Why You Should Care About What's Happening In Turkey Right Now

Breaking News From the Land of Nicaea

This week’s article will come in two parts. I’ll explain why.

A few years ago, I was visiting friends in Istanbul, Turkey, a remarkable city straddling two continents. Two thirds of the city’s population lives in Europe and the rest in Asia. One day, we drove from the Asian side, through the Eurasian Tunnel, under the Bosphorus Strait, to the European side to visit the Hagia Sophia.

The Hagia Sophia is a church built by Christians in the sixth century and at the time it was the world’s largest interior space. For a thousand years, it was the largest church building in the world. Muslim invaders conquered the area in 1453 and converted the church to a mosque. The Turkish government converted it into a museum in 1935, but in 2020, converted it back to a mosque. As I stood in that cavernous feat of architectural genius, I pondered the centuries of bloodletting in that region.

A Conference in Istanbul to Negotiate Peace

Right now, across the Black Sea, Turkey’s neighbors to the north, Ukraine and Russia, are at war. This week in Istanbul, negotiators from Ukraine and Russia are meeting with representatives of Turkey and the United States to discuss a peaceful end to that bloody and costly war.

It’s an unprovoked and illegal war started by Russia in which Russia repeatedly and intentionally attacks civilians and other non-military targets. If Russia stopped fighting today, there would be peace. If Ukraine stopped fighting today, Ukraine would be obliterated, and so would the evangelical churches of Ukraine. Though the talks are not going well, let’s pray that these peace talks hosted by Turkey yield a lasting and just peace.

Ironically, Turkey is 99% Muslim, largely because Muslims killed a lot of Christians to conquer Constantinople and rename it Istanbul. But Turkey (Asia Minor) was once a vibrant center of Christianity. A two hour drive south from Istanbul takes you to Nicaea (modern Iznik), the site of the Council of Nicaea. Keep driving south and you’ll end up in Ephesus, where the Apostle Paul risked his life to plant a church. He later wrote to that church about the key to real peace in Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, or anywhere else in the world:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. –Ephesians 2:13–17

A Conference In Izmir To Announce Peace

On that road from Istanbul to Ephesus, you’ll drive through the ancient city of Smyrna (modern Izmir). Something happened in Smyrna last week that you won’t hear from the world’s largest news organizations: A conference announcing the peace won for us by the one who “came and preached peace.”

I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow.

Instead of being limited to the 1,291 subscribers of the creatively named “Steve’s Newsletter,” the second half of this week’s article will be viewed by hundreds of thousands all over the world.

Stand by for a special edition of “Steve’s Newsletter” tomorrow that will explain it all!