The Bible publishing firm murders in Malatya took place on April 18, 2007 in Zirve Publishing House, Malatya,^[1][2] Turkey. Three employees of the Bible publishing house were attacked and murdered by five assailants. Two of the victims, Necati Aydın, 36, and Uğur Yüksel, 32, were Turkish converts from Islam. The third man, Tilmann Geske, 45, was a German citizen. Necati Aydin was an actor who played the role of Jesus Christ in a theater production that TURK-7 network aired over the Easter holidays.^[3][4] Image File history File links Current_event_marker. ... April 18 is the 108th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (109th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... Malatia can also be a misspelling of the medical term Malacia. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library of Congress. ... Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ارتداد, irtidād or ridda) is commonly defined as the rejection of Islam in word or deed by a person who has been a Muslim. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... Easter, the Sunday of the Resurrection, Pascha, or Resurrection Day, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year, observed at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the moon. ...

According to the human rights group International Christian Concern (ICC), the troubles began on Easter Sunday when the alleged killers, one of whom is the son of a mayor, attended a service led by Pastor Aydın. "After [Aydın] read a chapter from the Bible, the young men tied [Yüksel, Aydın, and Geske’s] hands and feet to chairs as they videoed their work on their cell phones. Then the men were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Their fingers were chopped off and their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. [Geske] was stabbed 156 times, [Aydın] 99 times, and [Yüksel’s] stabs were too numerous to count. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, and their heads practically decapitated".^[5] Instantly sharing media A Sony Ericsson K750 camera phone in use Philippe Kahn Working on and early camera-phone A camera phone is a mobile phone which has a camera built-in and is coupled with a server-based infrastructure that allows the user to share pictures and video with... Disembowelment is evisceration, or the removing of some or all of vital organs, usually from the abdomen. ... Emasculation is the removal of the genitalia of a male, notably the penis and/or the testicles, by surgery, violence, or accident (see castration). ... Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capitis, meaning head), or beheading, is the removal of a living organisms head. ...

In the meantime several eyewitnesses who identified the bodies of Tilmann and Aydın have stated in e-mail messages to churches in Turkey and the West that the media reports about the torture of the three men have been greatly exaggerated. 68 ^[6]

Later after the attack, four men were arrested (three of them being Emre Günaydın, Cuma Özdemir, Hamit Çeker).^[7] One was being treated for serious wounds when he attempted to jump out of a window when police went to chase him. All of the alleged killers are between 19 and 20 years old.^[8]

Protests were taking place at the firm recently after the firm was accused of "proselytizing" a Muslim nation, but it is not known if the murders are related to the protests.

"Aydın is survived by his wife, Şemse, and a son and daughter, both preschool age. Tilmann with his wife Susanne had two daughters and a son, ages 8 to 13 years. Yüksel was engaged to be married within a few months".^[3]

Response

• "[I condemn the attacks] in the strongest terms.[We will] do everything to clear up this crime completely and bring those responsible to justice," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister.
• "This is savagery," said Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish Prime Minister.
• "Missionary work is even more dangerous than terrorism and unfortunately is not considered a crime in Turkey." Niyazi Güney, Justice Ministry Statutes Directorate General.^[9]

Steinmeier and Condoleezza Rice in Berlin Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier (born 5 January 1956 in Detmold, Germany) is a German politician and, since November 22, 2005, Foreign Minister of Germany in the Grand Coalition of Angela Merkel. ... This page lists State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs under the German Empire (1873-1918), and Ministers of Foreign Affairs under succeeding governments thereafter. ... Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan (born February 26, 1954), became the Prime Minister of Turkey on March 14, 2003. ...

References

The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion...

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