On February 6, a devastating earthquake of 7.8 magnitude hit entire regions between the South-East of Turkey and Northern Syria. According to the most recent reports, the death toll has surpassed 57,000 people. Some 20 million people in Turkey alone were affected by the quake, and a further 9 million people in Syria.

Kahramanmaras (formerly Marash) was the Turkish city closest to the epicentre; nearby Gaziantep (formerly Aintab) was also pummelled by the quake’s potent effects. This is by no means the first time that inhabitants of these communities have faced trauma to an overwhelming degree.

Hamidian massacre

In 1895 and ‘96 the Ottoman empire saw widespread massacres in a pogrom that was brutal beyond belief - no allowances being made for the victims on account of their age or gender. Altogether a staggering 100,000 to 300,000 Armenians Armenians gather in a city prior to deportation. They were murdered outside the city.were slaughtered, primarily by Turkish soldiers and mobs let loose by the authorities. Many Armenian villages were forcibly converted to Islam.

In many cases the massacres turned into indiscriminate anti-Christian pogroms; in Diyarbekir - the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey - up to 25,000 Syriac/Aramaic Christians were killed. A principal purpose of the killings was to enforce Christians to unquestioningly accept Muslim supremacy, and force Armenians to emigrate, thereby decreasing their numbers.

The Armenians who survived were profoundly traumatised by what was happening all around them. In desperate need of comfort and support, they took refuge in churches, seeking for one single consolation to make life bearable; a tangible hope for the future.

Aintab awakening

Wonderfully, and unimaginably, beauty arose from the ashes. One result of the unspeakable physical suffering was a widespread spiritual awakening that began in Aintab, close to the Syrian border. Hearts everywhere began to be broken in contrition before God, and people repented in deep agony, with weeping, public confession of sin and the subsequent deep joy of salvation. Thousands came into a living relationship with Christ.

Hearts everywhere began to be broken in contrition before God, and people repented in deep agony.

The transformation in people’s lives was everywhere to be seen. Suddenly a deep passion for Bible study and prayer took hold of the people. Meetings were held in one house after the other, in small cottages and even in open fields.

Among the thousands of new believers, a small band of bold, untrained evangelists arose, led by one Apraham Hoja. Hoja was described by one who knew him intimately as “a man absolutely dead to self and separated from the world. He was unique, incredibly unique in a thousand and one ways. Of all the men known to me, Apraham Hoja could make without reservation the apostolic claim: ‘I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’” (Gal 2:20).

Hoja and his band of disciples carried a burning passion to witness for Christ, and in the midst of universal sorrow they testified with power and authority of the heart-transforming grace they had experienced through Christ. The number of those who responded to God’s message grew continually. Suddenly, doors of all churches were opened to this small group.

While the authorities were seeking to stamp out Christianity, in fact they were buttressing the very faith they were determined to destroy. Everywhere, young and old, men and women, ministers and congregations were hushed by an incredible silence induced by the conviction of sin.

Mighty visitation

Those broken before God comprised not only ordinary workers such as carpenters, blacksmiths and builders, but also church leaders and others involved in Christian ministry. The singing at gatherings was said to have been inspired by none other than the Spirit of God. No one could recall such heartfelt melodious music being sung in the churches, and it had an extraordinary impact on many hearers.

Every day there was a set of three meetings: The first one from seven to nine in the evening, the second from nine to ten-thirty and the third from ten-thirty to midnight. There was an uncharacteristic freshness in each gathering, with nothing done merely out of habit. There were no special leaders, no polished and persuasive sermons, and no lengthy doctrinal discourses. Nor was there any publicity or promotion whatsoever.

No one could recall such heartfelt melodious music being sung in the churches, and it had an extraordinary impact on many hearers.

People came with a thirst for God and an expectation that His righteousness would become real in their lives. It was said that, “They came into the meetings feeling weak and helpless but went away endowed with new strength. They walked long distances to attend; some even ran”. The sole topic in homes, businesses, marketplaces and schools throughout the city and its environs was God’s miraculous transforming of lives.

Unexpectedly, God’s mighty visitation of grace spilled over from the Christian population to the Turks. Word spread around that many Turks were drawn by this extraordinary power and started attending the meetings. Quite simply, Aintab was mightily overcome by the Spirit of God.

Marash miracle

Seventy miles northwest of Aintab, in Marash, the Holy Spirit was already at work. An American evangelist began a weekly meeting in his spacious home, to which attendance grew steadily, with many people coming to Christ. One day the Holy Spirit worked mightily in their midst. The brothers were so moved that they felt the urge to humble themselves in fasting and prayer. When word arrived of the mighty revival in Aintab, the believers were greatly encouraged. Soon revival showers fell upon the city.

The preaching of the Word, the singing of hymns and fervent prayers under the persuasive power of the Holy Spirit touched hearts and brought many to repentance. One by one, people would stand up, weeping, and expressing the sentiments of their broken and contrite hearts. Attendance kept growing. The meeting place was overcrowded with all kinds of people — men, women, young, old, educated and uneducated, coffee-house ‘regulars’ and people given to alcohol addiction.

One by one, people would stand up, weeping, and expressing the sentiments of their broken and contrite hearts.

Numerous mockers and rabble-rousers came to disrupt the meetings, and even thieves who came to pillage, were each broken by the Holy Spirit, their lives transformed. News of the wonderful outpouring of God’s Spirit in Marash in turn brought great joy and encouragement to believers in Aintab.

Arrival of Fredrik Franson

The arrival in Marash of Fredrik Franson, a Swedish evangelist, augmented and strengthened the spiritual quickening already in progress. Quickly attendance at his meetings increased, and the church would be crowded hours before the set time of the meeting, with people clinging to the doors and sitting on window sills in order to hear Franson’s anointed message. Evangelicals, Armenian Apostolics, Catholics, and those of several other church groups eagerly attended every meeting. Great numbers responded to the Swede’s call for salvation.

The blessing went on—day after day, week after week. When Franson preached, his eyes and his face were literally transfigured. Saints and sinners alike saw none but Christ and him crucified. A second season of spiritual blessing fell on Marash in 1907.

Unutterable horrors

All of this, many believe, helped serve as a degree of preparation for an unprecedented program of genocide against the Armenian population of Turkey and the wider region the following decade. The Ottoman government embarked upon the systematic decimation of its civilian Armenian population, which momentous crime in turn served as a blueprint for Hitler’s plan to annihilate European Jews.

Those Christians who remained in Marash, Aintab and other towns in south-eastern Turkey after the genocide continued to suffer discrimination.

An estimated one million civilians had perished by 1918 – about half the Armenian population of the Ottoman state, while hundreds of thousands had become homeless and stateless refugees. Carnage and suffering were experienced on a monumental scale – yet many across the world to this day know next to nothing about it.

By 1923 virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared. The persecutions continued with varying intensity until 1923 when the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist, being replaced by the Republic of Turkey. Sadly, those Christians who remained in Marash, Aintab and other towns in south-eastern Turkey after the genocide continued to suffer discrimination, and their population remains relatively small today.

Indiscriminate ‘assaults’

Natural disasters, by contrast, are notoriously indiscriminate in nature. The earthquake that struck these same cities in early February 2023 did not target one specific ethnic or religious community, but devastated the entire landmass, permanently affecting the lives of everyone who lived in them, and wiping out the lives of multiple tens of thousands.

Let us keep in prayer the inhabitants of this region, as well as of northern Syria, as they seek to come to terms with the disaster that has overtaken them.