türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 7 November 2023)
"Hey, you're supposed to turn the other cheek!"
In Eskişehir, İlhan Önder (46), retired and the father of two children, went
to the Protestant church in Odunpazarı on 30 October. At the church,
Önder approached pastor Artun Tokatlı (38) and slapped him in the face.
Members of the congregation apprehended Önder and put him in a room
to await the police, who then took him into custody.
Önder was charged with intentionally harming a clergyman but released
on judicial supervision. Subsequently, though, by a decision of the public
prosecutor, he was sent to the Eskişehir City Hospital High Security
Psychiatric Service for an examination to determine his sanity.
In his statement to police, Önder asserted that his aim was not to harm
the pastor but, rather, to test his tolerance (!). He explained that
"the pastor said in his sermon that Christianity is a tolerant religion,
in which you turn the other cheek when someone hits you. I got
excited, in particular, when he said that Christianity rewards and
forgives wrongdoers so I wanted to test him on this by slapping him
in the face. If I really wanted to harm him I wouldn't do it in a
crowd of people. I could have harmed him on another day when he
was by himself."
Subject to interpretation...
Pastor Tokatlı stated that "when he entered the church he was acting
strangely and during our prayers he recited the Moslem "Fatiha"
prayer. He wanted me to baptize him (!) but I told him baptism
takes time and he'd have to learn about Christianity first. He didn't
like that answer and hit me. The people and officials in Eskişehir
are very tolerant towards our church. This was a "one-off" incident.
Our Eskişehir Protestant Church has been designated by the Religion
Ministry as a place of worship, which is a rare honor."
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