As an Armenian I must have heard that cry “1.5 million” times and yet it has never lost its piercing anguish. I had to join alongside the Kurds with other Armenians, Greeks, and Syrians yesterday at the White House as President Trump met with Turkish President Talaat Pasha Erdogan.
Why cry out? Doesn’t President Trump know he’s meeting with a despot? Will gathering together bring about any real change? Compelled to go, these sad questions loomed in my heart. Those are irrelevant questions for a believer. The follower of Christ need only resolve: what is God doing? how is He leading my heart, my life? is this emotion within or truly a burdening from the heart of God?
When we are born again and indwelled with the Holy Spirit, the resources of our lives – even brokenness, anguish, and grief – are not wasted but serve the Kingdom of God. It is by design, not ‘coincidence’ that my surviving relatives of the Armenian Genocide testified of Kurds saving lives. It is not coincidence that my grandparents survived Turkish death march into Syria and settled there, living in Der Zor then moving to Aleppo.
A stone memorial in Der Zor, built by my grandfather Antranig Stepanian with a relative and caring Arab man
(My grandfather was a truck driver and, during one of his trips he discovered a massive site of death in Der Zor where thousands of Armenians perished, left unburied. He and others collected as many bones as they could, transporting then on his truck, to be buried at a location upon which a large Armenian Church and memorial were built)
Just this week an Armenian priest and his elderly father were killed by ISIS – they were on their way to Der Zor to repair the memorial honoring those who perished.
Whether the world knows or cares to know, Turkish military is trampling the Kurds, Armenians, Arab and Yazidis in a conquest of ethnic cleansing toward the ultimate goal to revive the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan’s mission to revive Ottoman Empire is not a kept secret. That Erdogan claimed in his meeting with Trump that he would protect Christians and rebuild churches defies reality. The reality is, Christianity in Turkey suffers a bloody downward spiral – from 20-25 percent in 1914 to presently 0.2 percent – near extinction! Erdogan is cited often for his role, such as Turkey Turns on its Christians and Persecution of Christians close to genocide. Pastor Andrew Brunson’s testimony still resounds.
Since Turkey incarcerates more journalists than any country in the world, who there will report governmental oppression, even crimes against humanity?
On the Greyhound bus back to NYC I lamented, “What’s the point and purpose delving into this legacy of suffering? Why go to Washington or anywhere else when rulers of this dark world don’t relent?”
I had shared of myself with Soma from Kurdistan…
“We are cousins” she said as she lovingly hugged me.
Yes I believe in the call to “Speak up” and “Rescue” those in grievous suffering and even facing death, Proverbs 24:11 and 31:8. But our personal call to live out the Scriptures comes from the Holy Spirit within. He opens our eyes, stirs our hearts with a brokenness and love that burdens us to act.
Yes dear Soma, as Armenians and Kurds we are ‘cousins’ but my heart so much more hopes that we would be ‘sisters’ – in Christ. My heart is stirred Lord, for the Kurds. Thank you for bringing me alongside them. Let me join in Your work amongst the Kurds, not that they may finally establish a country of their own but that they may establish a place in Your Kingdom forever. Amen.
