The Old Turks' Revolt - Report Example

OF UNREACHED PEOPLE: TURKS OF TURKEY Part I: The Turks of Turkey Historical BackgroundThe Turks of Turkey originated from Turan, an area that separates the Mongolian Desert from the Caspian Sea. The people made their way to Anatolia, Turkey around the 11th century as conquerors. By the end of the 13th century, the Ottoman Dynasty started ruling over a society that would grow into an enormous kingdom, greater in geographical area than the then vast Roman Empire. The Dynasty also introduced the Caliphate adopted by Islamic fundamentalists. More than twenty states were initially part of the Ottoman Dynasty in the Middle East and North Africa. The area straddled Southern Russia, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. This vast empire lasted until 1923 when Turkey achieved its statehood. Under the Ottoman Empire, the society was tolerant to Christians and Jews; however, they were regarded as inferior to the mainstream Muslim citizens. The Armenians suffered persecution and constant murders as emphasis of this point. After the disintegration of the Empire in the First World War and in the following conflict with Greece, majority of the residual Greek Christians were forced out of western regions of Turkey. Since the early 1920s the contemporary Turkey has turned out to be a materialistic, modern nation that practically exists between the predominant Christian West and the Middle East Muslim world. As such, Turkey is seen as the connection between the Chinese and Mongols (Orient) and the Western Occidental movement. Turks, therefore, are by nature known to have learned to observe a mixture of Christian values of the West and the Muslim values. Researchers have noted that Turks are the only secular society in the modern world with the mainstream populace being Muslim. Therefore, Turkish policies and regulations are premised upon Islamic law, but have been derived from the French and Swiss legal frameworks. Owing to their fairly fine tolerance of Christians, it is likely that Turks can agree to a pivot of Christian missions that could spread to other predominantly Muslim regions1. Location of the Turks Most of the Turks reside in Turkey but significant populations of the community are spread in Europe and other countries in the Middle East. For instance, millions of Turks reside in Germany alone where they are either employed or have attained the German citizenship. Yet others live in North America while some maintain significant presence in contested Northern Cyprus. It is notable that the Aruban Turks reside in a predominantly Western region of Turkey where Christianity reigns supreme. The region also serves as an important tourist attraction which creates rare opportunities for Christian evangelism but might present challenges, particularly if the predominantly Muslim neighborhoods feel threatened. The Turkish Life Turks are generally traditional in their way of life. However, the archetypal Turks have adopted a secularized life since the early 20th century. The new culture is especially practiced in the more liberal urban settings. As such, Turks in towns have adopted the materialistic benefits and the temptations that come with it. The society does witness significant cultural sexism as the female gender is usually seen through the traditional Islamic lens. An estimated four-fifths of Turkish women can read and write as compared with a near excellence in men’s literacy level. Meanwhile, children under 15 years of age constitute an estimated one-quarter of the population. Some of the well-learned Turks living in the country have joined formal employment as doctors, legal counsels, architects, teachers and engineers. These professionals are part of the estimated 60 percent of Turks who are residents of key Turkish cities such as Istanbul. The capital city is home to 20 percent of the country’s 75 million people. Ankara, Adana and Izmir are equally sprawling cities with well-informed residents. Approximately 40 percent of Turks work in the country’s agricultural industry. The populations inhabit the rural villages and depend on natural resources for a living. A number of peasants have adopted a nomadic way of life, moving their flock of sheep from one place to another in search of water and greener pastures. The pastoralists dwell in temporary houses such as tents or small huts, which can support their mode of life. For a number of the Turkish peasants, owning more that the clothes they carry out their duties in; their primitive tools; and their animals is very rare. Turks who specialize in production of crops for export or combine agricultural practices with temporary employment have greater opportunities to accumulate more wealth and even have some surplus to donate to those in need of aid. The peasant members of the society that inhabit the affluent regions which are adjacent to the coastal plains usually live contented lives as the investors. However, Turks who inhabit the salt swamps lead poorer lives2. Family life Turkish men engage in outdoor economic activities while their women yarn fabrics, dry fruits and prepare vegetables and other edibles for their households. The women also take care of the children, and do other domestic chores. The women sometimes join men in the fields in producing crops or in harvesting other natural resources for a living. Children join their parents in the outside duties whenever the children are out of school or in places where there are no schools. Sometimes they ride in ox-drawn carts for transporting the grain produce or help their mothers to make attractive decorations in fabrics. The Turks feed on a diet consisting of bread, milk and related products as well as onions, grape molasses, vegetables, nuts and fruits. The people occasionally eat meats of fish, wild animals or poultry. Wealthier peasants include lamb meat and beef in their weekly diets. Pork is, however, forbidden by Islam and does not make it in the Turkish diet. Apart from the diet, Turkish village social life encompasses picnics and gambling on horse riding competitions, wrestling