MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By Raymond Ibrahim, FrontPage Mag – “Far from being repentant of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey, under the leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan, is again targeting Armenians; is again causing their death and dislocation.

In the early morning hours of March 21, al-Qaeda linked Islamic jihadis crossed into Syrian territory from the Turkish border and launched a jihad on the Christian/Armenian town of Kessab. Among other thing, ‘Snipers targeted the civilian population and launched mortar attacks on the town and the surrounding villages.’  Reportedly eighty people were killed.

The jihadis later made a video touring the devastated town; no translation is needed, as the main phrase shouted throughout is Islam’s triumphant war cry, ‘Allahu Akbar’ (or, according to Sen. John McCain’s translation, ‘thank God’).

Eyewitnesses say the jihadis crossed the Turkish border into Syria, ‘openly passing through Turkish military barracks. According to Turkish media reports, the attackers carried their injured back to Turkey for treatment in the town of Yayladagi.’

About two-thousand Armenians were evacuated to safer areas in neighboring Basit and Latakia. Several of these families are currently living inside the churches of these towns. Ten to fifteen families with relations too elderly to flee remained in Kessab, their fate currently unknown.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey’s Christians Fear Possible Hate Campaign – “A predominantly Muslim nation, Turkey has occasionally seen anti-Christian campaigns, some with tragic consequences. But the scale of protests against New Year’s celebrations this year was unprecedented. Previously, some Islamic media would denounce the festivities as un-Islamic, but never before have we seen acts threatening those who celebrate. As fellow Al-Monitor contributor Pinar Tremblay described, members of Turkey’s tiny Christian minority were already depressed, bemoaning the increasingly subdued fashion of their Christmas celebrations and the ‘long gone memory’ of times past, when Christians and Muslims shared holidays.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey: Muslims Subjecting More Christians to Discrimination and Attacks, Followers of Christ Vilified in Media, Textbooks – “… Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media, according to a study by a Protestant group. In its annual ‘Report on Human Rights Violations,’ released in January, the country’s Association of Protestant Churches notes mixed indicators of improvement but states that there is a ‘root of intolerance’ in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths. ‘The removal of this root of intolerance is an urgent problem that still awaits to be dealt with,’ the report states.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey, Key US Ally, Added to List of Worst Religious Freedom Offenders – “Turkey, considered a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, has been placed on a U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) list of worst religious offenders, alongside countries such as Iran, Iraq and North Korea – once known as the ‘axis of evil,’ a phrase coined by former U.S. President George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11. In the last few years, Turkey was present on USCIRF’s watch-list of countries that might be committing religious suppression, but its latest report, released in March and covering the period between April 1, 2011 and Feb. 29, 2012, has placed the Eastern European nation on its list of ‘countries of particular concern’ category …” Read more.