Dear Friends

We want to keep you abreast of some alarming developments over here. Last week I was on my way to Antioch with my parents, our daughter Tirzah and another local believer.

I have been going to coordinate relief efforts in the earthquake zone almost every month for the past two years. This time however the passport police noticed that I had received an N-82 code which means that I am again banned from entering Turkey.

The airport police know me well by now and tried to speak with their superiors about overturning this decision handed down from the capital, but they were unsuccessful. They were very cordial and we enjoyed a good discussion about our faith, and then they put me on the next flight back to Cyprus.

My parents and the rest of the group continued on to Antioch where they participated in the Christmas events and spoke at the church meetings. Naturally the believers in Antioch were very discouraged to hear the news.

Obviously we were also very disappointed to learn of this new ban but also not entirely surprised. Over the past few years a growing number of long-term Christian workers serving in Turkey have been deported for no explicit reason.

Since 2019 over 140 people have been coded and had to leave the country with their families. I was previously deported in 2013 and was able to win my court cases so that since 2016 I have been able to continue visiting Turkey even though I am not allowed to take up residence there.

In 2020 Sarah was also banned, simply for attending a Christian conference of church leaders. So the fact that I was actually allowed to enter Turkey this long and serve in the relief work these past two years was a bit of a surprise.

Needless to say the relief efforts led as they are by local believers will continue. We hope that teams will remain undeterred in their commitment to come and serve the local churches.

What can be done about this?

Several of the workers deported have pursued legal action to remove their ban but had little success. Some took it as far as the Turkish Supreme Court which ruled that the state was entitled to take such action and was not targeting Christians in doing so. Since I had previously pushed my case through the Turkish courts and subsequently had that overturned I am not considering any legal action at this time.

Thankfully, for the time being it seems that our residency here in Turkish North Cyprus has not been affected .However we have had many discussions with leaders across the region and recognize that we need to speak out more on this worrisome development.

Consequently I have been making some videos using my YouTube ministry platform. Videos in Turkish are aimed at letting the Turkish people hear it from the 'horse's mouth'. Being expelled like this may lead some to come to negative conclusions about our ministry so I want to be sure that they hear the truth from me.

Secondly, I have been urged to make some English videos explaining the situation that can be shared with churches and others who might be able to exert some positive pressure on Turkey. Below are the links to these videos. Feel free to share them and most importantly we request your continued prayer for the many affected by these developments.