(Clearwisdom.net)
I would like to share my experience spreading the Fa with other practitioners in Turkey involving the mainstream media.
Having practiced Falun Dafa cultivation for three years, in April 2004 my family and I returned to Turkey to tell others about the practice. Shortly after we settled in my hometown, the practice sites were being established, and I went to Ankara to meet with journalists to tell them about the persecution.
While on the bus I received a call from a very new practitioner who asked me to buy a national newspaper called The Morning, one of the most read papers in Turkey. She was concerned about an article on the front page about Falun Dafa and the persecution and how Falun Dafa was unfavorably portrayed. She was worried, but I said to her this was great opportunity to clarify the truth, since I was on my way to Ankara. I asked her put the newspaper away and not think about it.
As I understand it, if your righteous thoughts are very strong, you can make things happen the way they need to happen. So I told myself that nobody in my hometown should see this article. I would restrain them from seeing it. I was not afraid of anyone but I did not want any interference from the old forces.
At that time, my sisters and brother were really concerned about me, and a little angry. My brother had actually asked me not to go to their house or see his children. Surely all that was my fault as I was over-zealous and overly emotional when clarifying the truth to them. Anyhow, I was pleased that I was on the bus on my way to the media.
On arriving in Ankara, I met a practitioner and we bought The Morning newspaper. To my surprise, it was a very good article apart from a few words. We immediately went to the head office of the newspaper and told them they had made a terrible mistake in this article and I needed to see the journalist who wrote it. They said he was the London correspondent and that he lived in London. Nevertheless, a few journalists who were listening to us were very interested in Dafa and the persecution and they apologized and promised to contact him to tell him the truth.
When I came back to my hometown I wondered if other practitioners had seen the article, as everybody buys this paper. Yet the practitioner who had phoned me about it said that nobody had seen it. And my brother, who has that paper delivered to the office every day, hadn’t seen it either.
Around that time a reporter from TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) in Mersin, my hometown, came to learn the exercises at the practice site. One day she asked me about the persecution. I explained that the CCP was paranoid about Dafa being spread in China so quickly and that practitioners abide by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, but the CCP practices zero tolerance and spreads fear in people’s hearts and make good people in China do bad things.
After our talk, she immediately arranged several interviews with local radio and TV. She became a practitioner, and to this day she does everything in her power to tell the truth about the persecution. One morning she phoned me excitedly and said, "I can see some circles turning in front of my eyes." At first she thought they were on the computer but then realized they were right there in front of her. Then she said, "Oh, they are changing position and now have made a straight line and are coming closer." I asked her to take a photo, which she did, then all the little Faluns moved towards the big back wall of the Turkish Radio and Television building and formed a huge colorful Falun as big as the wall, which turned a few times and then left the room. We were truly amazed. Falun Dafa is truly amazing!
I then asked her about the journalist in London. The next day she had found his direct e-mail and we wrote him a three-page letter about Falun Dafa. We reminded him that his article was very good, but it portrayed some wrong ideas about Dafa. In a few days he replied and was most touched. We became friends and from then on he wrote many more positive articles about Dafa.
The following year, European practitioners were invited to England to support a rally in London. I travelled to London and he picked me up from the airport. The next day he wrote a story about the rally and the human right abuses in China in the weekly Turkish newspaper called Europe read by many Turks in Europe.
Before this trip to England, one day our reporter practitioner came to the Fa study quite sad. She had learned of a great opportunity to spread the Fa at an International Local Authorities Peace Conference in Cappadocia, in central Turkey – but the date for bookings had closed and the conference started in two days! The conference was to be about investigating local governments who abuse their own people, with mayors from over a hundred countries attending.
I said we should not miss it, we must go, and, with Teacher’s help, nothing could stop us. I set off with two local practitioners, a man and a woman who had only practiced for a few months. They said, "Let's drive there."
We set off in the female practitioner’s very small, old car, and we had to drive through the huge Torus mountains. We studied the Fa and sent righteous thoughts all the time. Our car looked like a little bug trying to climb a big mountain. I think we were the only people in the history of Turkey who were stopped by the police and threatened with a fine for driving too slowly. We promised to drive faster and kept going.
We arrived in Cappadoccia and visited my brother-in-law’s friend who had a great boutique hotel. We couldn’t afford to stay in such an expensive hotel, and the cheaper ones were all booked so we asked if we could get changed in the hotel’s bathroom. As we were thanking the hotel owner, he asked where we were staying. We didn’t want to say “in the car” and said we hadn’t decided. He asked why we were there and we told him about Dafa and the persecution.