matches and animal fights. Turks like soccer, which is their most common sport. Children take part in enjoyable games including hide-and-seek and other social sports. The people also like to listen to fairy tales, especially after a hard day’s work. These enjoyable activities are part of recreation which is highly favored by the Turks. As such, men visit coffee houses to discuss politics and or business issues. In general, Turks are polite, gentle individuals who readily welcome visitors into their social community. They also prefer to be patriotic and are never shy when it comes to sharing their nationalistic pride. Although, the mainstream Turks in Turkey can be identified with their dark hair, substantial intermarriages with neighboring communities throughout the 20th century into the current society have blurred the unique physical type. In fact, the previous brown eye quality which was attributable to the Turks is no longer a distinctive feature of members of the society. Turkish Culture Turkish architecture has developed for a long period of time, with its peak being traced to the Ottoman era. Ottoman structural designs were influenced by Islamic designs, Byzantine and Seljuk architecture in the course of their evolution into its current status. Turkish structural designs are also influenced by the cultural values practiced within the Mediterranean region and in the Middle East. Therefore, as Turks developed from their previous religion-based society into a more contemporary nation where the politics and religion are distinct of each other, the people have witnessed a rise in the artistic interactions of the West and the Middle East play out in the country. The culture of the Turks is, therefore, the outcome of attempts to adopt modern ways of life practiced by their Western neighbors, while retaining traditional values of religion and history3. Language The resulting cultural mix is evidenced in the diverse language and music in the Turkish society. Turks use a southern Oghuz tongue of the overarching Turkic language. The language is shared with the Balkans, Cyprus and Meskhetia among other communities. As such, Turkish is the official language used by members of the society in social interactions. Turkish language and literature have undergone tremendous evolution since the founding of the Turkish state in the early 20th century. Mustafa Kemal, the founding father of modern Turkey, is credited for initiating the establishment and dispatch of a reformed language by replacing substituting the archaic Arabic letters with Latin alphabet. The move is viewed as significant step toward integrating the Turkish language with the pro-Western Latin. Part II: A survey of missions work The primary choice of religion practiced by Turks is Islam. As such statistics indicate that over 99 percent of Turks are Sunni Muslims. The remaining less than one percent are mainly made up of Christians and Jewish faithful. According to various research findings Turkish Christians are Assyrians, Armenians, and Greeks, rather than Turks. Jewish Turks include members whose forefathers were Sephardic Jews, but migrated from Spain in 1400s. Regardless, there are a substantial number of Turkish Protestant communities by ethnicity, a majority of whom originated from the predominantly Muslim Turkish roots, rather than from minority communities. The Turks of Turkey believe in one deity whom they refer to as the heavenly Allah. They also believe there is hell for non-believers or those who disobey Allah’s teachings. As such, Turks abhor Christian philosophies and traditions as well. For example, Turks believe that the power to pronounce a curse on wrongdoers by virtue of the “evil eye” is a preserve for men. They consider whoever wears blue beads as cushioned from the curse because it puts off the evil eye from pronouncing a curse in the first place. Another deterrent to the evil eye curse is spittle in a fire along with prayer to Allah. Members of the community also hold the belief that in the event that a woman deliberately smears fish oil on the door frame and a man passes it, he will adore her forever. In contrast, these beliefs have no basis in Christianity where people are treated equally before God, who retains the power to punish wrongdoers4. With these unique cultural beliefs and rich history, Turks are arguably the largest unreached community on the planet. Turks are part of what Apostle Paul focused on in his scriptures, yet the present day cultural practices and uniqueness of the society casts it in spiritual abyss. Turks are a society in which Christians have no voice, judging by past hostilities which have been targeted against them. Some Christians have already been killed by the Mainstream Muslims, while others have been declared outcasts of the mainstream Muslim society for just associating with Christians or spreading the gospel. The persecution of Turkish Christians may be attributed to their insignificant number in the mainly Muslim society. The number of Christians in Turkey is estimated to be less than 10,000 among the more than 70 million Muslims. This is so despite the fact that many centuries ago, churches dotted every part of the vast society. In the advent of Christianity, for instance, the seven holy places where Christians worshipped as mentioned in the Bible were found in the country. Antioch, where the term Christians was used for the first time in reference to the faithful was in the country. So, Turks were initially Christian. But over the years it has turned into a society where Christians have an almost insignificant voice5. Regardless, one of the distinctive cultural values of Turks is that they are a society where the Muslim faithful occasionally go and worship in churches and shrines during special occasions. As such, Christianity and Judaism as well as their spiritual leaders are generally revered by Turks. Whereas extremes may be present in the society as is commonly the case in other spiritual organizations or social movements, it is normally not sanctioned by the relatively peaceful mainstream