including local Christians.
The second important factor is the habit of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East to foster ties to
minority groups in order to offset opposition coalitions. In both Egypt and Syria, the government won
the support of Christians in part by stoking fear of an Islamist takeover. This was especially true in
Syria, where the Alawi-dominated Baath Party cultivated fellow minorities as a way of fending off the
disenfranchised Sunni majority and its more extreme constituents, such as the Muslim Brothers.
In an atmosphere thick with anxiety, the regimes could portray themselves as guardians of secularism
and stability -- a wager the Christians could not afford to reject. Ultimately, however, it proved to be a
deal with the devil. Despite pretensions of national unity, the regimes failed to suppress sectarian
strife, as in Egypt; or they never bothered to truly delegate power outside a narrow religious clique, as
in Syria. Fast-forward to 2011, the Christians' regime loyalty has not only become passé, but perhaps
even dangerous. During a time when many desire to settle old scores, the political ties that once
shielded Christians have become a major liability.
The third and final factor in the recent sectarianism has been the slow death of Arab nationalism. For
much of the twentieth century, nationalism was the prevailing ideology in many Arab countries. It
represented an inclusive vision of political community for all Arabic-speakers -- one which aspired to
transcend ties of region, culture and even creed. It is no wonder that many of the founding fathers of
Arab nationalism, such as Michel Aflaq, were themselves Christians.
After the defeat of 1967 and the collapse of Nasserism, Arab nationalism began to falter. New
narratives of identity emerged in the Middle East, none more persuasive or vital than Islamism. At its
core, Islamism regards the historical trajectory of the Middle East as being essentially coterminous
with that of Islam. By proposing Islamic revival as the key to the region's future, Islamism largely
discounts the contributions of non-Muslim communities. As a result, Christians become a rather
eccentric footnote in an otherwise triumphant tale of Islamic birth and renewal.
As we have seen, the problems facing Christians today are nothing new. They constitute roughly 10%
of the population in both Syria and Egypt, and a paltry 6% of the wider Arab world. Some might
dismiss their plight as a cause célèbre -- a lamentable but manageable tragedy in a region brimming
with more serious problems, like stagnant economies, nuclear proliferation, and rivalries between
Sunnis and Shi'is. This is sadly misguided.
The safety of Arab Christians is important not just in absolute terms. Their treatment will help us
answer bigger questions about the changes currently underway: Namely, will revolutionary
movements give rise to democratic governments that uphold universal equality before the law, or to
unstable, mercurial regimes that obey the whims of extremists? These are the signal questions facing
Christians in the Arab Spring, and as of now, the new season's forecast looks uncertain.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christian-c-sahner/winter-for-christians-in-_b_1007236.html
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 27 EgyptianarmymustanswerfordeadlytollatCopticprotest
11 October 2011 - AI Index: PRE01/529/2011
Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) must urgently explain how a protest against
religious discrimination turned into a bloodbath, Amnesty International said today after deadly
protests in Cairo on Sunday left at least 25 dead.
More than 200 people – including many protesters and reportedly members of the security forces –
were also wounded in the incident, the worst violence Egypt has seen since former President Hosni
Mubarak stepped down in February.
Video footage showed military vehicles running over protesters while driving through crowded streets.
“One can only wonder what orders were given that could have led to military vehicles running down
protesters on the streets. If the military police and other security forces were not acting under orders, it
raises questions about their ability to police demonstrations in the first place,” said Amnesty
International.
“Now, Egypt’s SCAF must show it can and will rein in the security forces and ensure they do not use
excessive force. Instructions to security forces must be immediately issued and an independent
investigation opened.”
Medical staff at Cairo’s Coptic Hospital, where a large number of the dead and injured were taken
after the incident, told Amnesty International that the casualties included bullet wounds and crushed
body parts resulting from people being deliberately run over by army vehicles.
Witnesses described how security forces in armoured vehicles opened fire into the crowds and killed
or injured protesters by running over them.
Military officials maintain that a group of protesters initiated the violence, and have said they intend to
open an investigation. Other reports said “thugs” hired by members of the disbanded National
Democratic Party, Hosni Mubarak’s political party, were behind the violence.
Yesterday the Public Prosecutor started preliminary interrogations of those injured in the clashes and
21 people were detained for 15 days, pending further investigation.
The SCAF yesterday ordered the establishment of a fact-finding commission to investigate the
incident.
