Zirve Publishing House murders
Necati Aydın was an actor who played the role of Jesus Christ in a theater production that the TURK-7 network aired over the Easter holidays.[4][5] Necati Aydın was a graduate of the Martin Bucer Seminary whose president Thomas Schirrmacher said he simply cried when he learned of the deaths."[8] Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, condemned the attacks strongly, affirming, "[We will] do everything to clear up this crime completely and bring those responsible to justice."[9] Niyazi Güney, Justice Ministry Statutes Directorate General Manager, commented on the incident, stating that "Missionary work is even more dangerous than terrorism and unfortunately is not considered a crime in Turkey.On the tenth day of the hearing, Günaydın said that a journalist, Varol Bülent Aral, had told him that the missionary work was connected to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).The prosecutors then demanded a copy of the Ergenekon indictment concerning an alleged high-level cabal, and the judge agreed to request this from the Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul.[26] In December 2010, a suspect in the Zirve case told the court that the National Strategies and Operations Department of Turkey (TUSHAD), the armed side of Ergenekon, is still planning attacks against non-Muslims in the country.[28] On orders of the prosecutor in the Ergenekon trial, Zekeriya Öz, police operations were carried out in 9 provinces and the former commander of the gendarmerie in Malatya, Major Mehmet Ülger and another 19 people were detained.[30] On 7 March 2014, five suspects who were still detained were released from their high-security prison and put under house arrest after a Turkish court ruled that their detention exceeded newly adopted legal limits.