A Deceit to Die For (61 page)

“I don’t want to bore you with the details. Spanish tolerance wavered over the years with Muslims enjoying greater or less freedom under different rulers and in different parts of the country, but in 1567, Phillip II prohibited Muslim names, Muslim dress, the speaking of Arabic and decreed that the children would be educated by priests. This led to a second rebellion in the Alpujarras Mountains, which was only put down with much difficulty two years later. Eventually, the Spanish decided in 1609 to implement their own ‘Final Solution’, which was to deport roughly three hundred thousand Moriscos. The authorities believed they would never assimilate because in their words, ‘Moriscos were shifty and unreliable, refused to integrate into Spanish society and given to treason.’”

“So much for loving your enemy,” said Gary dryly.

“You mean, so much for the multi-cultural society,” retorted Matt. “I have studied this period as well. I may be a bit fuzzy on the details, but you have to remember that the Spanish fought a seven-hundred-year war to reclaim their country. The Moriscos not only took up arms in open rebellion, they also conspired with the Dutch, the Turks and even the French Huguenots. All of these groups opposed the Catholic Hapsburgs ruling from Spain. In fact, there was even intrigue between the Moriscos and the English under Elizabeth.

“Queen Elizabeth ignored a Papal ban on commerce with the Muslims, sold lead and tin to the Turks for cannons and carried on a brisk trade with Morocco. She also courted the idea of assisting the Moriscos if they rebelled against the Spanish Crown. None of these plans for a general uprising with foreign support ever materialized, but you can hardly blame the Spanish for regarding the Moriscos as a dangerous ‘fifth column,’ ripe for exploitation by foreign powers. The Ottomans were still a dominant world power, and the Moriscos were petitioning them for help. Sounds like a national security threat to me.”

Matt suddenly realized that everyone in the room was looking at Zeki. Matt stopped, obviously assessing the politics in the room.

“My intention is not to offend,” he said. “Nor is it to defend the Catholics.”

“No, what you say is all fact.” replied Zeki. “But, you are right. It is generally truth that offends, not lies.”

Matt continued, “I have a pragmatic view on all of this. It’s simply
realpolitik
. Government is about power and nothing is more powerful than an idea, which is why governments are always afraid of them.”

“If you think this is normal,” Gwyn said, wanting to make Zeki feel more comfortable. “Explain Ottoman tolerance of different faiths in their Empire. They welcomed the Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492. Many of their citizens were Orthodox or Catholic Christians.”

“That works as long as the minority isn’t viewed as a threat,” replied Matt. He turned to Zeki. “Correct me if I’m wrong here, but the Ottoman Empire in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries was to Europe what America is to the world today. Nobody picked a fight with them. They were the superpower of the Western world. Until the 18th century, they never even graced a foreign court with their presence, insisting instead that everyone pay them homage in Istanbul.”

“It’s true,” replied Zeki. “The Ottoman armies were practically invincible.”

“For example,” continued Matt, “In 1571, all of the Christian nations of Europe joined forces to break the stranglehold Islam had on the Mediterranean. At Lepanto, they inflicted a crushing defeat on the Ottoman fleet. It was a time of tremendous celebration. But, when the Sultan asked how long it would take to recover, he was told that the treasury was so rich a better fleet could be built from scratch before the next campaigning season, and it was. In other words, they shrugged off a loss that had required all of the combined forces of Europe to inflict. Yeah, it’s easy to be the bigger guy and show tolerance when you actually are the bigger guy. Spain had not yet developed that same confidence.

“And look what happened to all of that religious tolerance when the Empire went into decline. They had their own ‘Final Solution’ for the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Christians. Over two million of them were liquidated. Those that weren’t massacred or didn’t die in forced labor camps were often sent on a death march out of the Empire with few surviving. The International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution in 2007 acknowledging the crimes of the Ottoman Empire before and during WWI as genocide. Is this the tolerant Ottoman Empire you were referring to?”

Matt’s tone was steady, almost scholarly, but everyone sensed the underlying aggression.

“It is sad, but true,” replied Zeki. “Tolerance is a function of strength, not philosophy or religion. European powers intervened in the politics of the Middle East for centuries, claiming to protect the Christian populations there. When the European countries became more powerful, they squeezed concessions from the Ottomans. The Turks realized that, in their weakness, a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society was a liability, just as the Spanish had realized centuries earlier. In the end, a program of homogenization was implemented. This was the primary motivation for the cleansing of the Empire. Before WWI, one in every five citizens of the Empire was a Christian. Compare that with today, when less than one percent of the Turkish population is Christian.”

As Zeki spoke, Gwyn could see astonishment spread across Matt’s face like ripples across a pond.

“Tolerance is not the message of institutional religion. Their approach is to preach peace, while preparing for war. I can give you an even more recent example.” Zeki turned to Gwyn. “Did your father ever talk about the ethnic pogrom in Istanbul in 1955?”

“No, I don’t remember anything like that.”

“It began when the house where Atatürk had been born was bombed in Greece. But, the bombing was a false flag terrorist act. The next day the perpetrator, a Turk, was arrested and confessed to the crime. This fact was conveniently never reported in the Turkish newspapers. As a result, mobs incited by the government burned and ransacked almost every single Greek business and church in Istanbul, raped women and forcibly circumcised men. The Greek population of Istanbul has fallen from sixty-five thousand in 1955, to less than four thousand today.”

Matt could hide his astonishment no longer.

“I can’t believe you are saying this.”

