Whitney Pickels

Judging from the official state statistic proclaiming a 99% Muslim majority, few would guess the rich history of religious plurality lingering in this land's recent past. Only 150 years before, Greek Orthodox Christians, Syriac Christians, Jews, and Armenian Christians were living within the Ottoman Empire under the millet system as protected minorities. However, in time the Ottoman Empire would gradually fade from its grandeur of the 16th century into a time where avaricious European powers would take it apart piece by piece, carving out spheres of influence in Ottoman territory. The way in which the so-called "sick man of Europe" was dismembered by these powers would sew the seeds for the catastrophic events that would affect religious minorities during the creation of an ethno-nationalistic state. Beginning with the war of Greek Independence from 1821 to 1829, the Ottoman Empire would watch as its territories were encouraged to rebel by various European powers under the guise of protecting the Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire. In the Balkan Wars that followed, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania would gain independence, while other territories were transferred to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The pattern continued into World War I as Britain encouraged an Arab revolt in the Syrian province, while both Russia and Britain incited the Armenians in the Northeast.

In Turkey, the call to prayer projects from the minarets in the largest city to the tiniest town. The muezzin's amplified voice comes filtering into my dreams at 5 am in my hotel room; it comes through the walls during services at a Greek Orthodox church. Even in Parliament, the call echoed in the hallways while my group visited with the an MP. Five times a day, the call resonates in the shopping district of Beyoglu, where the latest Western styles are sold, and on the beaches in Alanya, overflowing with shameless European sunbathers. The incongruence in some of these images strikes poignantly at the heart of the struggle for identity in the Turkish republic. Among other competing identities, Turkey is caught in between religious and secular forces battling over distinctions in the public realm.