CHRISTIAN WOMAN’S FAITH ATTACKED IN ISTANBUL AIRPORT

Assyria Times
ews/article.php?storyid=3422
May 19 2010

Returning from a recent trip to Lebanon, Helen Talia, traveling with
her friend Laurice Somo, both from Chicago, approached the security
gates at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport, carrying a host
of religious (Christian) gifts ~ crosses, rosaries in her carry-on
handbag.

"No sooner did I approach the first security attendant, says Talia,
my bag was turned upside down and ridded of all the religious gifts
I had brought back from places of worship I had traveled thousands
of miles in pilgrimage to Lebanon ~ Mar Charbel and Haresa. Needless
to say, the manner in which the procedure was carried out was very
vicious and without any regard to the value that another human places
on his or her spiritual practices.

I gestured to the young woman handling the items to use caution,
but instead, and rather in a sarcastic tone, she stared me in the
eyes and said in the English language, ‘do you have a problem?’ then
proceeded to dump everything in a big garbage dumpster next to her,
without offering me an explanation, then quickly moved me to the next
security station.

In the meantime, the otherwise forbidden [liquid] items, the water,
which I was carrying in my bag, remained untouched and made it through
security. I began to speculate the obvious that the intrusion was
not part of security, but rather a deliberate attack on my faith and
a form of intimidation.

When asked to place a complaint at the second security station,
a female supervisor, proceeded to contact two airport police, both
male, one of whom grabbed me by the left arm while snatching my U.S.

Passport and flight boarding pass out of my right hand. ‘Now, do you
want to place a complaint?’ asked the security supervisor angrily.

This all happened in what seemed to be in the blink of an eye
. . . I noticed the one officer who grabbed my passport quickly made
a photocopy of it, claiming it was necessary in order to document
the complaint, while pretentiously placing a call to a superior who
would handle the claim, one who never made it to the scene.

With only twenty minutes left for my flight to take off to Chicago,
still no visible sign of anyone who was coming to address the issue,
I began to realize that I was being given the run-around. At this
juncture, I concluded my flight, but vowed to follow-up with a story
and a letter to the Turkish Embassy upon returning to the United
States," concludes Talia.

This story is dedicated to the memory of the unborn Assyrian, Armenian
and Pontian and Anatolian Greek children, whose lives were stolen
before birth, and whose mothers were raped while carrying the seed of
life in their holy wombs during the Ottoman Empire, the Young Turks
era and the formation of the Republic of Turkey.

This article calls to the Republic of Turkey to recognize the Genocide
and criminal activities committed against the Assyrians, Armenians,
and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks c. 1870-1930, and to establish
grounds for restitution.

Helen Talia was born in Baghdad and raised in Chicago, where she
currently resides. She is a Certified Public Accountant, a writer
and an activist.