He politely said that a big group of people had just cancelled their booking and we are welcome to stay in his hotel. It ended up being very affordable and we taught the exercises to the hotel workers and the manager during our stay. The manager kept lots of flyers at his reception desk.
We quickly drove to the conference but were stopped at the door. The other two practitioners started to send righteous thoughts. I explained to the security people about the persecution and that the purpose of this conference was absolutely related to the human rights abuse in China.
No government has ever persecuted its people for practicing meditation and for their wish to become better people. If they stopped us from going in and telling them about this, then the conference would not serve its purpose. We said we came from miles away and that we did take the risk of not being accepted, but I said I did not think the organizer of a sacred conference like this one could be that heartless.
They were all young, well dressed Turkish men and women. One of them said, "No, they can’t be that heartless." As he was giving us entry passes, some other people wanted to interfere, but it looked like they had lost their voices and could not say anything. He also gave us three invitations for the big dinner party for 600 hundred people among the Fairy Chimneys - a spectacular open air tourist destination in Turkey. Within minutes we thanked him and walked in. Our male practitioner made a speech and clarified the truth.
We had a chance to meet with many human rights committees from around the world as well as Turkish human rights committees, the secretary of the UN, Amnesty International, etc. In addition, nearly 300 mayors from the around the world were there.
At night we went back to the hotel and could not believe our eyes when we were shown our individual rooms. We were planning to sleep in a tiny car, yet here we were in a place that was as beautifully decorated as a palace. We felt like princesses or kings. I remember we had tears in our eyes, not because we were in a nice place, but because our Teacher’s compassion for us was so visible, and we felt him so close to us, even though most of the time we can’t see him. And the surprises didn't stop there.
When we went to the big dinner party, we did not have name cards or seats allocated. An organizer came to check our invitations and said they could only find three seats for us with the guests from the media. We sat down with the major media of the entire nation and all of them eagerly introduced themselves to us, gave us their cards, and asked us why we were there. We told them about Falun Dafa and the persecution. They were touched and advised us all night how to use the media in our favor. They took our flyers and detailed information about the current situation. It was amazing, truly amazing.
After the conference, we slowly drove back home again. When we took the car to the mechanic, he said it had no brakes and something major was broken. When we told him that we had just driven through the Torus mountains, he thought we were joking. Shifu was with us and we did it with Shifu's help. So I was not surprised at all.
Back in Mersin we met a newspaper editor and leader of the all associations in Mersin who supported the rights of people, especially against abusive governments. She initially helped us to spread Dafa and tell about the persecution to the government officials in Mersin and in Ankara. Then she became a Dafa practitioner, a Fa rectification Dafa disciple. She later also arranged for SHOW TV, one of the most prestigious TV channels in Turkey, which also broadcasts to Europe, to be a Shen Yun media sponsor plus two major national newspapers in Turkey.
All through these journeys, the media has cooperated with us and protected us. They pressured the mayor of Ankara after he had listened to the Chinese Embassy and cancelled one of our truth clarification events. Two major newspapers had first page write-ups and invited people in Ankara to the cancelled event and that helped the mayor to make a decision in our favor. The CCP was told not to interfere with us again. It seemed to me as if the Turkish media had become our media. They did exactly what we wanted, all the time.
Recently, I saw on Minghui/Clearwisdom that practitioners in Istanbul are now teaching the exercises on a morning show on a very popular national TV station. This is very encouraging. Also, three weeks ago a comprehensive truth clarification article was published in the oldest and the most intellectual magazine. The Turkish practitioners waste no time. They travel to different cities and go to the media, as we don’t have many practitioners in Turkey, and the mainstream media has been the most effective.
Finally, as I mentioned before, my brother and sister did not want to talk to me initially and were angry with me. Interestingly, whenever I appeared on TV or was interviewed on the radio or in a magazine, Shifu arranged for them to see me or hear my voice. They simply could not get away from me! We clarified the truth to our families through mainstream media.
Recently, my brother started compiling my TV appearances to show to people. A few months ago, he asked me how I was. I said that I was very good, then he asked how my family was and then, softly, he asked, “How is Teacher?” I said, “He is good. Thank you very much for asking."
He said, "Teacher is great!"
Thank you for listening.
