Turkey Detains Suspects Over Church Shooting (Worthy News Investigation)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ISTANBUL (Worthy News) – Turkish police have detained several suspects over their alleged involvement in the New Year’s Eve shooting of a Protestant church in Istanbul, Turkish officials announced Friday.
Security footage reviewed by Worthy News appeared to confirm the December 31 attack on the Çekmeköy branch of the Kurtuluş Kilisesi Derneği (Association of Salvation Church) denomination.
At least one bullet was shot from a car and “passed through the iron shutters and glass front, lodging in the wall,” witnesses said.
One of the assailants was heard shouting, “We will not allow you to brainwash our Muslim youth! O infidels, you will be defeated and gathered together and exiled to hell.”
The pastor, who wasn’t named publicly, “requests prayer after the building was shot at on the evening of December 31,” Christians told Worthy News.
In comments shared with Worthy News, the pastor noticed that the police “were quick to respond to the incident, and the neighbors have expressed their sadness over the event.”
SUSPECTS SEEN
Footage seen by Worthy News showed special police raiding a building before accompanying one of the suspects, a man in his 30s.
Two suspects were identified as 33-year-old Serkan P. and Veysi A. 33.
Veysi A. allegedly “confessed” that they went to the church and fired a shot, but Serkan A. reportedly suggested the attack wasn’t religiously motivated but “over a debt issue.”
A third suspect was later named V.A., who was 37 or 38 during his arrest. “It was determined that the incident was carried out by [these] three people in a commercial vehicle that came to the area,” said the Istanbul Governorship in charge of the Istanbul region.
“The individuals were referred to the courthouse after their procedures at the police station,” it added in comments monitored by Worthy News.
All three individuals had criminal records ranging from fraud to “intentential wounding” of one or more persons, officials said.
KEEPING FAITH
The church said it “is disturbed but is responding with faith that God will bring good out of the attack.”
This wasn’t the first attack against the church in the Çamlık Neighborhood of Istanbul’s Çekmeköy District, Worthy News learned.
The same Kurtuluş Kilisesi Derneği church there was previously targeted on December 18, 2023, when two assailants were caught on security cameras ripping the signs off of the church, Christians told Worthy News.
“The event was reported to police, who apprehended the perpetrators. The church has also received numerous threats through social media,” added Middle East Concern (MEC), an advocacy group supporting the church.
It comes amid broader concerns among rights activists about the treatment of devoted Christians in Turkey, a mainly Muslim nation, where there have been several sometimes deadly attacks against churches and missionaries, Worthy News documented.
In comments shared with Worthy News, Christians urged prayers that the “perpetrators will repent of their actions, God will encourage and strengthen the pastor and church, and that more people will become curious about Jesus Christ through this incident’s publicity.”
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