“Any investigation into Sunday’s clashes must be independent, thorough and impartial, deliver
answers to the Egyptian public, and identify those responsible,” said Amnesty International.
“The investigation cannot be in the hands of the army and must be truly independent, and seen as such
for the witnesses and the families of the victims to trust that they can safely provide evidence and
expect more than a whitewash.”
Amnesty International is also deeply concerned over reporting by state television, according to which
troops were under attack by protesters, and which called for Egyptians to support and “defend” them,
further exacerbating the situation.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 28 Two other television stations covering the protests, 25TV and Al Hurra, were raided by security
forces, apparently in an attempt to stem independent reporting.
“The SCAF have been quick to place the blame on foreign ‘conspiracies’, sectarian tensions, or with
protesters,” said Amnesty International.
“They have so far refused to accept that the responsibility for the violence may lie in their policing of
demonstrations.”
This latest incident took place against a backdrop of sectarian tensions, which have been on the rise in
recent months in Egypt. Though Copts make up close to 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, official
policies discriminate against them, including by denying them places of worship.
The attack on a Coptic church in Aswan province on 30 September, which fuelled Sunday’s protest, is
just the latest such incident. Local authorities said the church was built without permission.
Following sectarian clashes last May and June, the government announced plans to issue a unified law
for places of worship and to open all closed churches after examination. No such law was issued and
the government promised in a meeting yesterday that the law will be in place within two weeks.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/egyptian-army-must-answer-deadly-toll-copticprotest-2011-10-11
CairowitnessesblamesecurityforcesforbloodshedatCopticmarch
11 October 2011
Four witnesses give their accounts of the violence that left 26 people dead and 500 injured after a
march by Coptic Christians
Cairo riot police stand guard the morning after the march ended in violence. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters Eyewitness testimonies have been emerging that contradict
the official accounts of the violence at a march of Coptic
Christians in Cairo that left 26 dead and more than 500
injured.
Egyptian state television initially blamed the bloodshed on protesters, who it said had attacked security
forces. There were also attempts to portray the violence as sectarian in nature.
But more and more people who were caught up in the violence have been coming forward to point the
finger of blame squarely at the security forces, who they say employed brutal tactics to suppress the
protest.
Here is the testimony of four people who were involved.
Sherief Gaber, 27, recent graduate I joined the march because I absolutely agreed with what it was asking for – at the bare minimum
some sort of recognition for the church that had been burned and some real action from the
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 29 government that is claiming to have an interest in protecting minorities – and so I couldn't sit by and
watch this get covered up like the last however many incidents of church burning and the like …
The vast majority were Coptic Christians protesting but there were Muslims and others there for sure,
especially once the march got into downtown and once the events started to unfold …
It [the mood] was a mix both of excitement and anger. People were emboldened by the turnout. It was
a very large march but they were also, you have to understand, incredibly upset – a church had been
burned with kind of no recognition and furthermore the first protest that set itself in front of the TV
building had been violently dispersed in a matter of hours by the army.
So people were upset but also felt encouraged by the numbers … and what these kind of numbers
could bring as far as a result, pressure-wise … We were actually accosted briefly going through an
underpass at the beginning of the march.
There were some stones thrown but it resolved itself fairly quickly. It seemed that wasn't a concerted
effort to stop the march … We arrived in the area of the state TV building and in order to get there,
there were two routes the march could take and in fact did [take], around the Ramses Hilton to get to
the state TV building.
There was a short side street behind the hotel that leads to the TV building so I went with some
friends. We decided to walk that route and go with the contingent of the marchers there to see the
people who were already standing in front of the building.
But we hadn't even reached the building before screaming began and soldiers just came rushing at us
with riot shields and batons. It was completely unprovoked from what I saw.
There were dozens of families there. There were women, children, grandparents. These were families
coming out [to protest] so it was just bedlam at the beginning.
Many people were screaming, women were crying and running almost immediately and add to that the
fact once the beating started with sticks, within a few minutes we started hearing gunfire which it
seems like – from some of the casualties I saw – were not blank rounds.
They were live rounds being used very, very quickly. It was an incredibly violent show of force … it
was chaos for a while.
It was absolutely enraging. Within a few more minutes people had moved backwards towards the
Ramses Hilton, the large street in front of it and were setting up some barricades there to stay there.
But all of a sudden several of those sort of armoured personnel carriers driven by military personnel
started running up and down the streets through the crowds, deliberately zigzagging and aiming at the
people, which was probably one of the most horrific things I've seen, if not the most horrific thing I
have seen, in this revolution so far.
