“Horror and great sorrow”: it was the reaction of Msgr. Ludwig Schick, archbishop of Bamberg and president of the Commission for the Universal Church of the German Bishop’s Conference, about the killing of the three collaborators – including a German one of the Christian publishing house in Turkey, happened in the last few days. Msgr. Schick stated that “the Turkish State should explain the dynamics of the crime as soon as possible, and in detail, with the aim of punishing the culprits”. According to the archbishop, apart from the causes of the attack, “the Christians must be acknowledged equal rights by politics, by the law, by the media, and by the public opinion”. It is necessary to guarantee and defend freedom of religion: “Equality of all the citizens, independently of race and religion, and the equivalence of the rights of all the religious communities in a country, are sources of peace, and they are an effective protection against attacks to minorities. And in Turkey, the Christians are a minority. The Christians cannot be second-class or third-class citizens”, he admonished. “Respect of human rights, including free religious expression, is an important condition for Turkey’s march towards Europe”, concluded Schick.
