Turkey: Muslim youth vandalise Christian bookshop

A Christian bookstore in Turkey has been vandalised twice in the last month by Muslim youth, according to Compass Direct News.

On 7 February, the glass front door of the Soz Kitapevi bookshop was smashed along with a security camera.

Five days later, after having repaired the damage, two Muslim youths were caught on security cameras kicking and breaking the glass of the shop window and damaging the door frame.

Police are using the camera footage to help them find the unidentified men.

The presence of the shop has generally been accepted by local Muslims, although shop employees have received threats in the past. In addition, a man is said to have gone into the shop last November and accused staff of working with the CIA to hurt Muslims.

He is reported to have said, "You work with them, killing people in Muslim countries, harming Muslim countries.”

Christianity and especially mission work are viewed with suspicion in Turkey. Whilst they are not actually forbidden, people who evangelise have been arrested in the past and accused of disturbing the peace, insulting Islam or conducting illegal educational courses.

Worship services can only be held in buildings “created for this purpose” and the authorities tend to resist attempts to build places of worship by minority religions such as Christianity.

In 2007, three people working at a Christian publishing house were brutally murdered by Islamic extremists. The trial of the suspects continues.