At one point I saw some young kids running behind a car to avoid the armoured car which then
ploughed over the private automobile to hit these people. It was barbaric. It was really, really
disgusting.
It lasted for hours and hours. What brought it to an end was just [a] complete crackdown on the entire
downtown area. The state TV, in addition to spreading their normal lies and propaganda, was actually
calling on citizens to come down and defend the army so at one point we had a mix of army and
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 30 central security forces and these "citizens", so to speak, coming and attacking us with stones, weapons,
teargas.
This lasted until attrition took over and people couldn't do it any more, until everyone had been beaten
out of the area.
Mos'ab Elshamy, 21, pharmacy student and freelance photographer I joined the march as a Muslim who went in support of the Christians who were peacefully protesting
against the recent destruction of a church in Aswan, which wasn't the first time in Egypt [that this had
happened].
It was a very friendly and peaceful march and I went there along with a lot of Muslims to be in support
of the march and what I saw was [the] army lose control and dispersing the march with horrific
brutality.
I saw the army shoot at people and chase them and run over them [with] APCs [armoured personnel
carriers] and their vehicles and turn a really beautifully peaceful march into a horrific massacre …
What I saw was, all of a sudden, people running away and I heard loud gunshots in the air with the
army and police chasing them [protesters] in the alleyways and side streets.
Then, when we came back to the scene, they were lying on the ground and blood had been spilled and
people were trying to defend themselves by throwing rocks back [at the police and army] …
The [only] … violence [by protesters] was just like … normal … just a couple … of troublemakers …
But no one – as the army claimed – had machine guns or started shooting as they claimed and no one
shot at the police as the state TV claimed …
It was absolutely horrific. It was something I have never seen in my life in Egypt and, to be honest, I
never thought I would see such things.
Steve Nabeel, 22, computer engineering student I started to walk from Shubra. I was not alone. I had some of my friends with me. We walked through
Shubra and then we reached Maspero [the building that houses state TV].
When we reached Maspero there were 2,000 activists waiting there. We started to shout and just when
we arrived we saw stones thrown. The stones were coming from the army side. After that the army
started to hit protesters with sticks.
The protesters started to run away. Then it started to be like a battle. Protesters started to throw back
the stones and rocks and people were running away. The army started the violence. I saw it with my
own eyes.
Then two army APCs started to hit protesters, running over them. People were very scared. Then I
heard that the army said on the TV that Coptics were attacking the army with guns and asked people to
come down and help defend the army …
Some people came to help the army so it was people against the people and the attackers thought they
were attacking only Christians but there were a lot of Muslims fighting with the Coptics against the
people that the army brought … I carried bodies into a building. There were very bad injuries. There
were dead people.
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 31 Hossam Bahgat, 32, NGO worker for the Egyptian Institute of Personal Rights Colleagues from my organisation, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, had already been on the
scene and started calling me to alert me there were a large number of fatalities …
By the time I arrived most of the killings through shooting and through armoured vehicles of the
armed forces running over protesters had already happened but there were still clashes between the
military police members from one side as well as some Muslim men who were seemingly incited by,
instigated by, the state television coverage to come out and defend the Egyptian army as that's what
was being said on state TV.
They were firing teargas excessively at us and both sides were also pelting stones at each other. And at
different points there were some clashes between Muslims and Christians on the scene, using batons
and iron pipes, and, at least in one case, a sword.
I then left the scene and went to a nearby hospital, the Coptic hospital, where we were told that most
of the bodies of those killed had been sent, and we were given access to the morgue of the hospital and
we counted 17 bodies.
