I’m writing this on the final flight leg home at the end of our last week spent in Turkey and the conclusion of this initial relief mission out to the Middle East. Our time in Turkey was rather different than expected. At the beginning of it we prayed that God would close the doors to where He did not want us to labor, and open doors where we should. In the providence of God that is exactly what happened in the coming days. Our initial plan was to go to a certain city in the south, only 30km away from the epicenter of the ISIS battle in Kobane just across the Turkey-Syria border. When we arrived there late at night plans began to change almost hourly with the regional contact there and what followed in the next few days was a mix of confusion, misinformation and danger. We overnighted in a small kurdish city 100 miles north of our original planned destination after being informed we had to go there at the last minute. The next morning we were told there were 200 needy refugee families in the city we would be able to help and minister to. We then met with some local government officials who discouraged us for staying there and said the need was greater in the city of Suruc right on the Syrian border. They insisted doctors and supplies were desperately needed there. So we packed up with our guide and drove the two hours south to the border city.
Once we arrived there and made contact with their doctor team, they were somewhat puzzled and said they didn’t need any help as they had almost 60 doctors on site and more coming to help. Someone them suggested we could help at a local clinic. We arrived at the clinic to find it well stocked with a doctor who said he has a warehouse full of medicine at his disposal to cover at least the next three months of needs. They then took us to meet the local government coordinators for relief goods and said help might be needed there. They met us in front of a giant 20,000 square foot warehouse that had food, blankets, mattresses and other relief goods piled up 15-20ft high in some places. It was enough to easily feed the entire city for some time. Most of the locals were bluntly honest with us. They didn’t really need any help with relief goods, they said they just needed more guns to fight ISIS, which we of course could have nothing to do with supplying! We were told that the donations of goods had all come from the millions of Kurds living in Turkey and Iraq. The Kurdish people do a very good job of organizing and caring for their own people. The 170,00 refugees from Kobane were almost all Kurdish and were almost instantly cared for by their fellow Kurds. The condition and care of these refugees is substantially better than almost anything comparable to what we saw in Iraq, except for the Kurdish refugees in Iraq from Syria there who were taken care of by fellow Kurds as well.
That night we concluded our assessment and while trying to head back to the nearby city we were staying in we drove right into the tail-end of a street riot and into a cloud of tear gas. In front of us was a Turkish military vehicle launching tear gas rounds. They turned their turret on us and for a moment I thought we might get gassed like the BBC news crew van that got hit the other day! God spared us from it though and the vehicle drove on past us. We got out of there only to arrive at our hotel and find the streets there (and our lobby) covered in clouds of tear gas as well! Apparently we arrived on the eve of several ensuing days of violent protests by the Kurds against the Turkish government. The protests were sparked by the situation in Kobane as well as for support of the PKK leader in prison, the PKK being a terrorist group backed by many Kurdish people. Some cities even had gun battles on the streets with many fatalities, some police stations even being attacked and police officers killed. After some prayer and discussion we decided that due to the lack of real need amongst the refugees and the escalating violence in the region, God was closing the door to us for any significant labor in that region. The next day we packed up and started to drive north again. On the way we encountered more tear gas, street riots and police checkpoints, although things calmed down the further north we drove. During these days over 20 people died from the violent protests and riots. A young man with us helping as a translator said this kind of thing had not happened in Turkey in his life time, and that the political rhetoric and violent actions seemed to be pushing the country towards another Turkish-Kurdish civil war. We finished up our time regrouping in Istanbul and most of the team is heading back to their home countries now.
I am humbled by all that God has done in these days. Thank you for your prayers for us out here! It has been unpredictable at times, at other times it has seemed to be one impossible situation after another where we can see God provide in. A summary report will be written up soon after I return and will be sent out. If anything I think we have seen over the past weeks that perhaps God is opening a door for further labors in northern Iraq while closing the door to southern Turkey.
