WELLSBURG - State Sen. Jack Yost last month found himself following a donkey into a dark coal mine near the Black Sea in Turkey.
"I was scared to death," he said. "There was no electric ... no ventilation ... no safety."
Yost, D-Brooke, and his wife, Chris, visited Turkey May 25 through June 8 as part of a cultural exchange through the Mid-Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations based in Washington, D.C. The Yosts paid their own way to fly to the country, while the Turkish government picked up their expenses on the ground.
Article Photos
West Virginia Sen. Jack Yost, D-Brooke, right, stands with Delegate Ron Walters,
R-Kanawha, left, and Halit Demir, the owner of a coal mine in Turkey that was toured by the two
lawmakers last month.
Photo Provided
The association seeks to advance interaction among American and Turkish people to promote good relationships and business dealings. It focuses on connecting people and businesses in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Maryland and Delaware with those of its member organizations in Turkey.
Representatives from Turkey approached Yost about a potential trip to their country during the regular session of the West Virginia Legislature in Charleston earlier this year. Also accompanying the Yosts on the trip was Delegate Ron Walters, R-Kanawha.
"They really want to demonstrate to the world that they are not part of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban - that they are Muslim, but not terrorists," Yost said of the Turkish.
And they especially want to talk about trade and the coal industry, he added.
Turkey imports about $6 billion in goods from the United States each year, and it does $68 million in trade annually specifically with West Virginia, according to the state Department of Commerce.
Coal from West Virginia is among Turkey's imports, as is mining equipment made in the state.
Yost said he initially canceled his scheduled trip to Turkey following the death of Osama bin Laden in early May, amid fears there could be violent aftermath in the Middle East.
"We met with two people from the group in Morgantown, and they smoothed things over," he noted.
A guard and an interpreter stayed with the Yosts and the Walters during the trip.
The group landed in Istanbul, then went on to visit Izmir and Adawa, both on the Mediterranean sea. They met with business leaders in Kayseri and spoke with government officials in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
But it was in Zonguldak, a coal mining town along the Black Sea near the Russian border, that Yost toured a Turkish coal mine.
Yost said he had been in coal mines three times before - twice in the McElroy Mine in Marshall County and a third time in a coal mine in Logan County, W.Va. But those coal mines had been well-lighted, he noted, and there wasn't a sense of insecurity within them.
Yost acknowledged he was apprehensive before entering the mine in Turkey.
"I asked them if there was ventilation," he said. "They told me there wasn't. There wasn't even a canary."
The group walked about a mile back into the mine, he continued. The donkey assists in the mining process and is used to transport the coal back out of the mine.
"I was glad to get out," Yost said. "I don't know if I would go back, but I felt it was something I had to do."
And Yost's trip into the mine may prove beneficial to West Virginia in the near future.
While still in Turkey, he began work to connect coal importers there with the Tunnel Ridge Mine in Ohio County. The The local mine soon could be exporting its product to the country.
Among those contacted by Yost were Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association; Chris Hamilton, executive director for the WVCA; and officials with the U.S. Consolate General's Office and the U.S. Department of Commerce.