On Turkey, Muslim-Christian relations, terrorism and the reluctance to kill.

I write this from a poor fishing village on the Black Sea, about 120kms from Istanbul. There are 8 street dogs outside on the road but they don’t move for cars. One of those dogs guarded our truck last night. They are not territorial like the city dogs and they don’t bark all night.

The cafe is full of men drinking tea and occasionally playing cards. The summer fishing season has ended yet a few boats go out early in the morning and return at 5pm with meager amounts of small fish. They must be operating at a loss. Perhaps they are subsidised? Perhaps the fishermen just need something to do.

There is no wifi signal here so I will post this at another date.

Two days ago we were in Edirne, not far from the border to Bulgaria and Greece. The Turkish authorities were using the stadium to house many of the refugee but these were moved away from Edirne to, or so they tell me, the bigger cities of Istanbul, Adana and Izmir. Refugees are now no longer to be seen in the city although there are accounts of some of them inside houses of generous people.

On our way out of Edirne we saw a group of about 12 young Syrian refugees walking fast along the railroad tracks. We parked a little ways ahead of them and walked over to the tracks. They all looked about 17 years of age and were quite scared of us but I waved at them and they eventually walked up to us. One of them spoke English and told us they could not stop or even walk slowly since the police were after them. We were able to convince them we had no connections to the police and he told us they were trying to get to Greece. I left the group with 50 TL to buy bread and tea for the group once they arrived at the next town - this came from the funds you have provided at Syrious Love. [thanks]

Near Edirne we found some old brick barns to camp next to. Nice place to camp, until the police moved us on.

We have pulled back to a fishing village on Turkey’s Black Sea, about 120kms from Istanbul. The last few weeks have seen some intense times. We have been moved off by the police on many occasions not just in Turkey but also in Serbia and Hungary. Most times they check all our passports and it takes a long time. The Turkish police were quite friendly to us and took photos of themselves next to our truck.

The Turkish are a friendly people. At the fishing town where we are currently parked up, I have been to the cafe a few times but never able to buy tea because someone always buys it for me. Last night we were given a large bag of fish by the portmaster.Sometimes the subject of Gallipoli comes up and they call me “Anzac”. I remind them that the New Zealanders and Australians fighting here a century ago felt a friendly connection to the Turks that was unexpected and actually caused the English to send many troops away and replace the with new soldiers since they were not motivated to fight the Turks.

In many ways, both New Zealand and Turkey discovered themselves during that war and entered a new era with a new identity after the war.

A few minutes after writing this post, I was reading Dave Andrew’s book "The Jihad of Jesus”, a book that I am reading only in Muslim countries, and he mentions this reluctance to kill in all wars, referencing Dave Grossman’s work “On Killing”:

"A view that is reflected in the shots-per-soldier and the kills-per-shot record- ed in every major war from the American Civil War through to World War I up until World War II. During this period, when it became possible to measure shots fired in combat, research has showed that the vast majority of soldiers—between 75 percent and 95 percent—either did not fire their weapon (even when fired upon) or only fired into the air, refusing to kill the enemy, even when given orders to do so."

Which reminds me of the opposition to helping refugees in case many of them are sleeper terrorists, enjoying a free ride to the West where they can await orders from ISIS to kill. Sure, there a few refugees who were coerced into fighting for ISIS in Syria instead of the other option of instant death, but I don’t see how they could be motivated to serve the people who have destroyed their country, especially after escaping. That sounds more like a weak argument against relocation and settlement designed to induce fear and reduce immigration.

In three of the festivals I spoke at this summer, a team from Christian Peacemakers led discussions entitled “Should we fear Islam”. It was interesting to hear the responses and discover an underlying hesitancy to trust Muslims from among the Christian nations of Germany, Czech Republic and Poland. It was a healthy experience to talk openly about our prejudices and find some resolution. A friend of mine who is a “born again Muslim” and Jesus follower, as well as an ex-terrorist, joined us for these and other discussions and offered some healthy balanced perspective.

Wasn’t the Apostle Paul once a religious terrorist, seeking out followers of the Way to persecute and have them killed? There is hope for everyone.

I recommend Dave’s book, The Jihad of Jesus, even though I don’t think the word “Jihad” will ever gain currency or a positive handling in the Western world. In his excellent and well-thought-out book, Dave outlines the various violent wars undertaken by both Christian and Muslim extremists and, in an attempt to take the plank out of his own [Christian] eye, he describes the Christian atrocities enacted on Muslims and Jews before he deals with those from the Muslims. He also estimates that over the years, Christians have killed more people in the name of religion than have Muslims. Food for thought.

Dave also suggests the “centred set” of thinking [from anthropologist Paul Hiebert - I have blogged about him before] as a better option than the “bounded set” thinking that sees people as in or out and leads to exclusivism.

Its good to be back in Turkey. I hope the friendliness they extend to our nations, and what they extended to the European refugees during WWII, will be applied to the 2 million refugees from Syria, along with the willingness to recognise them as true “refugees” (with work permits and permission to stay) rather than the current status of “guest” that allows them no such privileges.

Also, a friend who sets up microloans for Muslim women just sent me this update infographic on Turkey.