Turkey

“A residence for the watchman, a room to bathe the bodies of the dead and a place of worship were pulled down when nobody in charge of the cemetery was around on Thursday. The municipality officials said the place of worship was being built without official permission, and argued that there was nothing illegal about the demolishment,” Today’s Zaman reports.

 Mohabat News reported that Ranjbar said, "Then the employer and several other workers attacked and beat me before spilling hot water all over my body."

"The court delivered such a terrible judgment, in which they went so far as to say that there was no “organization” behind this murder."

“In recent years, Turkey has been shaken by the murders of a number of prominent non-Muslims… [including] three Protestant missionaries [who] were brutally murdered, bound to chairs, tortured and stabbed at the Zirve Publishing House in the eastern province of Malatya before their throats were slit,” Sunday’s Zaman reports.

“The French Senate was scheduled Monday to debate a bill that would make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered genocide at the hand of Ottoman Turks during World War I,” Monsters and Critics reports.

“More than 10,000 people marched silently through Istanbul on Thursday to protest against the acquittals of 17 men tried over the killing of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and commemorate the fifth anniversary of his death,” Reuters reports.

“A report detailing the problems Turkey’s long forgotten Syriac Christian communities face, prepared with the backing of the European Syriac Union (ESU) and the Dutch Foreign Ministry, will be presented to European Parliament in the coming days,” PanArmenian.Net reports.

Middle East Concern asks for prayer concerning the trial of two men accused for murdering three Christians in Malatya, Turkey in 2007.

“The twinkling lights of Christmas may brighten the streets of İstanbul, but for many of the Muslim city's Christian minorities celebrating the holidays can prove challenging,” Sunday’s Zaman reports.

Middle East Concern requests prayer for the trial of the men charged with the murder of three Christians in Malatya in 2007.

"Indictment reveals Christian targets in Ankara, along with Parliament and U.S. Embassy," Compass Direct News reports.

“Turkey's new Constitution drafting process offers many possibilities for the protection of freedom of religion or belief… [however] the constitutional legal framework will determine how far religious freedom will be protected,” Forum 18 News Service reports.

“After years of trials, investigations, media reports and countless allegations, a case into the notorious torture and murder of three missionaries in Malatya has yet to reach any satisfactory conclusion,” Hürriyet Daily News reports.