Christians In Turkey

I found this very interesting and informative article about Christians in Turkey.  Click here to read the full article.  Please remember our brothers and sisters in prayer.

Here are some details about Christians in Turkey:

* SOME HISTORY:
-- At the beginning of World War One, Christians still made up 20 percent of the population. However in May 1915, Ottoman commanders began mass deportation of Armenians from eastern Turkey thinking they might assist Russian invaders.

-- Thousands were marched from the Anatolian borders toward Syria and Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and Armenians say some 1.5 million died either in massacres or from starvation or deprivation as they were marched through the desert. There are some 70,000 Armenians left in Turkey. Turkey says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed during the violent and chaotic break-up of the Ottoman Empire. The number of Christians has now fallen to around 100,000 in a total population of more than 70 million.

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ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS

-- Turkey's Christian community has been targeted in a spate of attacks over several years, prompting concern among human rights groups and the European Union.

-- The stabbing of an Italian Catholic priest in 2007 highlighted the attacks. Also in 2007, three Christians were killed at a Bible-publishing house at the Zirve publishing house in Malatya, a city in the country's southeast region.

-- Andrea Santoro, another Italian Catholic priest, was shot dead in the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon in 2006.

-- Prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was killed in January 2007 in Istanbul by a young nationalist gunman. A prosecutor last month indicted a colonel for failing to provide protection for Dink, who had received death threats.

Sources: Reuters/World Christian Encyclopaedia/britannica.com