Young Turkish man who assaulted monks did not intend to steal but to intimidate
The Mersin monks tell reporters they do not believe that the incident was the work of a lone attacker but rather part of a wider plot designed to drive the faithful away from church.
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Mersin (AsiaNews) The young man who attacked monks in a church in Mersin , Turkey , was not a thief. His actions are instead part of a concerted campaign of intimidation and violence against Christians in Turkey with the goal of scaring away the faithful, said the monks from the Mersin parish during a meeting with about 20 reporters.
We have submitted a statement on the church attack in which we say that the young man did not come into the church to steal but to spread terror. We also call on the police to investigate what is behind the increasing number of attacks against the Church and Christian places of worship, Fr Hanri Leylek told AsiaNews.
These are not actions by lone madmen, but deeds by an organization that wants to scare the faithful away from the Church. For two days children have not come to school and parents are worried. The goal is to intimidate those who are different, but Christians are not outsiders; they are Turkish like everybody else, he stressed.
