Displaying items by tag: Turkey

WASHINGTON — Evangelical missionary Andrew Brunson said Thursday that the authoritarian crackdown and struggling economy in Turkey are causing more Muslim Turks to show interest in the Bible at a time in which the “storm clouds” of Christian persecution seem to be forming.

Brunson, a North Carolina native who spent two decades planting churches in Turkey before spending two years in prison on trumped-up terrorism charges, expressed deep concern about the future of Turkey’s small Protestant population during a hearing hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Capitol Hill.

“There is still a high degree of freedom for Christians relative to other Muslim countries in the region, but I am concerned that all the signs point to this changing soon,” said Brunson, who was released from prison last October after months of pressure from the U.S. government.

In the midst of a massive government crackdown in the wake of the 2016 failed coup attempt against the Erdogan government, Brunson explained that the regime has accelerated the expulsion and deportation of foreign Christian leaders.

According to Brunson, as many as 50 foreign Christian families have recently been deported from Turkey. 

The 51-year-old read off a list of Protestant Christians in Turkey who have been deported after being accused of being a “threat to national security.” Most of them were leaders within their respective churches, he said.

He added that the Turkish church relies on foreign leadership because the Turkish government does not allow Christians to set up training programs in order to develop leaders in the country.

In the city in which he served for many years, Izmir, Bruson said that nearly half of all churches there have lost their senior leaders.

Citing a 2018 report from the Turkish Association of Protestant Churches, Brunson said there has also been “a significant increase in public hate speech designed to incite public hatred of Protestants.”

He said even more concerning was the “coupling together of churches and terror organizations in news reports without any evidence of substantiation.”

He blamed the Erdogan government for sewing a deep hatred of Christians in the hearts of Muslim Turks by spreading lies about him and Christians. He said government-fed propaganda has created a tense atmosphere for Christians in Turkey.

Even after his release, Brunson said that lies are still being spread about him in Turkey. He was accused of being a spy and even working on behalf of the CIA in an effort to overthrow the Turkish government.

“The foreign minister still refers to me in public as a spy and calls me ‘Agent Brunson,’” he said. “After the State Department report on religious freedom was published recently, the spokesman insisted that ‘Pastor Brunson was convicted because of his affiliation with terrorism not because of his faith.’ This is simply not true. I know that the Turkish government, especially at the highest levels, knew all along that I was innocent.”

He added that there were accusations in Turkish media that he was the one who gave orders for the New Zealand mosque shootings in March that took the lives of 50 people. Brunson said he was disgusted with such an accusation.

“The government is using the after-coup, the conditions to crackdown on a lot of people. So far, it hasn’t included Christians that much,” Brunson said in response to a question from USCIRF Vice Chair Gayle Manchin. “Like I said, there is a high degree of freedom compared to other places in the Middle East. However, the signs are negative and the storm clouds are gathering.”

“I think there are a number of people in the Turkish church, who as they see a lot of the foreign Christians being expelled from the country, [who] are very concerned about what is going to happen to them,” he added.

Brunson said that his indictment provides an example of how the Erdogan government views Christians.

“My crime was ‘Christianization,’” he stressed. “Acting as, I quote, ‘as an agent of unconventional and psychological warfare under the guise of an evangelical church pastor.’ All of our work was intended to fragment Turkey, they said.”

“Basically, the indictment was associating Christianization with terrorism and presented Christianity as a danger to Turkey’s unit,” he continued. “The senior judge said I was not on trial for missionary activity. But much of the supposed evidence against me as proof of supporting terrorism was our ministry activities.”

Brunson added that Erdogan once said while speaking in the context of his case that “To be a Turk is to be a Muslim.”

“This is the way that they see things often,” he said. “Obviously, Christians are not a threat to the Turkish government in any way. We expect Christians to be good citizens, to pay their taxes, to obey the law. They tend to be very generous and loving people.  But if someone has that mentality that to be a Turk is to be a Muslim, then if one leaves Islam and becomes a Christian, then they will be seen as traitors. This has been one of the problems.”

Despite the increasing social tensions and deportation of foreign pastors, Brunson said he has heard from leaders inside Turkey that curious Muslims in Turkey are coming to Christian churches in search of spiritual answers at a greater rate than before.

Brunson said that there are about 6,000 Protestant converts from Islam in the nation of 83 million people.

“But we do see many more people,” he said. “This is interesting to me as someone who was starting churches in Turkey. Because of the crackdown and the difficult conditions in Turkey right now, more and more people are showing an interest in the Bible and in visiting a church and asking questions about Christianity.”

