Turkey thanked for building Buddhist temple in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka

KungaTashi

Turkey thanked for building Buddhist temple in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka
Hurriyet, Dec 29, 2006

Istanbul, Turkey -- Among the 450 homes ordered built by Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a Buddhist region of Sri Lanka hit hard by the tsunami two years ago, a Buddhist temple was also built with Turkish funds.
State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin yesterday recounted his impressions of the work done in Sri Lanka following the tsunami to the Council of Ministers in Ankara.

The minister had recently returned from a ceremony in the region dedicating the new homes to the victims of the tsunami in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Sahin said yesterday, "In particular, the Buddhist temple built by Turkey in Sri Lanka has attracted a lot of interest. In fact, Buddhist monks came to two mosques in Colombo to thank the imams there for Turkey's initiative."

Sahin reported that in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia, gratitude to Turkey for keeping its promises following the tsunami disaster was at an all time high.

Brigid

Wow! What a fabulous story! This makes me very happy.

Palzang

It's also interesting to note that Turkey is one of the main aid providers in Mongolia. They have a very active aid program there. While that may be due in part to the fact that the Kazakhs who live in the Western part of Mongolia are turkic people, they certainly don't limit their aid just to them. It was very heartening to see them pitching in with little fanfare or self-promotion.

Palzang

buddhafoot

I need to find out more about Turkey.

I have this image in my head of "Midnight Express" = Turkey. Which, I'm sure, is not very Right nor very fair. Hell!, one of my music idols lives there - it's gotta be okay!

-bf

Palzang

Yeah, bf, Turkey is a, uh, different kind of place. It's unusual in that while it's a prinicipally Muslim country, the government is staunchly sectarian. That bothers some people, like Osama, but seems OK with most Turks. It does make them more "acceptable" to the European community and probably helped get them into the EU. They're definitely a mixed bag, imho. There's the whole thing of the Armenian genocide, for one thing, and they've also got some Kurdish blood on their hands, so, like most countries, there's bad along with the good. I had friends in the Air Force who were stationed there, and it didn't sound like a fun place to be. Of course, that could be chalked up to Americans living in a very different place than they're used to. On the other hand, as I pointed out, they do a lot of good things with their aid efforts and so forth.

Palzang

Simonthepilgrim

Palzang wrote:

Yeah, bf, Turkey is a, uh, different kind of place. It's unusual in that while it's a prinicipally Muslim country, the government is staunchly sectarian. That bothers some people, like Osama, but seems OK with most Turks. It does make them more "acceptable" to the European community and probably helped get them into the EU. They're definitely a mixed bag, imho. There's the whole thing of the Armenian genocide, for one thing, and they've also got some Kurdish blood on their hands, so, like most countries, there's bad along with the good. I had friends in the Air Force who were stationed there, and it didn't sound like a fun place to be. Of course, that could be chalked up to Americans living in a very different place than they're used to. On the other hand, as I pointed out, they do a lot of good things with their aid efforts and so forth.

Palzang

Turkey isn't in, yet, Palzang. The whole question of human rights continues to bedevil the negotiations. The question of their invasion of Cyprus has not been completely resolved either.

In some ways, Turkey is the country where the political and emotional struggle between West and Mid-East is lived out. Istanbul is the only city in the world that sits on two continents and faces both ways: towards its ancient Roman and Christian empire and East towards its Ottoman and Muslim half-millennium. It is less than 100 years since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and much of the ancient pride is still there in Turkish culture.

I have some reservations about incorporating Turkey into the EU. It already contains four imperial capitals, London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, which lost their empires in the last 150 years. These events have yet to be assimilated and the competing claims already present in the European mix are still apparent. Istanbul has its own agenda and imperatives which it will, quite rightly, pursue. My worry is that adding more to the turmoil will do little to solve anyone's problems. I wonder, too, whether we in Britain and France have yet dealt with lingering animosity from the war as effectively as we have with Germany. Reconciliation? Not sure.

Palzang

So what you're saying is that Darius is still alive and kickin?

Palzang

gerald_ford

Yeah, Turkey does have a mixed record, but I have to admit, I am still happy to see such a nice inter-religious (though Turkey is largely secular) act of compassion. It's one thing to have "dialogues", but a whole other story when people who follow one religion actively help another group rebuild.

Here in the US, I remember the local mosque got targeted by vandals right after Sept. 11th, 2001. It was sad, but after that, a lot more people came and helped guard, repair, and support that same mosque. It was really nice to see.