Death threat to Armenian Christians in Turkey?
Barnabas Fund, 5 March 2019
Vandals have spray-painted the threatening words “you are finish” in English and Arabic on a church in Istanbul.
The menacing graffiti was scrawled on a door and wall of an Armenian Church in the district of Balat. Church authorities have filed a criminal complaint with police.
Armenian-born politician Garo Paylan said, “Hate attacks against churches and synagogues take place several times every year”.
It is not the first incident of vandalism against churches in Turkey. Last April, the words “this homeland is ours” were sprayed on another Armenian church and rubbish dumped at its door.
Over 1.5 million Armenians are thought to have died in a state sanctioned genocide in Turkey during World War I in the quest to create a purely Turkish and Muslim state.