Brunson told The Christian Post after the hearing that he believes there is a “great spiritual harvest” coming to Turkey in which many people will turn to Jesus. 

“I think that the conditions for people to turn will be difficult conditions,” he said. “We have expected there to be a great move of God but we have expected that it will happen in difficult circumstances. So I think that this government is actually creating a lot of circumstances for many people. Since they are doing this in the name of Islam that many Muslims are saying, ‘Is this is what we want?”

Those “difficult conditions” come in the form of the struggling Turkish economy and the decline in the exchange value of the Turkish lira.

“Many young people, especially, are starting to question. One of the things I taught in Turkey and they used against me in the trial was I said that ‘Turkey will be shaken,’” Brunson explained to CP. “I also think the same thing could happen in the States. God will shake the foundations of the things that we trust in order to get our attention.”

I think that is what is happening now. There are a lot of people who before wouldn’t have spiritual questions,” he continued. “But because of the difficulties they are experiencing and the things they have taken for granted or trusted and given security have been kind of removed, now they are beginning to think about things they wouldn’t have before.”

Many of those who are coming to churches to “seek,” he said, are wanting either a copy of the New Testament or just want to meet a Christian and learn about Jesus.

“We see people dropping in at churches,” he said. “There are many more people coming and asking for information than in the past.”

Reporting by Samuel Smith for The Christian Post

PRAY that God would continue to use Andrew Brunson to share the needs for the prayers and partnerships for Turkey and what God is doing in the Middle East

PRAY that the current Turkey government would not suppress the freedom for all religions as stated in its constitution, especially that of Christians and the churches

PRAY that the nation-wide spiritual awakening would come in Turkey and among its people that they would open their hearts Jesus Christ and His gospel

More at: https://www.christianpost.com/news/muslims-turkey-showing-interest-jesus-erdogans-authoritarian-crackdown-andrew-brunson.html

Another war between the Greek Cypriots and Turkey is looking likely amid rising tensions over drilling rights in the Eastern Mediterranean that is drawing in regional stakeholders Egypt, Israel and Greece. Turkey’s Foreign Minister warned the Greek Cypriots ‘you can’t take the slightest step in the Eastern Mediterranean. If you dare, you will receive the appropriate response.’ He was alluding to Turkey’s 1974 military intervention on the island that has left it divided between the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus recognised solely by Ankara. Turkey’s second drill ship, Yavuz, arrived off the Karpas Peninsula on 9 July. The area was ‘licensed’ by the Turkish Cypriots to the state-owned Turkish Petroleum company, even though under international law they are not authorised to do so. Cyprus called the escalation of drilling ‘Turkey’s repeated violations of Cyprus’s sovereign rights based on the UN Law of the Sea.’ The EU and Russia are calling for restraint and respect of Cyprus’s sovereignty.

Published in Worldwide

By: Richard Pérez-Peña (New York Times, 4/9/2019)

Trying to reverse a stinging setback, Turkey’s ruling party on Tuesday demanded a redo of last week’s election for mayor of Istanbul, the country’s largest city and long a source of power and prestige for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The extraordinary stance came as it became increasingly clear that a days-long recounting of ballots would not change the result that Binali Yildirim, the candidate of Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, known as the A.K.P., had lost to the opposition candidate, EkremImamoglu, in the March 31 election.

Mr. Erdogan’s party had already demanded a recount of spoiled ballots in all of Istanbul and a full recount in some of the city’s districts. When that did not change the result, it called for a recount of the entire Istanbul vote, which the High Election Council refused.

The latest demand now puts the High Election Council squarely on the spot and threatens to precipitate a crisis for both Istanbul and the entire country, becoming the latest test of democratic institutions already groaning under the authoritarian strains of Mr. Erdogan’s 16 years in power.

“I find the chances extremely high that the election board will accept A.K.P.’s request to repeat the elections,’’ said SonerCagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

‘‘Far from being independent, the election board, like other institutions, has fallen under Erdogan’s power, and I would say the board has thus far taken steps to facilitate Erdogan’s each and every next move,’’ he added.

He noted that the council had already allowed a recount of invalid ballots, even though the A.K.P. presented no credible evidence, other than a narrow margin, that there had been irregularities.

That has not stopped the party or the president from alleging that the irregularities were systemic in Istanbul, where the candidates are separated by less than 0.3 percent of almost nine million votes cast.

