An American mother-of-three has been told she has to leave Turkey, one of the latest incidents in a series of expulsions of Christian expatriates from the country. There are reports stating how 35 Protestant Christian workers were refused entry to Turkey last year.
Joy Subasigüller, originally from Florida, USA, and her Turkish husband Lütfü Subasigüller were married seven years ago. They settled and started a family in Turkey. Lütfü works as a Protestant pastor in Ankara; Joy has been looking after the couple’s three children who were all born in Turkey.
Their settled, peaceful life as a family changed on 5 June when Joy was told by the Turkish migration department to prepare for deportation with apparently no reason given. “This decision makes me very sad, I love Turkey and the Turkish people, I have lived here for ten years, they were the best years of my life.”
For the couple, it is impossible to see how Joy could pose a security threat to the state of Turkey, which seems to be the reason for her deportation. She is a stay-at-home-mother with three children, the youngest an infant who still needs breastfeeding. Also, said her husband, “I am a Turkish citizen and so are my three children”. The couple is challenging the decision in court, in the hope they might find out the real reason for banning Joy from staying in Turkey.
Source: World Watch Monitor
- Pray for God’s powerful intervention to keep their family together, and for their safety.
- Commit the leaders of Turkey to the Lord in prayer, may all government leaders experience a personal revelation of Christ.
- Pray that Christians will thrive in a difficult economic environment.