Deranged Turk Attacks Diyarbakir Church

(Compass) – An apparently deranged young Turk barricaded himself inside the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church in southeast Turkey on July 19, breaking windows and setting fire to curtains, Bibles and cassette tapes until dense smoke finally forced him to surrender to the police. Medet Arslan, 27, stopped by the Protestant church that afternoon, and some of the church members offered him tea. As he sat and talked with them, he loudly quoted Quranic verses, saying that he wanted to become a martyr. When he threatened them with a long butcher knife, they locked the man inside the room. He then barricaded the door as police tried to reason with him. Three hours later, Arslan was led away by police authorities who transferred him to a mental hospital in Elazig shortly after the attack. The church sustained some $1,500 in damages from the attack, requiring them to replace the destroyed furnishings and books, repaint the room and install new windows. Meanwhile, Diyarbakir ’s first Protestant church in the history of the Turkish Republic continues to await a formal decision from Turkish authorities regarding its legal zoning status in the city.