Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Istanbul (Fides Service) - With regard to the assassination of the Italian missionary Fr Andrea Santoro last Sunday in Turkey Fides spoke about Christian Muslim relations in that country on the telephone to Fr. Adriano Franchini OFM Cap, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies and Caritas in Turkey where he has been on mission for 25 years.
Fr Franchini said “There is no need to fear or to demonise Turkish Islam which has lived side by side with other religions for centuries. Moreover in the last 70 years Turks have become accustomed to the secular state first promoted by Kemal Ataturk. As Christian here we are deeply saddened and anxious of course, but we carry on with our pastoral work. A motive of some concerning are Islamic extremists groups in Turkey which have their own circles and press. Over the past few days some of these newspapers have instigated to religious hatred against the West, condemning the Crusades and colonialism and calling inter-religious dialogue a ‘Vatican trap’. This hatred can penetrate the weaker hearts, those of young people for example easily influenced and I would not exclude isolated acts of hatred by fanatics. However I am confident that the majority of the people of Turkey will not let themselves be misled by fundamentalist fringes. The government is determined to suppress these groups and make sure the situation does not degenerate: this it must do in order to maintain the image of a country which is civilised and democratic”.
Fr. Adriano says with regard to the death of Fr Andrea: “This is a tragedy for the Catholic community in Turkey. We of Caritas had planned to spend a week Trabzon to discuss the criminal trafficking of girls from the Caucauses and how to stop it. As a Catholic organisation we cannot intervene directly we can only support national bodies. However with regard to the murder of Fr Andrea in my opinion the assassin was simply a fanatic”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 8/2/2006 righe 23 parole 246)