Turks. Memories of confrontations with Christian elements, and an aspiration to join the mainly Christian Europe while retaining Islamic culture may complicate Christian outright evangelization approaches by current and future missionaries. Islamic extremists among Turks have complicated life for the minority Christian faithful in the society. Cases of violence in the recent past have made any Christian incursions into the country a life and death affair, judging by the brutal killing of Necati Aydin, Tilmann Geske and Ugur Yuksel around 2007. The three were Bible publishers working in Malatya and their killings were arguably said to be a well-planned scheme to blunt Christian missions in the society. While their spouses were treated humanely by national Turks, very little has changed. A substantial number of Turks still view Christians as bizarre; that they are conspirators because of their non-Muslim religious philosophies and practices. As such, Christian missionaries in the country are still facing threats of and actual violence. However, there is a possibility that with more protection from government Turkish pastors and future Christian missions will encounter diminishing resistance among the locals. Present strategies In emphasizing on the significant developments of Christian evangelisms within the society, The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) is making remarkable progress within the aegis of the public St. Paul Cultural Center in the Turkish city of Antalya. The program had been closed due to bureaucratic issues. However, TEAM Missionaries led by James Bultema are of the opinion that the challenges with its operational capacity are already settled and the organization in Antalya is registering tremendous progress each passing day. Yet, whereas the Christian religious organization cites a few challenges with obtaining the required paperwork to support its operations, the government is very supportive of more Christian missions within the society by virtue of the Turkish increasing inclination toward the Christian West. The tide is likely to change in favor of Christians if the missions are championed via the seemingly acceptable avenue of cultural centers, rather than through pure conventional means of evangelization. Many potential converts go to these cultural sessions to meet with their fellow Turks and with the presence of moving gospel teachings, the people are likely to change their religious life and turn to Christ. In addition, with Bible training for the few, strong Christian faithful starting small churches the few followers they have at the start will serve as agents of the conversion into Christianity6. As things stand now, starting a church of less than a dozen people within the Turkish society is the first step towards successful evangelization of the predominantly Muslim society over time. Many evangelization missions within Turkey have registered success in less than two years. Pastor Koc, for example, says he started a church of 10 members who were entirely devoted to God. Within one year and a half, the church has developed into a place of worship for an estimated 20 families. Whereas the pastor says being a Christian in Turkey is challenging as the Muslim majority have developed a negative attitude toward Christianity, individuals with higher levels of literacy, in professional jobs and those who want to develop into a more tolerant society are increasingly treating members of the religion favorably or are actually joining in the mission to receive Christ. But still, Christians are still facing the problem of skewed job market in favor of the dominant Muslims. The lack of adequate resources to train new pastors and other Christian missionaries to convince new believers and even spread the gospel far and wide is still a challenge where the security of the volunteers is not perfectly guaranteed by the government. As such, some Christian missionaries are making audio-visual audio sermons and lessons which if properly spread within the society, will see Christian teachings reaching the far flung areas of Turkey, especially where Turks are keen to join Christianity but are afraid of extremist conservatism forces of mockery, punishment or outright murder. Through such clips, the Turks will evangelize slowly and by the time they come out to profess their religious inclination it will be too late for the forces of conservatism to fight them. Conclusion Generally, Turks have a long, rich cultural history tracing back to the pre-historic years. The society has had its own unique cultural values and practices under the many centuries of Ottoman Empire. Since the early 20th century Turks have increasingly sidled toward the Christian Western societies. However, Islamic conservatism forces seem to have been winning, judging by the disproportionately higher number of Muslims in the society and cases of persecution of Christians and their sympathizers. Regardless, the fact that Turkey featured in the Bible as one of the cradles of Christianity is enough evidence that Turks are likely to convert back to the religion if more concerted efforts are put into action to advance the cause. Bibliography Anderson, H. Gerald. Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. (New York: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999), p.277. Brookman, W.R. Global Scenes of Biblical Injustice: Glimpsing the Poor and Oppressed in Todays World. (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011), pp. 74-111. Haynes, Jeffrey. ‘Politics, identity and religious nationalism in Turkey: from Ataturk to the AKP.’ Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol. 64 no. 3 (2010): pp.312-327. Rubin, Aviad. ‘The status of religion in emergent political regimes: lessons from Turkey and Israel.’ Nations & Nationalism, vol. 19 no.3 (2013): pp.493-512. Rundle, Steven and Steffen, A. Tom. Great Commission Companies: The Emerging Role of Business in Missions. (New York: InterVarsity Press, 2011), p.172. Taspinar, Ömer. ‘The Old Turks Revolt.’ Foreign Affairs, vol. 86 no. 6 (2007): pp.114-130. Read More