Many of them were uncovered and clearly showed the victims had been run over by vehicles. Some of
them were body parts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/11/cairo-witnesses-security-forces-bloodshed
MideastchurchleadersworriedaboutChristiansifSyriahascivilwar
By Doreen Abi Raad ‐ Catholic News Service Oct‐10‐2011 BEIRUT (CNS) ‐‐Pressure being put on the Syrian government could have very bad consequences, especially for Christians, warned the patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. Attempts to collapse the government "will very probably lead to chaos," Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan told Catholic News Service. "This chaos, surely ‐‐ with no means to implement security ‐‐ will lead to civil war," said the patriarch, who stressed that a civil war in Syria would not merely be a struggle among political parties to control the power. "It will be confessional (religious), and war in the name of God is far worse than a political struggle. And this is what we fear." Patriarch Younan was one of several Christian leaders who spoke with Catholic News Service about the situation facing Syrian Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the nation's population. He told CNS that Syria needs is a lot of reforms, a multiparty system of government and freedom of speech. He said the church "is all for reforms" and does not support a particular regime. "But those reforms have to be executed or accomplished through dialogue," he said, expressing a need for a neutral third party "that could unite those who are in conflict," the government and the opposition. The patriarch said the West should push for true democratic reforms rather than just trying to change political systems, which they believe are dictatorial, "into an unknown system where the Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 32 very, very respect of civil rights is absent." "By civil rights, we mean not only the freedom of speech ... but civil rights to implement the religious freedom for all," Patriarch Younan said. "That means to implement a civil society that respects the charter of human rights as already stipulated by the U.N. in 1948," he added, referring to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The patriarch said a society that respects all is "absolutely vital," and the civilized world should uphold this, not just take the position that the majority should rule the country. This is especially the case if the majority is of the conviction that there is no separation between religion and state, he added. "This would surely result in discrimination against those who do not share their religion," he said. "The church has always defended, and it stands for, the civil rights of all human beings," Patriarch Younan said. While it would take time to make the needed reforms in the case of Syria, those seeking change for the good of their country "have to be kind of patient and find a way to make those needed reforms." "However, it doesn't look feasible that these reforms will come out of violence," he said. Maronite Catholic leaders also have called for dialogue on the situation in Syria. "We're neither for nor against a regime," said Archbishop Paul Sayah, vicar general of the Maronite Patriarchate in Beirut and former archbishop of Haifa. "We judge a regime on its merits and how it deals with the values of freedom, democracy and rights. He explained that Syria's small, minority‐represented government, the Alawites who have been running the country for 40 years, are not going to let go easily because they know if the Sunnis take over, "it's going to be very dangerous for them (Alawites), to put it very mildly." The bishop pointed to the slogans launched near the beginning of the Syrian uprising in March: "Christians to Beirut; Alawites to the coffin." Those might be only slogans, he warned, "but they are significant." If change is not brought about peacefully, "there is a risk that it may go from an oppressive regime to a more brutal one, especially now that the atmosphere tends to be rather fundamentalist in the region," Archbishop Sayah said. He also expressed concern about a potential civil war. "Everyone knows what kind of disaster civil war is. Iraq is a very loud example," he told CNS. "In Iraq the Christian minority paid a huge price. Two‐thirds of Christians had to leave Iraq." "Since we know enough about the situation in Iraq," said Patriarch Younan, "we fear that the kind of pressure put on requiring the fall of the government in Syria will have very bad consequences, even worse than in Iraq." The conflict in Syria is a "terrible dilemma" for the country's Christians, said Habib Malik, professor of history at the Lebanese American University and author of the 2010 book "Islamism and the Future of the Christians of the Middle East." "Their values and beliefs can't allow them to condone the brutality of the regime against people. On the other hand, they are genuinely scared of the alternative to the regime ‐‐ the inevitable slippery slope toward Islamic extremism," said Malik, whose late father, Charles Malik, was one of the architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 33 Christians in Syria largely have not participated in the protests to overthrow the Syrian regime. Their silence, explained Malik, could be interpreted as overall support of the current regime. As a result, they could end up as a target of revenge attacks should the regime be overthrown. "They are genuinely scared and feel in danger," he said. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1103997.htm
Turkey.SomeRefugeesAreMoreEqualThanOthers
Posted by Jonathon Narvey – 7 October 2011 With refugees fleeing the carnage in Syria for safe haven across the border, Turkey is helping provide
meals for families and a quality education for children. This is only proper. But the situation also
provides a very sharp contrast for Turkey's horrendous treatment of another set of refugees: Iraqi
Christians fleeing Islamist threats of extermination.
To compare, here is the latest news out of Turkey trumpeting the generous treatment of Syrian
refugees:
In accordance with the Ministry of Education and the Board of Education's regulations, teachers
provide the students with instruction in Arabic, Turkish, arts and sciences, math and the life sciences
in tents the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) has set up all over Hatay, including the districts of
Reyhanlı, Yayladağı and Altınözü.
The students expressed their happiness at being able to continue their education and learn
Turkish in Hatay.
The Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) sent a total of TL
17.75 million to the Hatay Governor's Office for the welfare of the Syrian refugees. Approximately
1,200 Syrians are provided with meals every day in the Hatay refugee camps hugging the
Turkey-Syria border.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Christian refugees get no support at all from the Turkish state:
Among the millions of Iraqis who have left the country or fled to safer regions to avoid becoming a
casualty of war are tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians who wound up in Turkey. Radical Islamic
groups accuse the Christians of being allies of the U.S. and threaten to kill them. Turkey already has
millions of people in acute poverty so it provides no assistance to the Iraqis. And their children
are not allowed in Turkey’s schools.
Perhaps the Turkish government could explain this double standard? Is it just remotely possibly that
an openly Islamist government is discriminating against this first set of desperate refugees solely on
the basis that they are Christian? This would be consistent with treatment of Christians elsewhere in
the region.
Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist
http://propagandistmag.com/2011/10/07/turkey-some-refugees-are-more-equal-others
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 34 Egypt:TheCryoftheCopt‐ContinuingSectarianViolence
Dallia M.abdel Moniem - 6 October 2011
History teaches us that with change, with revolution, comes improvement. But it seems that is not
always the case, especially if the improvement is expected but fails to materialise.
For many of Egypt's Coptic population, things have become worse rather than better. The latest
statistics from the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations (EUOHR) show that since March,
nearly 100,000 Egyptian Copts have left the country with the number possibly rising to 250,000 by the
end of this year. Though some skeptics have questioned the number, saying it is "exaggerated", there
is nonetheless a genuine concern and fear that the increasing levels of sectarian violence will lead to a
mass exodus of Egypt's Christian community, who form 10 per cent of the country's population.
According to Naguib Gobrail, a lawyer and the head of EUOHR, the latest bout of destruction of
Christian places of worship is part of a "systematic policy of ethnic cleansing" by Salafi (hard-line
Islamist) groups targeting Copts. Speaking at a press conference plaintively named 'The Cry of the
Copt' and held only two days after a church attack, Gobrial lamented that "Copts feel like strangers in
their own country; many are being forced to leave Egypt as a result."
The attack on the Mari Girgis (St. George) church in Upper Egypt was the latest that has seen
Christian establishments targeted. According to eyewitness accounts, a number of Muslim men
surrounded the church in the village of El-Marinab near the city of Edfu, set fire to parts of it and then
proceeded to move onto Coptic homes in the area as well as Christian-owned businesses.
The attack was the most recent in a continuing spate of similar violent acts against the Coptic
Christian community. On New Year's Eve, a church in Alexandria was bombed leaving 23 people
dead. In May, clashes in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba saw 12 people killed and 52 wounded over
rumours that Christians had kidnapped a woman who had converted to Islam. The spiralling violence
led to the burning of a church on May 7, for which 48 Muslims and Christians are being tried in a
criminal court.
Other incidents have included Coptic girls being forced to wear the veil to public schools and one
man's ear getting chopped off by hardliners.
The Salafis
The governor of Aswan, Mostafa El-Said, stated on state television the clashes erupted when the
Christian community "unlawfully tried to add more floors" to a Christian guest house, adjacent to the
church, with "the intention of turning it into a church which provoked the Muslims," as the permission
was only for an added 9 metres but had been exceeded to 13. He added that the Christian community
should apologise and denied the clashes were violent, a statement that angered many Copts.
The governor's assertion that the attack was not on the church but a service centre was disproved by
Gobrial at the press conference where he displayed documents confirming the partly burnt down
building was the Mare Girgis Church.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201110071134.html
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 35 SyriacChristianstogetfirstchurchinIstanbul
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 ‐ Vercihan Ziflioğlu ‐ ISTANBUL‐ Hürriyet Daily News Turkey’s Syriac Christian community has secured approval from officials for the construction of its first church. The church, planned to be constructed in the Yeşilköy neighborhood, is expected to host 17,000 Syriacs who live in Istanbul After years of tussling and hairsplitting, Turkey’s Syriac Christian
community has secured approval from both the prime minister
and the president for the construction of its first church in the
Yeşilköy neighborhood on the European side of Istanbul.
“Half of our community lives in and around Yeşilköy. We rent
churches for Sunday rites, but we can only start morning mass at
11:30, whereas we are supposed to finish our Sunday rites before
10:30 in accordance with our tradition,” Kenan Altınışık, a
prominent Syriac community leader, told the Hürriyet Daily News via e-mail.
