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Many in Turkey see an urgent need to reform primary and secondary school education to facilitate freedom of religion or belief. This is because aspects of the school system play a role in fuelling a type of nationalism behind intolerant attitudes, violent attacks and possibly even murders experienced by vulnerable groups. Key problems identified by members of various religious communities include compulsory Religious Culture and Knowledge of Ethics (RCKE) school classes, strict limits on exemption from such classes, discrimination against those seeking exemption, and misleading information in textbooks on the History of Turkish Republican Reforms and Atatürkism. An overdue first step would be to implement an October 2007 European Court of Human Rights judgment to legally enable all parents to exempt their children from RCKE classes. Implementing respect for everyone's freedom of religion or belief in school education will contribute to Turkey flourishing as a truly pluralistic democratic society.
Pray: that those who have authority over the educational establishment will be granted wisdom to reform and to remove intolerant attitudes. (Pr.13:14)
Tens of thousands are sleeping in tents or cars. The Turkish Red Crescent has already distributed 13,000 tents but Reuters reported tent shortages, particularly in remote villages. After announcing to the world they did not want help to deal with the earthquake aftermath, Ankara has now accepted Israel’s offer of aid and allowed their Defence Ministry to send a plane carrying 7 mobile homes to quake-devastated areas with more aid to follow. Turkey also agreed to receive relief from
Armenia, but a formal request had not been received by Wednesday, four days after the earthquake struck. Turkey is now prepared to receive relief missions from thirty countries, which earlier had offered assistance but been rejected. These countries include Russia, US, China, Japan, as well as the EU. See: http://news.am/eng/news/79414.html Aslan International, working in Turkey, said ‘The hearts of the whole nation are shaken. Let us grieve with those who have lost everything, we ask you to plead with God for mercy on the nation of Turkey.’
Pray: for all government rescue efforts, for more rescue vehicles and paramedics, doctors to get to Van quickly, for the weather - meteorologists are predicting snow. For those still trapped to be found quickly. In your mercy Lord hear our prayer.
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/call.for.prayer.as.turkey.quake.death.toll.rises/28813.htm
Tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots are preparing a second round of protests against Turkey in early March. There is a growing mood of bitterness among Turkish Cypriots over the way nationalist electioneering in Cyprus and Turkey, along with Ankara's fading enthusiasm for European Union accession, is eroding hopes for a lasting settlement on the divided Mediterranean island. The anti-Ankara protests began January 28, when 40,000 Turkish Cypriots, a sixth of the population, gathered in the divided Cypriot capital of Nicosia. The protests were sparked by austerity measures imposed by Turkey, which provides $700 million in aid every year to the Turkish Cypriot entity, unrecognized internationally and embargoed by the European Union. Many are however expecting a much larger crowd in March, as Cypriots worried about their jobs are joined by those angered by the Turkish Government's heavy-handed reaction to the first protest. Pray: that there would be a period of reconciliation and forgiveness. (Ep.4:31-32)
A large-scale Al Qaeda plot to bomb ‘all the churches in Ankara,’ as well as the Turkish Parliament and U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital, was made public today (Dec.9). According to Compass Direct News (CDN), the 50-page indictment, following the arrest of suspects last July, outlined the militants’ revised ‘jihad’ strategy to begin focusing their attacks against Turkey before waging war against the United States and other countries. Police seized 700 kilos (1,500 pounds) of explosives, along with assault rifles, ammunition, bomb-making instructions and detailed maps of Ankara. Among the CDs, detailed maps, sketches and building diagrams, police also discovered lists of the names and home addresses of Christian clergy and other church workers residing in Ankara. The news took Christian leaders in Ankara by total surprise, according to one Turkish Christian leader in Ankara. ‘No one has had any news about this until now,’ he said.
Pray: for the work of the authorities as they combat the Al Qaeda menace and protect those under threat. (Ps.32:7)
More: http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/turkey/article_124391.html
A Europe-wide initiative to bring students to Christ has be en met with an enthusiastic response. The Fellowship of Evangelists in the Universities of Europe (FEUER) is being led jointly by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) and UCCF: The Christian Unions. FEUER got underway in 2008 and is in the midst of a campaign to hold university missions in 25 major cities in 25 countries in 25 months. Evangelists are giving gospel presentations across the continent under the leadership of Lindsay Brown, International Director of the Lausanne Movement, Richard Cunningham, Director of UCCF, and Martin Haizmann, IFES Europe Regional Secretary. Thousands of students have heard gospel presentations at over 90 missions in UK universities. In the last six months, missions have also been held in Poland, Romania, Armenia and Malta, the latter being joined by the Maltese prime minister.
