This was initially reported as if it were a targeted hit of the victim. It may have been that, but it appears to have been a jihad attack as well.
An update on this story. “Two Masked Attackers Kill 1 in Shooting at Istanbul Church,” by Safak Timur and Emma Bubola, New York Times, January 28, 2024:
Two masked gunmen shot and killed a man during a church service on Sunday morning in Istanbul, Turkish officials said, an attack that the Islamic State later took responsibility for.
In a communiqué issued Sunday evening, ISIS said that the attack was in response to a call by the terrorist group’s leadership to target Jews and Christians everywhere, according to the SITE intelligence group, which monitors extremist propaganda.
The attack took place around 11:40 a.m. at the Santa Maria church, an Italian Catholic church in the Sariyer district of Istanbul, the interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, wrote on the social media platform X. On Sunday night, Mr. Yerlikaya identified the victim as Tuncer Cihan and said that two suspects had been arrested.
According to SITE, the Islamic State said that the assailants had carried out the attack using pistols, killing one and wounding at least one other….
SC says
Turkey under Erdogan is becoming more radicalised every day.
Onipede says
Erdogan is an extremist. A figure that should not be present among NATO members
mike says
will the world wake up? No matter how much Islam takes over it’s never enough
Goofy says
“ISIS said that the attack was in response to a call by the terrorist group’s leadership to target Jews and Christians everywhere”
This can just mean one thing: Full war on Christianity and Judaism started by the fascist terrorists who call themselves Muslims.
This Islam terror should be given much higher priority than to start a senseless and unwinnable war on the Christian Orthodox Russia!
Wellington says
Christian Orthodox Russia under Putin has been involved in massive amounts of war crimes. Right now, Russia is aligned with other wicked nations like Iran and China. And don’t forget that Putin and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch have made excuse after excuse for Islam. Putin has even used Chechen Muslim terrorists to kill Ukrainian Christians. All this doesn’t strike me as very Christian.
victor lochmatow says
You have been reading ( and BELIEVING) US and NATO propaganda !!
You know NOT , what you speak.
gannon says
Chechen and Tatar Muslims are also fighting for Ukraine against Russia…so it looks like it’s more complicated than just bad Islam and bad Putin and the good guys.
Walter Sieruk says
That’s what those cruel and malicious jihadists of ISIS are most effective at, which is viciously inflecting bloodshed misery and death of people,
Those ISIS jihadists are wickedly horrendous that they are similar to the ancient evil men described in the Bible. Which reads “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.” Romans 3:15-17. [N.K.J.V.]
bagsgroove says
Also read genesis 16 about the nature of the offspring of Yoshua (the son of Abraham ) who is the ancestor of the muslims.
Richard James says
How did you have Muslims there when they have only existed since 642AD?
sylvie says
If you trace the ancestry of Islamic Arabs, it leads back 600 years to the child, Ishmael, son of Abraham. So Ishmael’s offspring hundreds of years later became the first Muslims. Please correct me if I’m wrong as I’m not an expert.
sylvie says
Do you mean Ishmael? I believe he is the ancestor.
Hudders. says
I heard that the man killed was due to be baptized that very same day.
I’m not sure where i heard/read it, so forgive me if incorrect.
Mind you, it isn’t as if these demonic death cult drones need justifications for their slaughtering ways.
After all they are members of the ‘islamic’ state & that tells us all we need to know.
They worship death. To kill for allah is their highest ideal & desire.
Mike says
Is it possible that the man who was killed was a former Muslim who was about to be baptized as a Christian? In that case, I.S. would accuse him of being an apostate.
Gurek says
ISIS is growing in Turkey and they have many sympathizers if not actual members. The murdered man was most probably a convert to Christianity. Sadly, it is not just ISIS that is responsible. Turkish government and political parties regularly pushes an anti-Christian agenda. Rising ultranationalism in Turkey, and the fascist and racist political parties like MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) who are also islamists are the cause.
bagsgroove says
Have they taken the shooters out back and executed them. No need for any trials.