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Turkish authorities respond swiftly after murderous attack on church

29 January 2024

Alamy

Police forensic officers arrive at the Church of Santa Maria in Istanbul on Sunday

Police forensic officers arrive at the Church of Santa Maria in Istanbul on Sunday

THE terrorist organisation Islamic State has claimed responsibility after an attack on a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul, on Sunday, left one man dead.

Two gunmen opened fire at the Church of Santa Maria, in the Sariya district of Istanbul, during mass.

The Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul and the Apostolic Administrator of Constantinople, the Rt Revd Massimiliano Palinuro, told Vatican News that, shortly after the offertory, at the Sanctus, two armed people entered, firing several gunshots in the air.

“And then the reaction of one of the faithful, who also had some mental-health problems, had the courage to protest against this, probably in response to this act,” he said. “They responded by killing this person.”

“Our community is literally shocked,” he said. “As a Christian community, we ask the authorities to shed light, to seek the truth. . .

“We ask for greater security and for the safety of the faithful, of the Christian community, which perseveres in the faith and courageously face very long journeys at times to attend the eucharistic celebration.”

The Pope expressed sympathy during his Sunday Angelus.

The uncle of the dead man told local media that the victim was aged 52, the BBC reports.

Later on Sunday, Turkey’s Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, wrote on social media that two murder suspects had been captured.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram, “saying it was in response to a call by the group’s leaders to target Jews and Christians”, Reuters reports.

On Monday, the Anglican Chaplain in Istanbul, Canon Ian Sherwood, praised the response of the authorities.

“Christians in Istanbul enjoy a perfectly peaceable life with their Turkish friends and neighbours of other spiritual persuasions,” he said. “There is great sorrow on hearing the news of the murder at a celebration of the mass at the very moment that we, too, were celebrating the eucharist in our own church.

“The English Chaplaincy was impressed and grateful to see how quickly the Turkish authorities acted. As far as I know, within less than one hour, every open church in the city had a police presence assigned to it for protection and security.”

The Turkish government reports that 99 per cent of the population is Muslim. The charity Open Doors estimates that there are about 169,000 Christians in the country, and has observed “rising religious nationalism and a growing emphasis on Islamic values”.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom warned last year: “Remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — which maintained a presence in Turkey — continued to pose a threat to religious minorities. . . Plots to attack churches and synagogues also came to light.”

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