No turning back

Turkey: Christian leaders vow to continue despite brutal killings of three Turkish believers | Jill Nelson

The day began like any other. On his way out the door, 35-year-old Turkish native Necati Aydin, a pastor and father of two, kissed his wife goodbye and departed for a morning Bible study. In another part of Malatya, Turkey—known for its apricots—46-year-old German missionary and father of three Tilman Geske said his morning farewells. Ugur Uksel, a 32-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity like Aydin, was the third man joining the group for the study at the church office, which doubled as a Christian publishing company.

What unfolded between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on April 18 could add another chapter to Foxe's Book of Martyrs. As the three men joined together for Bible study, a dozen assailants tied them to chairs, then brutally interrogated and tortured them for two hours about their church activities. A videorecording made with a cell phone shows the men being disemboweled, dismembered, and stabbed hundreds of times. Their throats were slit when police arrived. Copies of a letter found in the pockets of the killers gave a glimpse into the motives behind the atrocity: "We did it for our country. They are trying to take our country away, take our religion away."