Urfa and the Clash of Civilizations

We based in Urfa when we went toTurkey in December-- please see archives. Despite some odd moments, I think Turkey, and even more, the "Stans" to the northeast, are the best hope for Islam to make it sanely through the next century.



Therefore, Im not sure how to feel about some of the factors in the murder of an Italian priest in Turkey this week. He loved Urfa, annd I found it warmly hospitable (if a bit too alcoholically "dry"-- only soft drinks in the mini- bar, unlike in Ankara and points west). It is a Kurdish town, and thus rather pro- American to start with. Father Santoro loved Urfa, and I could see why .



"Urfa, he said, is every day’s “beginning”. Urfa is God who with an intelligence, power and love greater than our own expressed his plans to us, asking us to be at his service. Urfa is the power of the boundless blessing, joy and fruitfulness that God guarantees. Urfa is the root and compass to know where to go in Turkey and the Middle East."

He was hardly a bigot: "He wanted to open a window that would allow Western and Eastern Churches to exchange gifts, rediscover the sap that flows from the Jewish roots into the Christian tree, encourage a genuine and respectful dialogue between Christianity and Islam, and enable him to bear witness through his life and feelings."

And some fundamentalist teen- aged gang- banger killed him-- not in Urfa, ill grant, but in Trabzon, which was actually more of a Christian city, as far as Turkey goes...