“We will use the extraordinary appeal grounds and say we want to renew the elections in Istanbul,” Ali Ihsan Yavuz, the deputy head of the party, said at a televised news conference in Ankara, the capital. “Everywhere in Istanbul, organized acts were done. That is why we called it organized irregularity.”

Mr. Erdogan himself has cast doubt on the election and pressed the case for a do-over by citing examples of American elections where the margin was so narrow that the balloting was redone.

“Irregularities are not just a few, almost entirely it is irregular,” he said on Monday of the election in Istanbul, speaking at Ataturk Airport before leaving for a visit to Moscow.

Murat Yetkin, formerly the editor in chief of Hurriyet Daily News, wrote on his blog this week that even those in the president’s circle were divided about how far to push the challenge, with a small, determined group urging the president to “put his weight for renewing Istanbul elections.”

A second, larger group of more experienced politicians have argued to accept the results, because the challenge is actually benefiting Mr. Imamoglu by elevating his stature.

Judging by Mr. Erdogan’s statement this week, the hard-liners may be carrying the day, though it may also be a way for the president ‘‘to manage the trauma,’’ said OzgurUnluhisarcikli, the Ankara director of German Marshall Fund.

‘‘This looks like more to redefine the defeat in Istanbul as if it was actually won but stolen by illegitimate means,’’ said Mr. Unluhisarcikli, who noted that a new election would actually be quite risky for the president as the economy continues to deteriorate.

“I do not believe that Erdogan actually wants to renew the elections,’’ Mr. Unluhisarcikli said. ‘‘The economic realities do not allow this. It would be a huge gamble.’’

The result in Istanbul carries enormous weight, however, and there are clear incentives for the president and his party to fight a loss.

With 15 million people, most of them on the European side of the Bosporus, Istanbul is the most populous city on the Continent and Turkey’s economic capital. It is also Mr. Erdogan’s hometown and has long been a base of support for him.

Just as important, the opposition and some analysts say, the city has become a vital source of wealth in a network of cronyism and nepotism that has benefited from the awarding of municipal contracts and the distribution of city funds to charitable foundations with links to the president’s family.

Even before he has been officially declared the winner, Mr. Imamoglu, who ran for the opposition Republican People’s Party, has vowed to open the books of the city, which Mr. Erdogan and his party have controlled since 2002, to expose long-simmering accusations of corruption.

“The result of this election is clear,’’ Mr. Imamoglu said at a televised news conference on Tuesday, when he repeated his desire to take office and start working immediately. ‘‘The streets accepted the result. You can work hard and win five years later. We have won, admit it.”

Last week, Mr. Imamoglu said that with its continuing challenges to the result of the election, Mr. Erdogan’s party was stalling for time so that it could erase City Hall records from computers before independent auditors could carry out the review he promises.

Such allegations have taken on more weight with voters as the Turkish economy falters, undercutting the president’s long record of nearly unbroken economic growth. Turkey entered recession this year, and the currency, the lira, has continued to slide amid increasing worry by investors and markets.

The opposition party also won a close mayoral election in Ankara, a result that the election council has finalized. The potential loss of Istanbul would place both the country’s political and financial capitals in opposition hands.

Taken together with rest of the results from the March 31 elections, the balloting reflected increasing discontent among voters with Mr. Erdogan, who has concentrated executive powers, carried out a sweeping purge of opponents after a failed 2016 coup, and brought a once-vibrant news media to heel.

The High Election Council must consider the request by Mr. Erdogan’s party for a new election, but the opposition party insisted that the result was legitimate and clear.

“Both legally and conscientiously, there is no obstacle to giving EkremImamoglu his mayoral certificate,” FaikOztrak, the opposition spokesman, said in televised remarks. “Mr. Imamoglu is right now the elected mayor of Istanbul, as he was on the morning of April 1.”

He pointed out that Mr. Erdogan’s A.K.P. party had won many districts in Istanbul as well as other towns across the country, results that were not being challenged.

“So when A.K.P. mayors are elected it is the national will, but when the votes go to Imamoglu, it is dubious,’’ Mr. Oztrak said. ‘‘Even crows laugh at that. They should leave the nation alone.”

Pray for Turkey government

  • We continue to pray that current Turkey government would heed to the final result of March 31 election in Istanbul as well, not calling for new vote.
  • Pray that Turkish people would have the final and decisive voice regarding all political matters and ruling their own country as a democracy.
  • Pray that all peoples in Turkey would find the True and Eternal Hope in Jesus Christ and His Kingdom rather than any earthly government.

