TURKEY — Tüyap is Turkey’s leading company in the field of trade fairs and exhibitions. The wide range of fairs they hold every year includes major book fairs in Ankara, Antalya, Izmir and Istanbul. The last mentioned is held every October at Tüyap’s own convention centre, the largest of its kind in the country, located under a landmark telecommunications tower on the western outskirts of Istanbul.

International array

The Tüyap Bookfair in October 2005 has the highly topical theme of Turkey in Europe and Europe in Turkey, and some 450 publishing houses and public institutions take part. An international array of writers, artists, scientists, journalists and politicians are on hand to speak, long queues form for their signing sessions and, for the many children who come, there are story readings, theatrical shows and other activities.

At an event of such a size, you might think that the stand mounted by the Bible Society in Turkey would get lost or overlooked amid the glitz on offer from the larger and better-known publishers. Not a bit of it! If anything, the Bible Society counter, run by welcoming members of staff and local volunteers, stands out. After all, in this country where most people hold that ‘To be Turkish is to be Muslim’, it is unusual to have the chance to browse through Christian Scriptures and books; people are clearly more comfortable doing this at a bookfair than they would be in actually entering the Bible Society bookshop. So the Bible Society stand, one of only two mounted by Christian publishers, draws plenty of attention from visitors.

Scouts and Guides

At one stage a party of uniformed Scouts and Guides stop at the stand. Within moments, Tamar, the Executive Secretary, Behnan Konutgan and the others are happily singing a scouts’ campfire song with them across the counter, and all the faces are wreathed in smiles. It is a small gesture, perhaps, but in Turkey’s religious climate, any opportunity to show publicly that Christians are ‘ordinary people’ is invaluable.

Easy reach

At the front of the stand, in easy reach of passers-by, are piles of inexpensive copies of the Turkish New Testament (‘Inçil’), and other books, videos and CDs.

Some visitors hardly give the resources or the helpers a glance, or they mutter a quiet comment to a companion as they pass. Others pause, perhaps uncertainly, and then find the courage to leaf through a New Testament and start chatting to the helpers. Visitors at all the bookfairs are overwhelmingly Muslims so the discussions can be intense, but the Bible Society staff always avoid getting into a debate.

Start looking

They are not here to engage in propaganda or missionary work. Samples and Selections cannot generally be distributed free. The most that can be offered is a little 2006 pocket calendar with the dates of Easter and Christmas highlighted and a Bible verse on the back. Mild though this may seem as an evangelistic tool, for many it is a prompt to start looking at the Bible more closely.

Semir Serkek, who is a distributor with Agapé, helps at the the Bible Society stand during the Bookfair. At one point this friendly and engaging man has a long conversation with two older women. They ask questions and listen while leafing through copies of the Turkish New Testament. It is all new to them. They are Muslims, but willing to hear about the Bible.

Son of God

“Islam is the most recent religion of the major religions,” says one of the women. “It includes all the former Prophets and all the correct teachings – but you do not accept Mohammed, do you?” “Correct,” Semir replies. “For us, Jesus is the final Prophet and the Son of God.”

The women find this difficult to accept; they can see the differences between the Bible and the Koran and they walk away disappointed. They may well have wanted to know more about the Bible, but perhaps dare not come closer to a book that Muslims regard as heretical.

Radical

Behnan Konutgan, the Society’s Bible Translator and Project Coordinator, talks to three young secondary school teachers who stop at the stand. They are visiting Istanbul in order to attend the bookfair and it turns out that they come from the same village where Behnan lived as a child. When he was young, the area was dominated by radical Muslims and in certain parts Christians were not welcome.

Respect

Now, though, there is greater respect between the communities, and Behnan talks warmly to the young men. He tells them about the Bible and what the New Testament means to him. He gives them each a copy of the New Testament and they say that they will read it, but add that they have many questions.