4/25/07 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) has just learned that the three Christians who were martyred in Turkey last week were horribly tortured for three hours prior to being killed, as details continue to leak out. As difficult and sorrowful it is to learn more, we believe that we must expose the truly hellish nature of this attack for what it is.

On Easter Sunday, five of the killers had been to a service that Pastor Necati had arranged in the city. The men were known to the believers as “seekers.” These young men, one of whom is the son of a mayor in the Province of Malatya, are part of a tarikat, or a group of “faithful believers” in Islam. Tarikat membership is highly respected; it’s like a fraternity membership. In fact, it is said that no one can get into public office without membership in a tarikat.

On the day of the killing, the young Muslim men had arranged to meet the Christians at 10:00 am to ostensibly learn more about the Bible. They had gathered guns, breadknives, ropes and towels (they knew there would be a lot of blood), ready for their act of service to Allah.

They arrived, and reportedly, after Necati read a chapter from the Bible the assault began. The young men tied Ugur, Necati, and Tilman’s hands and feet to chairs as they videoed their work on their cellphones. What followed in the next three hours is beyond belief.

Details of the torture—warning: graphic content.

They were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur’s stabs were too numerous to count. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated.

Meanwhile, another believer arrived at the office around 12:30. The door was locked from the inside, and his key would not work. He phoned and though it had connection on his end he did not hear the phone ringing inside. He called cell phones of his brothers and finally Ugur answered his phone. “We are not at the office. Go to the hotel meeting. We are there. We will come there,” he said cryptically. As Ugur spoke he heard in the telephone’s background weeping and a strange snarling sound.

He phoned the police, and the nearest officer arrived in about five minutes. He pounded on the door, “Police, open up!” Initially the officer thought it was a domestic disturbance. At that point they heard another snarl and a gurgling moan. The police understood that sound as human suffering, prepared the clip in his gun and tried over and over again to burst through the door. One of the frightened assailants unlocked the door for the policeman, who entered to find a grisly scene.

Tilman and Necati had been slaughtered, practically decapitated with their necks slit from ear to ear. Ugur’s throat was likewise slit and he was barely alive.

After Tillman’s wife learned of the brutal death of her husband she publicly forgave the killers saying “they know not what they do.”

Jeff King, ICC President, stated, “The contrast between the acts of the killers and the forgiveness of Tillman’s wife is glaring and in the end seems to be at the center of this story for us. For in the end, these events serve as a stark reminder of the difference between Islam and Christianity. For the ‘faithful’ Muslims, following their god meant brutally killing three men (“we did this to protect Islam”). For the faithful Christians, following God meant forgiving the men who had tortured and murdered their loved ones.”

The Protestant Church in Smyrna is requesting Christians to pray for the families of the three believers killed on April 18, 2007, in Malatya, Turkey. According to a press release, the church urged Christians to pray that someday the perpetrators of the gruesome murders would receive Christ and for God to use the testimonies of the martyred brothers to draw others in the knowledge of Him. II Corinthians 1:3-7