“Do you imagine, son, that my nationality or religion prevents me from seeing the truth?” He made no attempt to hide his irritation.

“To be honest, I thought that politics and religion were synonymous in Islam.”

Matt did not look at Gwyn, but he could practically feel the daggers she was almost certainly staring at him. Gary pursed his lips, hung his head to the side and narrowed his eyes like he was thinking of joining the fray, but apparently decided against it as he simply leaned back on the couch. Matt looked at Gilbert. He was drumming his fingers nervously on his knee and staring off blankly into space.
Is he even listening or is he so worried about his family that he had tuned them out?

“I am not bound by the mistakes of others,” replied Zeki. “In my mind, institutionalized religion serves, not God, but the institution. Why more people haven’t seen that is beyond me. In the West, you had your Luther, your Wycliffe, your John Huss. You had the Anabaptists, the Waldenses, the Moravians, the Cathars, the Huguenots. They all opposed the institutionalization of religion, so the Church hunted them down, persecuted them and killed them, but their ideas survived to change the face of Europe and then the Western world. Your Reformation was bloody and some of your reformers, like Calvin, turned out to be almost as cruel as their oppressors, but they prevailed ,and finally, in some limited sense, the words of Jesus, ‘Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s’ were actually put into practice. We, on the other hand, killed our Luthers, we destroyed our Anabaptists, and so we have not yet had our Reformation. But, please don’t be so naive as to think that all of us accept politicized religion.”

The rebuke stung. Matt backpedaled but didn’t back off.

“I apologize for making the assumption. Yet, the lessons of history are indisputable. You mentioned the Cathars, so you might know about the Albigensian Crusade. You probably know that for over twenty years the Catholics systematically massacred the entire sect. At the siege of Beziers they asked the Commander, an abbot, a ‘man of God’, how they were to distinguish the heretic Cathars from the Catholics in the city? He said, ‘Kill them all, the Lord will recognize His own.’ That, sir, is where religion takes a person!”

He looked back at Gwyn, but she was looking at Zeki not him. He could tell that she had developed an emotional bond with her father’s friend, and she was worried about how Zeki would take this. Gary tried to lighten the mood.

“And I thought that idea originated with the Marines. Just goes to show that there is nothing new under the sun.”

“I understand you, son” replied Zeki calmly. “Really, I do.” He looked at Matt for a moment without speaking and then said, “You have a keen mind; it is a shame you don’t use it.”

There wasn’t the slightest hint of condescension. It was spoken with compassion, but this was lost on Matt.

“Excuse me?” he asked, struggling to maintain his composure.

“You don’t believe in God, do you?” he asked.

This was getting too personal for comfort. Gwyn squirmed in her seat and tried to catch Matt’s eye. She desperately wanted him to just let this go, but she knew he wouldn’t. He never backed down.

“No, I don’t suppose I do,” replied Matt.

“And the reason you don’t believe in God,” continued Zeki, “is because of
men
who you
know
do not represent Him. Now, that is bizarre logic, but let’s not banter words. We’re not here to save your soul but Gilbert’s family.”

There was finality in Zeki’s tone of voice. The room breathed a collective sigh of relief and Zeki turned to Gwyn,

“Your friend is quite right about Ottoman tolerance of the infidel. They called the non-Muslims
rayah
, which translated literally means ‘flock’. Why were they called the flock? Because they were for fleecing, that’s why. The Spanish had a similar view of the Moors. It even became a proverb, ‘Whoever has a Moor has gold.’ The conquered Moors in Spain were literally serfs working the land of Spanish nobles. This is
realpolitik
. We Turks like to think of the Ottomans as tolerant, and compared with the Spanish they definitely were, but even at the height of their power, under Süleyman the Magnificent, when they had the least to fear, they did not tolerate ideas that upset the status quo.”

“But there was nothing like the Inquisition in Turkish history, was there?” asked Gwyn.

“Well not exactly. It was a different system. But let me give you an example. During the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, there was an Islamic scholar named Molla Kabiz. We know very little about him. We will never hear his side of the story, but those who sat in judgment on him have given us their version, and from this we can glean certain facts. Apparently, he became convinced that Jesus was spiritually superior to Mohammed, and, surprisingly, he claimed to have reached this conclusion from the Qur’an itself. This idea was obviously unpopular with the ruling Sunni Muslims, especially given that many of their subjects were Christians. The Ottomans claimed that their right to rule was based on the fact that they submitted to the will of Allah as revealed by Mohammed. Anything that undermined this claim was sure to have unpleasant consequences.

“When Kabiz was brought before two of the highest ranking local magistrates, he left them speechless with proofs for his position, both from the Qur’an and the hadith, and they were unable to refute his arguments. This, of course, infuriated them. The fact that they had been unable to silence this nut-case, a man who overturned everything the ruling class believed, was embarrassing to say the least, so they did what governments generally do. They called for his immediate execution. However, the governor who was observing the trial realized that the two magistrates were only venting their anger, and trying to cover
their
shame with
his
blood. Therefore, the governor stopped them from carrying out the sentence and Kabiz was set free.”

“So, at least cooler heads prevailed, and the man was spared,” said Gwyn.

Zeki sighed. “I wish that was the end of the story, but it isn’t. The Sultan was furious when he heard that the man had been let go. He summoned the
Sheikh ul Islam
, the highest religious authority and a new trial was held in which the authorities claimed to have refuted what Molla Kabiz said about Jesus.”