There is often a cost to becoming a Christian when you live in a country where Islam is prevalent. Bayram’s story is a powerful one of God’s redemption, but still family issues persist.

Bayram grew up in Diyarbakir, Turkey in a very Sunni Muslim upbringing. Bayram is of Kurdish descent, a people group located in Iran, Turkey and Syria without their own nation state. Diyarbakir is located in the southeast of Turkey and is primarily Kurdish. 

The Kurdish Hezbollah is a Islamist organization that has been active against the government of Turkey. It’s prevalent in Diyarbakir and the surrounding area with a goal of advocating for the Kurdish people. 

Bayram and his brothers were attracted to Hezbollah at a very young age. Bayram said, "I was interested, even when I was very small, with my bigger brother, I wanted to attend." Hezbollah had set up a training of knowledge, emphasizing deep study of the Quran, and a training to fight. In 1999, the Turkish government captured key leaders of Hezbollah and got information on names of those involved. Bayram’s father was on the list but he avoided capture. Other relatives were taken, and no one knows what happened to them.

In this tense time, Bayram’s brother saw an advertisement in the newspaper asking, "Are you interested in the Gospel.” His brother went with the goal to convert these Christians to be Muslim. However, when he asked questions and looked to tear apart the Christian’s beliefs, they always had an answer. God spoke and Bayram’s brother accepted Christ.

He didn’t tell the family at first, but eventually everyone found out. “That created an earthquake effect on us,” Bayram said, “Especially on our family and relatives. Because we lived in an area all together, all of our neighbors and relatives knew.” Their father worked as a teacher of Islam, and he felt ashamed that his oldest son had become a Christian.

Soon after, Bayram’s older brother went to serve in the military and moved to a different city. Bayram said, “My father would always say to us: look your brother became Christian, that's a big shame for us, don’t be like him, do something that makes people accept us again.” When Bayram was 14, his father took him to the leaders of Hezbollah and told them to treat Bayram as their son.

Christianity was painted as the devil’s religion for Bayram. He learned more about the Quran and started to teach children. He wore the white clothes of Hezbollah and was inspired by the heroic acts of terrorism he was told about. Bayram’s father became proud of him, pushing for him to move into the military part of Hezbollah.

Bayram said, “At the group I told them about my brother. Every once in a while they told me, ‘You have to kill your brother, your brother needs to be killed.’ I felt like: ‘Well yes, but at the same time he is my brother, how can I kill him?’” Around this time his brother came back to Diyarbakir for a visit. Bayram asked why he was a Christian, and after the conversation he wondered how it was possible his brother was brainwashed so thoroughly.

Soon after, 2 of Bayram’s cousins converted to Christianity. The family was again angry and confused. Bayram’s heart started to soften towards Christians at this time.

One day he was riding home with his cousin and they ran out of money for the road back home. He called his friends asking for money to help and no one wanted to. But his cousin called his new friends from church and they helped to pay for a bus ticket. When Bayram and his cousin arrived, his cousin invited him to come to their youth meeting at the church to say thank you.

Bayram said, “Although it was impossible for me to go there in my head, in our culture you have to say thank you if somebody has done something for you. And I said ‘ok, I will go there, thank them, and never come again.’”

He walked in and was welcomed warmly. Everyone clapped and brought him into the group. Bayram said, “I was shocked because I felt to myself: ‘Well, these people know my life, they know that I wanted to kill them, but they're still happy to see me.’”

This meeting was a major turning point for Bayram, he kept attending these youth meetings. He didn’t attend the church because he was worried about being seen. He decided to pull back from Hezbollah, and that was met with major resistance from his friends and family. His father challenged Bayram, saying that he was going to become like his brother. He said: “no I’m not like him.”

For one year Bayram attended Christian meetings in secret. Bayram said, “I became very stressed at that time, because I recognized that the religion that I gave my life to was wrong. I felt like I was sinning, because that was the wrong religion I was going after.” Soon his friends started to move on from him, saying he had changed. 

One night his father confronted him about the change in his life. He hit him in the legs and chest, saying Allah told him to beat him and bring him back. Bayram was forced to go to morning and evening service at the Mosque every day with his father. Bayram said, “I would pray: Allah, I know that you exist; but which God are you? Are you God of Christians, or God of Muslims?”

After several more months, Bayram decided on Jesus. He had done wrong things in the church and behaved poorly at youth meetings, but the Christians there loved him anyway. He was accepted and was being transformed by Christ.

When Bayram’s father found out, he decided he would not feed him anymore. He then divorced from Bayram’s mother, he blamed her for Bayram and his brother becoming a Christian. Bayram and his mother were kicked from the house. They went to Bayram’s uncle’s house, but he kicked Bayram out for being a Christian.

With nowhere else to go, Bayram reached out to his Christian older brother living in a different city. He was brought in and mentored by his brother. Soon Bayram moved back to Diyarbakir and lived in the church. 

He has grown to become a deacon in the church, a key leader within the believers in Diyarbakir. Bayram got married and moved deeper into his faith in Christ. He was very active in helping after the massive earthquakes in Turkey in 2022. 

His younger brother has also given his life to Christ, following Bayram and his older brother’s steps. However, Bayram is still not close with his family. He was recently walking down the street with his wife and saw his father coming down the same side of the sidewalk. When his father saw Bayram he moved to the other side of the road, avoiding his son. 

God is moving in Turkey, creating strong believers and bringing hope to land that needs it. But as God changes people, families are challenged. Some follow their family members to Christ, others resist. But we can take assurance that God is pursuing everyone, and that in Christ Bayram has been given a new family of believers.

If you would like to stay connected to stories of mission across the globe, please sign up for our newsletter. Pray for the ministry in Diyarbakir, that the Lord will break down walls for his kingdom. 

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Luke 12:51-53: Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

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