TURKEY: CATHOLIC PRIEST STABBED IN IZMIR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003010

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: CATHOLIC PRIEST STABBED IN IZMIR


Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, reasons 1.4 (b),(d
)


1. (C) Summary and comment: Police detained a 19-year old
Turkish man shortly after he stabbed Italian Priest Adiano
Franchini inside Izmir's St. Antoine Church on Sunday,
December 16. Franchini, who survived the attack and is
recovering well, said he would not press charges against the
attacker, who he described as a mentally disturbed youth who
acted on his own volition. Several Turkish Christians were
reluctant to dismiss the possibility that the attack was not
related to others in recent years, such as the murder of
three Protestants in Malatya or the stabbing of a Catholic
priest in Trabzon. One noted the attacker had said he had
been influenced by "Valley of the Wolves," a popular
ultranationalistic TV show that spewed rhetoric against
Christian "missionaries." Even if this attack was the work
of just one disturbed individual, it highlights a deeply
troubling trend of intolerance toward Christians in Turkey.
As one Catholic priest pointed out, Turkish society needs to
undergo a shift in mentality before Christians will feel safe
to practice openly their beliefs. End summary and comment.

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Youth Stabs Catholic Priest
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2. (SBU) A 19-year old Turkish man named Ramazan Bay stabbed
65-year old Italian Priest Adiano Franchini inside Izmir's
St. Antoine Church on Sunday, December 16. Franchini
survived the attack, and is recovering Izmir's Aegean
University Hospital. Franchini has been working in Turkey
for approximately 15 years as one of a handful of priests
that serve Turkey's approximately 3,000 Catholics, most of
whom reside in Istanbul and Izmir. For the past several
years he had been the priest at Izmir's Virgin Mary Church.
Police captured Bay outside a mosque where he had allegedly
gone to confess to the local Imam and ask for advice.
Franchini told a Vatican news agency that he will not press
charges but will ask authorities to treat Bay for
psychological problems. The GOT has not issued any statement
regarding the attack. Izmir Governor Cahit Kirac visited
Franchini paid a visit to the hospital and PM Erdogan
dispatched two of his MPs to Izmir to offer condolences to
Franchini.

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Priest Says Attack Not Part of Conspiratorial Plot
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3. (SBU) Italian and Vatican EMBASSY contacts who visited
Franchini in the hospital told us the evidence thus far
suggests the attacker was a mentally troubled individual who
acted alone, not as part of any larger conspiracy against
Christians in Turkey. Italian political counselor Lucio
Demichele told us Franchini had known Bay for "some time" and
thought him to be a young, angry person who had had run-ins
with the law and with possible psychological problems.
Franchini believed Bay had been arrested for "minor episodes"
in the past. Just prior to the attack, Bay had asked
Franchini to convert him to Christianity. Franchini, wary of
Bay's mental stability, politely refused. Bay then took out
a knife and stabbed Franchini in the stomach. Franchini said
he believed the attack could have happened anywhere in the
world.

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Turkish Christians See Attack
as Sign of Societal Intolerance
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4. (C) Several Human rights contacts told us they view the
attack as another sign of a climate of increasing intolerance
toward non-Muslims, citing several incidents in recent years:
the brutal killing of three Protestants in Malatya, the
stabbing of Catholic Priest Santoro in Trabzon, the murder of
Hrant Dink, and the mob-beating of two Georgian priests near
the Turkey-Georgia border. Ziya Meral, a Turk who converted
to Christianity and now tracks attacks against Christians in
Turkey as a consultant for Christian Solidarity Worldwide,
told us the incident should not be written off as the

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spontaneous actions of a disturbed individual. Bay had said
he had been influenced by "Valley of the Wolves," a popular
ultranationalistic TV show that has aired at least three
episodes about the murder of missionaries with "dark ties."
This, and the fact that Bay was carrying a knife with him and
was ready to attack after a three-minute conversation, showed
his true intention, Meral believed.


5. (C) Orhan Kemal Cengiz, an attorney for several minority
religious groups and President of the Human Rights Agenda
Association, told us Turkey desperately needs to pass hate
crime laws to eliminate on-line hate speech campaigns that
help drive poor, uneducated youth to commit these attacks.
Izmir Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini best represented the
feelings of Christians in Turkey when he said following the
attack that Christians would not feel safe in Turkey until
there is a true change of mentality of Turks toward the
Christian community. Franceschini pointed out that Turkish
society called the perpetrators of attacks against Christians
"unstable" or "psychopaths" in order to convince themselves
the problem is limited in scope. In fact, he said, these
attacks are signs of larger societal antipathy toward
Christians.

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/

WILSON