More:http://silkwavemission.com/board.php?board=english&command=body&no=1037

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International Prayer Connect write: ‘As worship and prayer have begun to rise across the Middle East, an unprecedented harvest is taking place among Muslim peoples. We hear the same testimony in multiple nations. “As soon as we started the House of Prayer, we saw more salvations, healings and deliverance than ever before.” “We have been doing 50- and 100-hour prayer and worship gatherings in Turkey and north Iraq.” In 2018 many Middle East nations joined our symphony of prayer and worship for 50 hours. From 11 to 13 April, Christians in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Egypt will be praying for five promises that the Lord has been speaking to us over recent years. We invite you to join our intercessions for children/youth revival across the region, for the rebuilding of devastated Syrian cities, for joy and strength for pastors, leaders, and indigenous church planting movements, and for a great harvest among unreached peoples.’

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 01 February 2019 09:27

Spread of sharia law

In some European territories sharia law is applied, challenging human rights. Greek Muslims in Western Thrace use sharia judicial power to rule on disputes concerning inheritance. Muslims can choose between a mufti or Greek courts. In the UK, the ‘Islamic Sharia Council’ is an independent arbitration tribunal issuing private law decisions and able to grant Islamic divorces. These divorces may also be included in a civil procedure. There are believed to be some thirty sharia councils, affiliated to local mosques. In Russia’s Northern Caucasus: family and property matters are usually judged under sharia law under the guise of ‘tradition’. Women and girls are victims of violence and discriminatory practices such as early marriage, abduction for forced marriage, ‘honour’ killings, female genital mutilation and polygamy, despite the provisions of Russian federal law. In Turkey Muslim religious education is compulsory in schools. The government publicly favours a Muslim viewpoint, linking Turkish nationality with Sunni Islam.

Published in Europe
Friday, 25 January 2019 09:19

Widespread persecution of journalists

The risks journalists take when reporting on corruption continue. Ahmed Hussein-Suale, an undercover journalist working on an investigation with the BBC about corruption in Ghana’s football leagues, was shot and killed after a politician called for retribution against him. In Turkey, journalist Pelin Ünker was found guilty of ‘defamation and insult’ and sentenced to thirteen months in jail for her work on the Paradise Papers investigation into offshore tax havens. Turkey has the world’s worst record for jailing journalists - 68 in prison at the end of 2018, all of them facing charges of crimes against the state. Journalists play a vital role in exposing the corrupt and their methods; but they face threats, violence, arrest, and death as a result. Since 2017, over 190 journalists have been incarcerated worldwide for reporting on corruption. See also

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 17 January 2019 21:36

Turkey: Muslim refugees and Christian aid

A Muslim man recently told a Turkish ministry leader, ‘In a few weeks I’m going to go down to the refugee camps. I have a friend who bought a young Syrian girl to be his second wife; I am going to go and pick one for myself.’ The leader replied, ‘I’m very sad that you would want to buy a little girl as a slave and take advantage of these poor people who are just trying to survive.’ It’s too dangerous for most Syrian refugees to return home, even if they have homes to return to after seven years of war. Mothers in refugee camps are grief-stricken when criminals steal and sell their daughters. The refugees are aware that it is Muslims who are buying their daughters, and that Christians are the ones bringing them compassionate aid of food and blankets. Recently a worker was asked by a Muslim refugee, ‘Please pray for us!’

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 11 January 2019 11:12

Turkey: Erdogan and USA clash on Kurds

President Erdogan has snubbed US national security advisor John Bolton, who was visiting the region to discuss the withdrawal of US troops from Syria and future US involvement there. Bolton asked for assurances that Turkey would not harm Kurdish fighters in Syria in future. He held discussions with Turkish officials, but President Erdogan refused to meet him and described his comments as ‘a serious mistake’, adding: ‘We cannot make any concessions. Those involved in a Syrian terror corridor will receive the necessary punishment.’ A commentator said, ‘Everyone is jockeying for position in Syria because the war is winding down. There is concern over the US leaving Turkey in charge.’

