"Eastern premise
By Vincent Boland
Published: December 3 2004 18:03 | Last updated: December 3 2004 18:03
Minarets are our bayonets, Domes are our helmets, Mosques are our barracks, Believers are our soldiers.
-- Mehmet Ziya Gokalp (1876-1924), Turkish poet and nationalist
One day in March 1999, a crowd gathered outside the Fatih mosque near the ancient Ottoman heart of Istanbul. A bus pulled near, and the people in the crowd began to wave and shout. From inside the bus, a man, who was on his way to prison, waved back. The bus stopped and, under guard, the man was allowed outside to attend prayers, then to address the swelling crowd. "I am not saying goodbye," he said. "This is not a farewell. It is a pause between the verses of a song.""
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