Antalya can wait. It can wait four weeks. I'll be there then for an end-of-the-year celebration, soaking in the sun on a beautiful beach somewhere and doing my best not to devastate my skin. Sunscreen, please. Between then and now, I've got plans. Istanbul, another Bursa trip with a good friend, and perhaps an Ankara trip are in the planning stages. While I know I'll miss Bilecik tenderly, I simply can't be here alone for an extended period of time or else I find myself counting dust particles a the nose of dozing dog, or something. It's a cruel paradox.
As many of you may have imagined, the 'Koran Burning' episode made its way to Turkish media sources. For those of you not quite up to speed on the while situation, "pastor" Terry Jones of Florida decided to go through with his planned Koran burning. The event was immediately denounced by President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, enflaming the rage of Afghani townspeople. Several mullahs incited action and when all was said and done, at least 12 UN employees had been murdered.
The rage, the insensitivity, the blindness, the antithetical manifestation of core religious values is depraved, though deserves to be examined. Everyone in this situation is to blame, obviously. From Mr. Jones's rash decision to burn a holy text, to Karzai's zealous denouncement, to the murderous mullahs provocation, to the murders themselves, jeopardizing the already fragile web of humanity in Afghanistan. Admit that after a campaign to rid the country of the Taliban and of al-Qaeda, which tragically resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocents, a residue of senseless violence settles and festers. To see a country torn to pieces destroys, beyond measure, a comprehension of humanity, of goodness, of love. So does an event such as the one we're addressing surprise anyone? It shouldn't, for that would mean we're underestimating the obliterative nature of war. We're failing to understand the grotesque reality out of convenience. If we knew - if we had any modicum of awareness - of what it means to live in a village pummeled by bombs and riddled with gunfire, we may wrap our head around how little it must have taken to spark fury in the hearts of regular townspeople. What happened shouldn't surprise us.
Alas, it frightens me to hear of the sweeping trend of Islamophobia in the US and I hope my year in Turkey will spark some conversations that prevent any lack of tolerance towards Muslims, and more broadly, Islam. I read a powerful article by a friend of mine last night, and it reminded me just how blind and misinformed many people have become, and deliberately so it seems, out of a sense of fear. Jihad is not holy war, he reminds us. Moreover, there is no such thing as a "holy war." In fact, war cannot be labeled "holy" under any circumstance, even when religiously justified. In other words, stop listening to the pundits, or the extremists (including Mr. Jones and Mr. Glenn Beck and, yes, Mr. bin Laden).
The mind is always looking for ways to neatly categorize, and the political rhetoric surrounding Islam in essence defines it for a broad demographic of Americans. It will contribute to an even stronger wave of anti-Islamic sentiment. People listen to politicians, and its hugely irresponsible for them to address topics they know nothing about. An ignorant comment, in such a context, isn't harmless. It's as dangerous as the gun, or the bomb it provokes. That goes for both sides, as the news this week demonstrates.
Stay peaceful.
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