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 06 December 2018 23:20

Turkey: Christian persecution

The high degree of Turkey’s religious nationalism places incredible pressure on Christians. The government doesn’t target Christians directly, but its nationalistic bias leaves little room for Christians to preach the gospel, which is considered an opposing message. Converts from Islam face social opposition, and often lead double lives to keep their faith hidden from family and community. If found out, they might be threatened with divorce and loss of inheritance rights, and all Christians face employment discrimination. Pray for Muslim-background converts to minister graciously and wisely to their families, especially if they are labelled and treated as traitors. Pray for evangelist David Byle who was refused re-entry into Turkey to be with his family. He had lived and preached there for 19 years and had experienced increasing harassment. See

Published in Worldwide
Saturday, 01 December 2018 03:38

Turkey – Prayer Requests

Muslim refugee had dream about God, found Him in Spain

Fearing for their lives, Achmed and his family left Syria’s raging civil war and managed to make their way to Madrid, Spain.  Before they left Syria, Achmed had a powerful dream that God told him He wanted to know Him. He couldn’t get the dream out of his mind, but he didn’t fully understand it, so he continued to ponder it in his heart, according to a report by Christian Aid Mission (CAM).

European Union and Spanish authorities sent the family to the province of Cadiz in southwestern Spain, where a Christian ministry was helping to integrate refugees into society.

The ministry proposed putting refugees in apartments rather than camps, with the government subsidizing part of the cost.

Achmed was stunned that Christians would give so much time and effort to total strangers. One day he approached the ministry director, Pablo, with a question: “Why are you helping us in so many ways?” he asked.

“We believe in God, who loves people and wants us to help other people,” Pablo replied. “Jesus Christ came to die for us, and He asks us to die for you.”

His reply prompted even great curiosity about the Christian God, and he asked Pablo to tell him more. They had several more conversations, and soon Achmed began to attend Sunday worship services and some other activities. He began to read the Bible online.

One day he told Pablo, “All I have read, I believe. The only problem I have is God having a child.”

Like many Muslims, he had trouble with the idea of God having a Son. But in spite of that difficulty, he confessed that he couldn’t save himself from the death and eternal punishment that sin brings.

He confessed to Pablo his need for Jesus Christ, put his faith in Him as his Lord and Savior, and was born again.

Then God reminded Achmed of the powerful dream.

“He said that he remembered having a dream in Syria in which God told him He wanted him to know Him, and now he knew what it meant,” Pablo said. “He became a believer three months ago.”

“Thousands of such Muslim refugees are streaming into Spain as other countries of Europe turn them away, and many are coming to Christ every month,” according to the report by CAM.

“The former Muslims face daunting pressures. Achmed’s wife sought to divorce him after he became a Christian, and only after many talks with native missionaries did she and her mother accept Achmed – and Christ.

“Now they also come to church, and God is working in their lives,” the ministry director said.

Pray: that God would continue to reveal Himself with the dreams and visions among refugees, as promised in Joel 2
Pray: that those refugees who came to faith in Jesus Christ would grow spiritually in a local fellowship(church)
Pray: that the local fellowships and churches would be established and planted among those refugee believers.  Send more workers to Your harvest field!

More:http://silkwavemission.com/board.php?board=english&command=body&no=1012

260,000 Syrians returned to ‘Euphrates Shield’ operation area: Turkish defense minister

A total of 260,000 Syrian nationals have returned to a swathe of land in northern Syria where Turkey carried out a cross-border operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Nov. 1.

Turkey launched Euphrates Shield in 2016 to drive away ISIL and YPG militants from its border with Syria. Ankara regards the United States-backed YPG as a terrorist organization due to its ties with the illegal PKK. The operation ended in 2017.

Turkey hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees who fled the conflict in their homeland.

“As a result of the infrastructure work and the security and stability in the region provided by the Turkish Armed Forces, around 260,000 Syrian nationals have returned to the Euphrates Shield Operation area,” Akar told lawmakers at the planning and budget commission in parliament.

The defense minister also touched upon the Manbij deal between Turkey and the U.S., saying that “despite the promises” made for the YPG’s withdrawal from the city, the group was still deployed there.

“The terror group is digging ditches in Manbij as they have done in Afrin,” he said.

The YPG “should know it will be buried in the trenches it has dug,” Akar said.

The Manbij deal focuses on the withdrawal of YPG militants from the city to stabilize the region northeast of the Aleppo province in northern Syria.

Pray: that God would open ways for those 260,000 to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ even after they return to their home.

Pray: that the on-going conflicts between Turkey and PKK and other groups of Kurds would find a peaceful resolution, and ultimately end in peace.

Pray: that the Prince of Peace and His Kingdom would come in power in those areas.

More:http://silkwavemission.com/board.php?board=english&command=body&no=1013

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