Catholic priest shot dead in church in Turkey (ROP again.)

ANKARA (Reuters) - An Italian Roman Catholic priest was shot dead in his church in the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon on Sunday, police said.

They gave no more details, but CNN Turk television said police were looking for a young man aged about 17 years old seen fleeing the scene.

CNN Turk showed a small crowd of onlookers near the Santa Maria church where the priest was killed. The state Anatolian news agency identified the dead man as Andrea Santaro, aged 60. Other Turkish media said he had been in Turkey about five years.

Anatolian quoted Trabzon governor Huseyin Yavuzdemir as saying: "We condemn this attack against a man of religion ... There are witnesses. The police are trying to catch the suspect based on information the witnesses gave."

The gunman's motive was unclear. Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim and has only a tiny Christian population.

Turkey, like many other Muslim countries, has seen regular protests in recent days against cartoons published in several European newspapers depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

Turkish leaders have expressed strong distaste at the cartoons, but have also called for calm and better understanding between different cultures and religious faiths.

Turkey's non-Muslim clergy, including Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, have also condemned the cartoons, which were first published in a Danish newspaper.

Violent attacks on Christian clergy are virtually unheard of in Turkey, which takes pride in its history as a meeting place of different cultures and religions.

I guess, at this point, the issue is obvious (moreso than before) and that is, when do we start fighting back?

All I know is most people I see around me are looking frightened to even go outofdoors and we're in the U.S.A.

Are our muslim "neighbors" going to be loitering there waiting to render our demise?

This is the type of global, and quite intensely local (as in, local everyhere) fear and concern and ATTACK UPON PEACE that muslims are accomplishing.

I went to a local mall the other day and when I saw two burkha covered women in front of me walking, I really did a double take in horror and fell back, seeking more space between me and what I perceived as potential threat to me and mind.

I saw others doing similarly.

I'd never have done that earlier (after 09/11, yes, but not a few years after until recently).

I now see that in history past, our ancestors had reason to go seek them out and contest their violence. I think that it's also time for most civilized countries to begin exercising greater controls over their numbers because after reading what's taken place in France, Denmark, England, the U.S., Australia, Spain, Italy, the Phllipines...I think most of us can see where this is going and I now see it in my very own town.

Anyway, EU has acted very childish in this situation. They knew what kind of reaction there will be, they knew all the things Muslims will do. Yet, they still published the cartoon and defended it.

The EU didn’t do a thing, a newspaper in Denmark printed the cartoons. Denmark isn’t Saudi Arabia. They get to do that.

Then the question is; why did they chose to publish it, while they already knew the consequences. Muslims are generally uneducated, extremely sensitive and under threat of radical islamism.

Because they’re a newspaper, a private company, and there are no laws against it in Denmark. Move to Denmark, get elected to office, change the law. That’s how it works. The level of ignorance in the Muslim world is irrelevant.

Anyway, the Muslims to my knowledge have not yet published anything about Jesus Christ or anything associated yet. You should ask yourself why?

If it religious tolerance we’re discussing here, dare I mention Jews? A tad of religious intolerance there perhaps? i am sorry but before the cartoon was published there were no problem

Right, no problem for you.

Please, get back to me on the Muslim respect for religion and Jews thing. I've noticed a thing of two in the Arab press you might have missed.

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 27, 2004]	Sharon eats Palestinian children. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 22, 2004]
Jew is Satan. Pope says: “Peace on Earth” Satan-Jew: “Colonies on Earth” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida March 22, 2000]	On old man: "the 20th century" On young man: "the 21st century" Above dwarf Jew with Star of David: “The Disease of the Century” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida Dec. 28, 1999]
The U.S. using Israel to hold up the Arab World	Star of David and Kippa (skullcap) on the Rat. Text on the cheese: “Arab Homeland” Text on the knife: “USA” [Al - Hayat Al-Jadida Aug. 20, 2001]
Donkey with Talit [Jewish prayer shawl] marched through streets of Ramallah. [Note - PA religious leaders and PA school books [published in 2000] compare Jews to donkeys.	Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), June 12, 2003
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), June 24, 2003	Al-Quds (PA), July 22, 2003
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), June 17, 2003	Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), June 23, 2003
	Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), June 12, 2003. , the day after the No. 14 bus suicide bombing in Jerusalem, showing torn body parts of a man who blew up
The weekly Akhbar Al-Yawm published a cartoon on March 12, 2005, in which President Bush is portrayed as an angel, but with cloven hooves and a pointy tail:.	In light of Egyptian-U.S. tensions, Egyptian government newspapers published a number of anti-American cartoons in recent days. The daily Al-Akhbar published a cartoon on March 14, 2005, in which Bush looks in a mirror and sees the image of Adolph Hitler

"Oh my dears, oh lion cubs [boys] of Palestine, oh, flowers [girls] of Palestine, oh, future of Palestine, oh power and splendor of Palestine.
"From you [came] the world hero, Fares 'Ouda. He is the symbol of the Palestinian people, who stands in heroism, pride, and willpower with the Palestinian stone facing the Israeli tank.
"This is the people of heroes that does not fear the tank, and does not fear the airplane, and does not fear the missile, and they cling to their place until Judgment Day. The Prophet [Muhammad] said: 'A group from among you will remain… standing on guard against your enemies. Their enemies will not triumph over them, and they will triumph, with Allah's help.'
"Thus it was said to the Messenger [Muhammad]: 'Where are they [the members of that group]? 'Who are they [the members of that group]?' [The Prophet Muhammad said]: '[They are] from Jerusalem its environs, from Jerusalem and its environs. And they stand [against their enemies] until Judgment Day, and every Shahid among them [is worth] 40 Shahids among you.'
"To whom did [the Prophet] say this? To his companions! He said to them: 'One Shahid from those [fighting for Jerusalem] is equal in value to 40 Shahids from [his companions]. This is the privilege Allah has given to you, oh boys and girls of Palestine…"
Yasser Arafat's Speech Marking International Day of the Child 2003, to Children of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees Held by Israel, The Muqata'a, Ramallah .

Anyway, the Muslims to my knowledge have not yet published anything about Jesus Christ or anything associated yet. You should ask yourself why?
Why can we feel free to disrespect their beliefs, while they do not publish anything about ours but show different anger? Anger towards a flag, a newspaper, a government etc. but noting against things Christians accept Holy?
I don't see christ giving a blow job in any of the pictures. Now would you like to see something like that ? They are politicians, and violent cartoons with racism within them..
And please the time haven't begun with 9/11.. The history behind hatred towards west goes back to World War 1, now i don't know what you think or know about it.
But please be logical and consider this, when Ottoman was torn apart and middle east colonized and divided. Was that done to set the Muslims in Middle East free? Pleasee....

I presume that means that cartoons demeaning Americans are acceptable because they're political, cartoons demeaning Jews are acceptable because Muslims have hated Jews for a long time, btw longer than WWI, but as long as there aren't any pictures of Christ giving a blow job that the Muslim reaction is OK. Many people disagree with that view.

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