Refugees and Border Crossings

Well, we've been busy here in Cyprus for the week of the 4th of July. Sorry for the lack of posts this week. But, we were out and about. In fact we were all over the island. We saw some amazing sites. You probably are wondering about the title of my post. Most people don't associate such words with the peaceful island of Cyprus. There is a history of conflict on this island paradise that you would never notice if you just came for a weekend holiday at one of the plush resorts along the sea in Limassol. This week I got to see first hand some interesting history of the conflict in Cyprus.

We got to see the north this week. It was Sarah's first time since 74 that she's been able to go to the north. Wow! it had some very beautiful spots. I'll try to post some more pictures here. We passed over the border crossing amidst the barbed wire fences and drove through the two major cities. All the city names had been changed and everything was written in Turkish. I'll give a brief summary of the reason Cyprus is divided.

Cyprus is divided into two parts. There is the Turkish north side and the southern Greek side. We, of course we are staying in the South. Before 1974 both Turks and Greeks lived together in relative harmony. Although the two groups have battled for control of the island for centuries, they basically got along ok. Cyprus had only been a nation for a decade or so (receiving their independence from Britain in 1960), when in 1974 a radical political group attempted to overthrow the coalition government (Greek and Turk) in order to merge Cyprus with Greece. The Turks of Cyprus were not happy and asked Turkey to intervene. Turkey immediately attacked from the north and kept this Greek radical group from taking over the entire island. The Turks which had a much stronger army than the Greeks did-easily pushed back the Greeks who were now all fighting together for their lives. In the end the island was divided and there was a mass migration of both Turks from the South and Greeks from the North. This migration was not unlike the great Kashmir migration of Indian Hindus to the south to India and Indian Muslims to the North to Pakistan.

This military conflict left many casualties and thousands of regufuees on both sides The majority of the regugees were Greek from the North. Many of these souls were ministered to by the Yergatians and other ministitries. In fact, there are many believers today that in the throws of despair called out to the Lord for repentance and today are living for Christ. Yesterday I spend time with one of these regugees. Yiannakis is a pastor of a Greek evangelical church today. He came as a refugee to Limassol in 1974 as a high school kid after being a prisoner of the Turks during the war. In the war the soldiers came to his house and arrested he and his father and they were taked as POW's. When the war ended they met the rest of their family which had migrated to Limassol. Sarah's Dad, seeing the need to help out the refugees instituted many relief efforts. In doing this he came in contact with Yiannakis. Eventually Yiannkis came to Christ as a result of the contact he made with Brother Levon's ministry. Later, Yiannkis went to Bob Jones University and trained for the ministry. Today he continues on as a Pastor here in Limassol.

So, what impacted me most about hearing these stories of the refugees? Well, I think it would be the whole idea of being a refugee. Mrs. Souri a friend of Sarah, told us this week that " you never will understand what it is like to be refugee unless you go through it." She told of packing two suitcases and leaving because the Turks were coming to invade and take over her village. She would never see all of the things she had collected for 30 or so years. And then there was the transition to a new home. These thousands of people escape to the south with what they can carry in their hands to new villages. They are refugees, living in places set up for temporary residence and trying to start new lives. Many of these folks were treated poorly by the local people. Even though they were Greeks, there was a bit of a threat. Jobs were scarce and the refugees were now competing for jobs, for homes, etc.

As I comtemplated the plight of the refugee, I thought of the various refugee situations around the world. Of course the Armenians were refugees during their genocide; there was the Jews of the Holocaust. Throughout the world, where there is military conflict there will be refugees which may never return to their land. Can you imagine the Children of Israel and their trek to Babylon. Again, they left with little and began new lives in a strange land. God used many of these refugees for his purpose. I think of Daniel who was used to tell us of many of the details of Christ's coming. God used this time of despair for His glory. So has he done the same in many of the lives of the Cypriot refugees. Our God reigns and will always. He will use whatever we are going through for His Glory.