The church site will be allocated to the ancient community by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality,
while construction expenses will be paid for by the Syriacs. An official from Istanbul Metropolitan
Municipality, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Hürriyet Daily News that they are searching for
a suitable location for the new church.
The church architecture is planned to bear traces of the Syriac’s thousands-of-years-old culture, while
the construction is set to begin as soon as suitable lands are allotted.
Community representatives held a series of talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,
President Abdullah Gül and EU Minister Egemen Bağış regarding their problems concerning the new
church, including the allocation of land for its construction, Altınışık said.
“Afterward, we also met with the head of the Istanbul Metropolitan Construction Affairs Committee
upon a directive issued by the Istanbul metropolitan mayor,” he said, adding they have no
communication problems.
“We presented several files to the head of the construction affairs committee and he offered a few
places, but they were not suitable for us,” said Altınışık, a businessman and head of the Syriac
community’s Foundation for the Church of Mother Mary, which is located in the Tarlabaşı
neighborhood in central Istanbul.
The community holds the title deed to the Church of Mother Mary and the metropolitan center that
houses it, Altınışık said, adding that about 17,000 Syriacs live in Istanbul with scant numbers still
living in the southeast as well.
A metropolitan center acts as a higher institution for an orthodox church. Many of Turkey’s Syriacs
migrated to Europe during the mid-1980s, when there was political turmoil in the southeast.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=syriac-christians-to-get-first-church-in-istanbul-2011-1005
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 36 Iraq:DoubletargetedkillingsagainsttheChristiancommunityin
Kirkuk
Yesterday in the district of Muthana, an armed group assassinated the 30 year old Catholic Bassam Isho. October 1, Emmanuel Polos Hanna, was found at the edge of the road to Baghdad shot to death. Christian sources in Kirkuk: "The attacks continue, in the total silence of the world." Monday, October 03, 2011
Kirkuk – A double murder has marked the Christian community in Kirkuk this weekend. In the northern Iraqi city, considered strategic for the huge oil fields in the center of a bitter political and economic dispute between Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds, Christians continue to die in the complete indifference of the authorities. Kidnappings for extortion, assassinations and attacks on churches and Christians are now episodes of daily life, and the local and national government seem incapable of defending them. AsiaNews sources in Kirkuk, anonymous for security reasons, denounced that "the attacks on Christians continue and the world remains totally silent. It’s as if – he continues‐ we’ve been swallowed up by the night. " Yesterday afternoon, Bassam Isho a 30 year old Catholic restaurant employee in the district of Muthana, was shot dead by a group of strangers. After the murder, the band scattered covering their tracks and, so far, there is no further information. The young man will be buried in Telkef. On October 1, on the outskirts of Kirkuk, the corpse of a second Christian was found, also shot to death. The body of Hanna Polos Emmanuel, born in 1951, lay sprawled on the edge of the road that leads from the city to Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. The weekend killings are only the latest in a long trail of blood and violence: on August 15 last a few bombs exploded against the church of St. Ephrem in Kirkuk. The Syriac Orthodox Church is a few hundred meters from the Chaldean cathedral in the center of the city. Again, August 2 a car bomb exploded in front of the Syrian Catholic Church of the Holy Family, injuring 15 people. On the same day, another car bomb, parked next to a Presbyterian church, was defused before it exploded. Christians in Iraq have increasingly become the target of Islamic fundamentalism which is still active. At the same time, they are also targeted in local feuds. Kirkuk, with its 900 thousand inhabitants, and most important deposits of oil in Iraq, has long been the center of a political‐ethnic conflict between Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds. The latter want it annexed to the Kurdistan region, while both Arabs and Turkmen want to maintain links with the Iraqi central government. (DS) http://www.speroforum.com/a/61392/Iraq%E2%80%94Double‐targeted‐killings‐against‐the‐
Christian‐community‐in‐Kirkuk Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 37 Iraq’sChristianCommunityStirredbyTargetedMurdersinKirkuk
Martin Barillas
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October 3rd 2011 Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent Carbombed Iraqi church A double murder has outraged Iraq’s Christian
community in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk,
considered strategic for its huge oil fields disputed
between Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds. On October 1,
Bassam Isho (30)—a Catholic man employed at a
restaurant in the Muthana district—was shot dead by a
group of unknown men. Following the murder, the
men scattered and are as yet unidentified. Earlier that
day, on the outskirts of Kirkuk, the corpse of a second
Christian was found, also shot to death. The body of
Hanna Polos Emmanuel (60) lay sprawled on the edge
of the road that leads from the city to Baghdad, the
capital of Iraq.
