Turkish authorities are searching for a suspected arsonist following a fire that destroyed thousands of New Testaments and other Christian books on 7 December.
The fire started at the offices of the Bible Correspondence Course in Turkey (BCC Turkey), located in a multistorey building that also houses a church in the Kadikoy neighbourhood of Istanbul. No one was injured in the fire and no structural damage was reported, but total losses are estimated at approximately US$12,500.
Paul Weaver, media and IT director at the ministry, said an image of the attacker appears in a security camera video. Fire officials ignored evidence that the fire was of a suspicious nature.
One of the few openly evangelistic Christian organisations in Turkey, BCC Turkey has numerous outreach ministries and distributes about 70 to 120 New Testaments every week. Its Facebook page has over 56,000 ‘likes’, no small feat in a Muslim-majority country.
