ICC Note:
Wolfgang Häde, the pastor of a Protestant congregation in the Turkish city of Izmit, challenges German Christians to exemplify the persecuted church in Turkey.
4/4/2012 Turkey (Aid to the Church in Need) – “In Germany we have a special responsibility for people from Turkey.” With these words, Wolfgang Häde, pastor of a Protestant congregation in the Turkish city of Izmit, encourages Christians in Germany to give stronger witness of their faith. “We should encounter them with acceptance and love, and not be afraid to speak out about our Christianity,” Pastor Häde emphasised during a visit to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Wolfgang Häde, who was born near Kassel in 1958, is married to a Turkish woman and has lived in Turkey since 2001.
Pastor Häde became known to the public at large on 18 April 2007. On that day, his brother-in-law Necati Aydin, together with two other Christians, was tortured and murdered in Malatya in Eastern Turkey. Aydin, who headed the Protestant congregation in Malatya, was the father of two children and was only 35 years old. The alleged perpetrators, who came from Muslim nationalist circles, were arrested at the scene of the crime, but even now the court proceedings relating to the murders have still not been completed. Pastor Häde, who was also threatened and whom the killers also intended to murder, lived for some time under police protection.
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