Bible Society in Turkey staff work hard for bookfair success

Young students show interest in the Bible Society in Turkey’s stall at the Medya Group Bookfair held in Dolmabahce in October 2002. Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: BS Turkey (TUR03DJ-1)

ISTANBUL, Turkey — The last few months of the year are a very busy time for staff at the Bible Society in Turkey, as this is when the country’s most prestigious bookfairs take place. Over the years, the Bible Society has come to regard bookfairs as a very valuable opportunity for making the Scriptures available to people from many different backgrounds, and staff are always looking for innovative ways of gaining the attention of bookfair visitors.

The Medya Group Bookfair, held in Dolmabahçe, Istanbul, between October 5 and 13, gave the Society an opportunity to test several different approaches, including distributing a 2003 calendar with Scripture passages, and showing the Jesus film. The Bible Society was particularly pleased to be allocated an hour to give a presentation about the Bible. Some 45 people came to watch a video about the production of the new Turkish Bible and to listen to the Bible Society’s Distribution Officer Behnan Konutgan talk about this translation and about the Bible in general.

Some people asked challenging questions, but overall the response was very positive and it was a valuable opportunity to talk openly about the Bible. “Again many people had the opportunity to hear the Word of God,” Mr Konutgan reports, and over the course of the whole bookfair a total of 98 complete Bibles, 1,780 New Testaments, 1,600 Portions, 6,000 Selections and 134 videos, audio cassettes and CDs were distributed.

This bookfair was followed very quickly by the 21st Tüyap Bookfair, which took place at a new congress centre in Beylikdüzü, near Istanbul, between October 26 and November 3. This event attracted an unexpectedly large number of visitors, given its new location outside the city, and was also the subject of considerable media attention. The Bible Society was one of four Christian organisations represented at the event and relations between these organisations were very positive.

The fair proved to be a “very fruitful time,” according to Mr Konutgan, with many opportunities arising to share God’s Word. Visitors showed particular interest in the Selection about the miracles of Jesus entitled Who Else Could Do It?, and all 26,800 copies that the Bible Society had produced were distributed within the first three days. One man who had received this Selection was so moved by what he read that he later phoned the Bible Society office to ask for assistance in learning more about Jesus.

As at previous bookfairs, however, visitors’ reactions were not always positive (see World Report 367/35). On one occasion, two young men aggressively challenged staff manning the Bible Society stall about a web site which they felt was disseminating “Christian propaganda.” The staff were able to reassure the men that the web site had nothing to do with the Bible Society, and were even able to persuade them to accept a New Testament as a gift.