"I began my first Christmas season in Turkey - a nation which is officially secular but 99% Muslim - I feared that any spirit of the holiday would end at my apartment door. But I was surprised to find a surprising number of signs of Christmas - or at least in Turkey's capital city of Ankara.
The store windows are full of trees and Santas, and signs that say, "Merry Christmas." (In fact, banners and signs saying "Season's Greetings" or Happy Holidays" were few and far between. Fox News hosts Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson, take note: The war on Christmas is in full retreat on this far-off front.) There are no explicitly Christian symbols like mangers or angels, of course - but just about everything short of those. And Turks take a peculiar pride in Saint Nicholas' origins in the village of Patara in southern Turkey.
But perhaps more significantly, acknowledging, if not celebrating, Christmas seemed like a big deal to the Turks themselves. Perhaps this is a sign of Turks' efforts to emulate Europe as they aspire to membership in the European Union. Every Turk I know took steps to wish me a "Happy Christmas." Even a taxicab driver had heard the phrase from a friend, written it down on a note card, and read off a "Meh-Rek-reesmuss" as I departed. It's a small gesture, but appreciated - and a sign that an intolerance for other faiths does not mark every corner of the Islamic world."
Christmas in Turkey - December 29, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper
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