"Like many mid-size Turkish cities, Trabzon has the ingredients for social discontent. Unemployment is high, education is poor, and facilities are few.
Solak suggested the spate of extremist crimes may even be linked to the regional character. �The Black Sea person's cultural characteristics are different. He is more open to heroism, to bullying, to being a daredevil. Children are introduced to guns when they are young."
When there is no industry, when the economy is poor, the young feel they have nothing to lose and they tend toward fanaticism, Solak said."
"All but a tiny minority of Turks are Muslims, and hard-line nationalists view Christianity as an encroaching power, echoing historical animosities in the region that date back to the Crusades. Some condemned Pope Benedict XVI, who angered Muslims over comments about Islam when he visited Turkey in November on a trip that was otherwise viewed as a reasonably successful effort, at least temporarily and in symbolic terms, to unite faiths."
Trabzon's growing culture of violence - Turkish Daily News Feb 09, 2007
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