attack against a 74-year-old French priest in the Black Sea city of Samsun.
The priest, Pierre Brunissen, was still recovering from serious injuries Thursday, July 6, following the knife attack on Sunday, July 2. "No matter what the motives were, we condemn this attack against a guest in our country," Bardakoglu said in statements. "In our hearts, we wish that events like this would never occur in our country," which he claimed was an attempt to portray predominantly Muslim Turkey as "intolerant of different views or religions."
The attack left Brunissen bleeding profusely from the stab wound four inches into his thigh. After an overnight stay in intensive care at the May 19 University Medical Hospital, he was reportedly released the following morning.
Speaking from his home to reporters, from his home in Samsun, the Priest Brunissen said the man who attacked him by knife, Attila Nuran, was "insane." However "I never thought he would stab me. There may be a religious group behind him."
KNOWN SCHIZOPHRENIC
Brunissen reportedly lived in Turkey for 12 years and the priest told media he knew Nuran for eight of these years. Nuran, who has been arrested, was a known schizophrenic, who was under treatment in Samsun hospitals for many years, Turkish media said.
Yet the attack near the priest’s home, underscored growing concern over anti-Christian sentiments in Turkey. It was the fourth attack on Catholic clergy this year in Turkey, where two Turkish Protestant church leaders also have been assaulted in the past six months, Christian sources said. One of the Christian leaders, Italian priest Fr. Andrea Santoro was shot to death while kneeling in the Santa Maria Church in Trabzon on February 5.
EUROPEAN UNION
A Vatican cardinal said in a published statement that Sunday’s knife attack on Roman Catholic priest Brunissen showed that Turkey was far from ready for European Union membership.
Turkey was not truly a secular state that guaranteed ull religious freedom, Walter Cardinal Kasper, head of the Vatican’s department for Christian Unity, was quoted as saying by Milan’s Corriere della Sera newspaper this week, several media reported.
"There is a certain tolerance but not authentic freedom…Turkey must change many things and it is not just a question of laws but of mentality, and you can’t change mentality in one day," Kasper reportedly said.
