My ears perked at the first sound of staccato drumbeats as we waited for dinner in Istanbul last month. The rhythmic chant over a bullhorn moved me to my feet on our last night in Turkey. Our already extremely educational vacation in the Muslim nation where East meets West was about to turn eye-opening. A protest was passing by.
The Middle East was not in turmoil when my wife, Diane, and I planned our trip last year. Istanbul would give us a chance, we thought, to observe a place where Islam is the religion of 99.8 percent of the people. With Turkey’s growing influence in Central Asia and the Middle East, with its so-far successful balance of Islam and secular government and with a dynamic, if developing, economy, we were drawn to learn.
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Greg Johnson’s columns appear on Wednesdays, Fridays and the second Sunday of each month. Read more on his blog at . E-mail him at jgregjohnson@hotmail.com.
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