TURKISH WORLD OUTREACH

Received at the U.S. office of Turkish World Outreach, 30 April 2002: From a brother in Istanbul, whose name is withheld for security.

Dear praying friends,

Since our last update to you there have been some developments concerning our closed schools and other events which impact directly on the work here.

Last Saturday morning the 6 Ankara teachers and the parent who had been charged with offences were summoned to police headquarters. They were informed that an order had come from the Turkish Home Office to deport them. They were instructed to leave their passports, go immediately and purchase single tickets to their home country and bring them back to the police headquarters. The police would then retain passports and tickets until a few hours before the flights, escort them to passport control and see they leave the country. Because the following Monday and Tuesday were public holidays the lawyers were prevented from trying to stop the deportations.

The seriousness of this situation is shown in a number of ways. The parent who was deported had full residence status and her husband is a key figure in many of the major translation projects and other ministries here. (He helps me in my writing projects.) It is illegal to deport a foreigner who has a resident permit without a court order. However in this case an emergency law was implemented which is normally used against terrorists or criminals. The deportation orders came directly from the Home Office which means that there are people there who want to get rid of as many foreign Christians as possible.

So far in Istanbul there have been no more developments. There have been no charges so far against our teachers or any parents. Our building is being watched daily by the police.

We do not feel we can educate the children in homes on a regular basis. This will bring complaints from neighbours and antagonise the authorities. The children will now meet a couple of times a week in various locations and do their homework from material sent by e-mail from the teachers. We hope to finish the term in this way.

We are exploring ways in which we can come under some kind of legal umbrella for September.

In the last 6 weeks, apart from the schools in Ankara and Istanbul being closed the following has happened:

1. Two weeks ago on a Sunday morning as believers were arriving for worship at a small fellowship they were met by a crowd of over 100 demonstrators. They shouted slogans and the leader made a threatening speech. They were from the Nationalist Party which is part of the three-party coalition government at the moment.

2. Members of the church in Antakya (Antioch) have received threats of violence.

3. Two of the leaders from the Turkish fellowship in Antalya received a death threat.

4. The International Fellowship in Antalya has received almost daily visits from the police in the last few months. They run a cafe and bookshop called the St Paul Centre. Police have behaved threateningly and told them to take their sign down.

5. The same church had completed every requirement to buy a derelict old church building next door to their premises. The sale has been stopped at the last moment.

6. The believers in Adana have suffered constant harrassment from the police. The latest demand is that they are not allowed to meet after dark.

7. The leaderof the Izmir International Fellowship, a foreigner, has had his residence permit revoked for no reason.

I have been advised to take a few precautions as follows:

I have been advised to give power of atorney to the lawyer the believers are using. They feel that this is a sensible precaution since I am not only teaching, but teaching Christianity. I have now done this. It will mean that if I am stopped and questioned I don’t need to say anything and immediately telephone the lawyer to speak on my behalf.

I have also been advised to buy a mobile phone. I’ve always resisted this, but now I can see that it is a very useful thing to have.

(My wife) and the children are well. (She) does get anxious on my behalf at times of course. However, we believe we should continue as normally as possible in the circumstances.

Tonight I leave for (another city) to do a weeks teaching. Please pray that all will go well and that (my wife) and the children will be fine while I’m gone.

We are living through a time of pressure. There are people in government and the security services who wish to get rid of us and stop the work. One man, a professor of religion, who appeared on several of the TV discussions and who behaved despicably towards the believers said ” We won’t rest until we dig you out by the roots.” We believe what we are living through is his and others attempts to do just that.

Having said all of the above, churches are growing, more people than ever before are asking about Christ, this is also a time of unprecedented interest in the gospel.

Please continue to pray for us and for this country.

Together for Him,

A brother in Turkey

Added Note from TWO: We have set up a Workers’ Legal Defense Fund to assist expatriate servants of Christ in Turkey whose ministries are in jeopardy at this time. Gifts for this fund are tax-exempt in the U.S. Junction, CO 81504, USA. Please clearly specify that your gift is for “Workers’ Legal Defense,” because we also have a legal fund for churches in Turkey.