Christians continue to die in the complete indifference of the authorities. Kidnappings for extortion,
assassinations and attacks on churches and Christians are now episodes of daily life, and the local and
national government seem incapable of defending them. AsiaNews cited anonymous sources in
Kirkuk, who declared that "the attacks on Christians continue and the world remains totally silent. It’s
as if—he continues—we’ve been swallowed up by the night."
The weekend killings are only the latest in a long trail of blood and violence. On August 15 of this
year, several bombs exploded at the Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Ephrem in Kirkuk. The Orthodox
church is located a few hundred yards from the Chaldean Catholic cathedral in the center of the
city. Previously that month, a car bomb exploded in front of the Syrian Catholic Church of the Holy
Family, injuring 15 people while another car bomb was defused before it exploded at a Presbyterian
church.
Christians in Iraq have increasingly become the target of Islamic fundamentalism which is still active.
At the same time, they are also targeted in local feuds. Kirkuk, with its 900,000 inhabitants, and most
important deposits of oil in Iraq, has long been the center of conflict between Arabs, Turkmens and
Kurds. The latter want it annexed to the Kurdistan region, while both Arabs and Turkmen want to
maintain links with the Iraqi central government.
http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=52841&pageid=17&pagename=News
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 38 ‘TextbookincludesprovocativelanguageagainstSyriacs’
03 October 2011, Monday / TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
Civil society groups in the southeastern province of Mardin criticized the representation of Syriacs in
the high school history textbook prepared by the Ministry of Education for the 2011-2012 school year,
stating that it contained language that could provoke Turkish youths against Syriacs in a written
statement on Sunday.
“What is important here is that young students are being misguided by the discourse against minorities
and differences in Turkey. The minds of the youths have been injected with the idea that Syriacs are a
potential danger to the existence of the state. The statements in the books are a sign of hatred and this
is a hate crime. A course textbook should give objective information rather than subjective and
ideological statements,” the statement noted, addressing the textbook's problematic approach to
Syriacs.
The textbook frames World War I as a breaking point in which Syriacs betrayed and stabbed the
country in the back by cooperating with the great powers, including Russia. In addition, the migration
of Syriacs to European countries in recent decades is portrayed in a negative way. "Syriacs chose to
live in Europe to benefit from the welfare and prosperity there, only to become instruments used to
achieve European political goals. Their relations with Turkey have been manipulated for the benefit of
Western interests," the textbook reads.
It was prepared by the Ministry of Education for 2011-2012 include anti-Syriac statements,
disappointing Syriacs at a time when Turkey has been renewing relations with its minorities by
eliminating unfair treatment in all sectors of social and economic life.
Fourteen civil society groups lined with the Syriac Archbishop in Mardin stated that Syriacs have a
Christian culture and are representatives of the Mesopotamian cultural heritage in southeastern
Turkey, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. The state's approach was harshly criticized in
the statement.
“We believe that all segments of society in the Republic of Turkey must be represented in the cultural
scene with the preserved cultural elements of those segments. We think that homogenization of the
society must be abandoned by eliminating discriminative and assimilative discourse and policies
against differences,” the statement noted.
The civil society groups demanded that the textbook be removed from the curriculum immediately,
saying that if the state really wants to introduce its Syriac people, it should present their language and
traditions and that this should be done with the guidance of the Syriacs themselves.
The Syriacs are a minority who belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church and predominantly live in
southeastern Anatolia. Due to political pressure, Syriacs, like other minorities, faced serious problems
during the republican era. Only 15,000 are left in Turkey, as many have migrated to Europe.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-258729-textbook-includes-provocative-language-againstsyriacs.html
Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 39 “Democracy is not the law of the majority but the protection of the minority.”
Albert Camus
“Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and
where individuals and nations are free.”
14th Dalai Lama
“Everyone has a right to peaceful coexistence, the basic personal freedoms, the
alleviation of suffering, and the opportunity to lead a productive life…”
President Jimmy Carter
“You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You
can kill a man, but not an idea.”
Benazir Bhutto
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press overview prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Covered period: October 2011 Should you need the Press Overview of previous months or need further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press Overview about Turkey & ME Christians – October 2011 ‐ prepared by Suleyman Gultekin Page 40