Pray: for the ongoing success of this initiative. (2Tim.4:5b)
Murat and Amina were in urgent need of assistance when they arrived at an aid warehouse run by Operation Mobilisation (OM) in Bosnia. Amina’s husband was desperately sick and they had no means or money to heat their home. Supplying valuable fuel the OM workers prayed for Amina, her husband and Murat, and left them with some Christian literature to read. As the OM team distributed copies of Scripture on the streets of the town nearby, they often saw Murat. They were even more overjoyed when they heard this man from an Islamic background ask if he could join their Christian prayer meetings. Over the next weeks, Murat became a regular attender at church and made a decision to accept Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. Today he and his new Christian wife lead a Bible study group in their home. Murat can also be found distributing portions of Scripture on Bosnia’s streets.
Pray: for Murat and Amina as they share their new-found faith that others would meet with Jesus. (Pr.7:14)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/the.fire.of.faith.burns.bright.in.bosnia/29329.htm
The Netherlands is learning that establishing red light districts and cannabis-selling coffee shops may not have been a great idea after all. For Paul Schnabel, director of the Social and Cultural Planning Office, a government advisory board, the move reflects a growing view that the tolerance policies have not controlled the ills associated with drugs and prostitution, rather a recasting of Dutch liberalism. The circumstances that led to the tolerance policies have changed in the past decade, as large-scale crime around coffee shops and the legal sex trade became more visible. In particular, the absence of legal means for coffee shops to obtain cannabis has highlighted their association with organized crime. The open-minded instincts that helped foster the policies are also being questioned. And it is not just the far-right opposing these coffee shops. The traditional parties of power on the centre-right, the Christian Democrats and the Liberal VVD, have also moved against the policies they once promoted. Pray: that Netherlands’ politicians arrive at sensible decisions regarding drugs. (Jer. 44:8)
The Cyprus effect is a decision made to obtain financial aid and to prevent the island nation of Cyprus from going bankrupt. Just three weeks into the job, and Nicos Anastasiades, the Cypriot president, is tackling the nation's debt crisis head-on, saying he had no choice but to force savers to forfeit up to 10 per cent of their deposits to avoid a catastrophic banking collapse. Cypriots themselves are furious and they have responded by trying to clear out their accounts. People with savings of less than $130,000 will pay a one off tax of 6.75 per cent. Those with anything more in their accounts will forfeit 9.9 per cent of their savings. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was worth over $24bn in 2011 - and the proposed bailout is more than half that figure. The levies would generate $7,5bn - with depositors being compensated with the equivalent amount of bank shares.
Pray: that the moves by the government will have the desired effect and bring stability to the country.
More: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2013/03/201331862719774592.html
The Swiss Federal Police are worried that Islamic terrorists are using Switzerland as a base. ‘Suspected jihadis continue to use Switzerland as a base to support extremist Islamist groups by placing propaganda and incitement to violence on the web,’ FedPol said in its annual report published on Thursday, newspaper Tribune de Geneve reported. A new specialist department, formed at the beginning of 2011, has been looking into the websites and their operators.
Pray: that all terrorist groups would be exposed and the authorities would be given the power to control them and stop their activities.
The coordinator of a Muslim initiative to promote common ground with Christians says that leaders of the two religions have a duty to protect adherents of the other faith against followers of their own. ‘For both our religions harming religious minorities among us is evil, is absolutely forbidden and is ultimately a rejection of God's love and a crime against God Himself,’ Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad Bin Talal of Jordan said on the opening day of a 1-4 November meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders and scholars in Geneva. Prince Ghazi is the co-ordinator of the ‘Common Word’ initiative, a document released in 2007 by 138 Muslim scholars seeking common ground between Christian and Islamic religious traditions. See Common Word Organizers say it is intended to address issues of common concern and provide guidance for co-operation between Muslims and Christians. Addressing participants, WCC General Secretary the Rev Olav Fykse Tveit said religious leaders need to provide ‘moral leadership’ in their communities. Pray: that the truth as revealed by the Holy Spirit permeates all discussions. (1Cor.2:13)