Feature: Christmas celebration in Turkey increasingly marred by protests, pressure from conservative Muslims

by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Shopping malls in Turkey's big cities usually decorate the shops with Christmas trees to attract customers in December, but the Christmas holiday is increasingly marred by conservative Muslims who argue that celebrating a Christian festival is "contrary to Islamic culture."

In Turkey, a secular country with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, its social media is often flooded with complaints in December by internet users bemoaning that the observance of Christmas and the New Year's eve is "a bad influence" on the country's culture.

To illustrate the pressure from conservative Muslims, the Turkish Department of Religious Affairs has said that celebrating New Year's eve "alienates" Muslims from their culture.

ANTI-CHRISTMAS DEMONSTRATIONS

Every year, young Muslim activists usually stage demonstrations before Christmas in major Turkish cities such as Istanbul and Ankara, holding banners proclaiming "A Muslim does not celebrate Christmas" or "Be a Muslim and celebrate only Muslim feasts."

Last year, in parts of Istanbul, Santa Claus puppets or people dressed in costumes in front of shopping centers representing the symbol of Christmas, were attacked by protesters.

A member of the conservative Saadet (Felicity) party contacted by Xinhua said that the Muslims are "worried about creeping Western influence into Turkish society, corrupting youngsters."

"This is a Muslim country. When young people are watching American shows on TV, they see Christmas trees, presents and all sorts of ways that are not within our tradition," he said on condition of anonymity.

But some secular Turks enjoy the Christmas festival despite the opposition from the conservative Muslims.

One of them is Ihsan Derme, an engineer who took his wife and 7-year-old daughter to visit the Panora shopping mall in Ankara, where a giant decorated Christmas tree is at display.

"Why shouldn't we celebrate, it's fun and children like it a lot. You don't have to believe in a religion to celebrate Christmas. Feeling the festive atmosphere and exchanging presents is something that we do at home. It's a way to improve and tighten family bounds," Derme told Xinhua.

He denounced those who try to incite a "clash of civilizations" by sowing hatred in a country which is historically located in a territory that is home to different civilizations and religions.

BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING

Some devout Muslims also are against the Black Friday promotions launched at many Turkish shops, mocking the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

Three men have provoked a social media debate after attacking a shop worker in Istanbul because her shop was running the Black Friday promotion.

Friday is a day of prayer in Islam and conservative Muslims feel offended by the term "Black" used to describe this promotional stint launched in the 1980's in the U.S.

"You cannot call the Muslim holy day 'Black'," one angry Turkish man shouts in a video who went viral on the Internet.

"It's immoral, it's a disgrace," he said.

Thousands of Turks took to social media this year to condemn the Black Friday bargains, using hashtags such as "Friday is blessed" and denouncing "heretics" who brought the ominous term into use.

Though Turkey is officially a secular state, 99 percent of the population identify themselves as Muslims, the majority of them are either Sunni or Alevi.

Before the creation of the republic in 1923, there was a large population of Christians on the Anatolian peninsula, comprising of Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks.

Today, there are only around 150,000 Christians living in Turkey, the largest number of which is believed to be Armenian Apostolic.

The Christians settled down in Anatolia centuries before Muslim conquered the region.

ANCIENT TURKS DECORATED HOMES WITH PINE TREES

Some of the traditions rejected today by conservative Muslims are in fact Turkish, historians have argued.

Muazzez Ilmiye Cig, a world-renowned specialist of the Sumerian civilization (4.000 B.C in the Mesopotamia region) said that ancient Turks, who were shamans at the time before adopting Islam, used to decorate their homes with pine trees to celebrate the New Year solstice on Dec. 22, the longest day of the year.

Families used to wear new clothes and visit each other or their elders, explained the historian, who claims that this ritual reached Europe in further medial times.

And there is also another good reason to perpetuate this ritual in Turkey.

Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas, who is the symbol of Christmas, lived and died in southern Turkey in the fourth century A.D and researchers just recently claimed to have found his grave under an ancient church near his birthplace of Demre, in Antalya province.

Santa Claus was morphed from the third and fourth-century Asia Minor bishop Saint Nicholas to become the generous figure associated with Christmas.

Nowadays, Turkey's small Christian minority and many Turks still celebrate this ancient tradition in a spirit of cooperation and understanding. The Turkish state has also in the past years renovated many Orthodox and Catholic churches across the country. Enditem