02.29. Across the mountains

Across the mountains

Turkey is a large country that stretches west across Asia Minor into Europe, and east almost to the Caucasus Mountains. Besides being the native land of the Turks, it is home to about half the world’s Kurds, the largest ethnic group anywhere that does not have its own homeland. The other half of the Kurds live mainly in the countries that border Turkey to the south – Syria, Iraq and Iran. This rugged mountainous region, where the Kurds have lived for more than four thousand years, is loosely referred to as Kurdistan.

Kurds, who are thought to be related to the Medes,¹ have retained their identity in spite of being absorbed into the many empires that spread across their territory. The same is true of Armenians, who now have their own independent nation on Turkey’s eastern border. Whereas Kurds are mostly Muslim, Armenians are mostly Christian, with a tradition that traces their church back to apostolic times. The mountains of Ararat, resting place of Noah’s ark, are in Armenia.²

About half way across Turkey, where the rugged eastern mountains give way to a high uneven plateau, are the Taurus Mountains. In ancient times the only way through these mountains to Syria was through a pass known as the Cilician Gates. This was the route followed by Alexander the Great on his way to Issus in northern Syria,³ where his victory over Persia in 333 BC marked the end of the Persian Empire.

Paul the apostle also used this route, though in the opposite direction. At the beginning of both his second and third missionary journeys, he came from Antioch through the regions of Syria and Cilicia and then moved up to the central plateau. His hometown of Tarsus, on the Mediterranean coastal plain, was the chief city of Cilicia and a famed centre of learning.⁴ 1. Isaiah 13:17; Daniel 5:30-31; Daniel 6:8 2. Genesis 8:4; 2 Kings 19:37 3. At that time Issus, like Antioch and Seleucia, was part of Syria. Today they are all part of Turkey.

4. Acts 15:41; Acts 18:22-23; Acts 21:39

Taurus Mountains, Turkey