Stop the presses! Religious intolerance in (gasp) secular Turkey, heir of the illustrious Ottoman Empire! “Santa Claus statue row in Turkey,” from the BBC, with thanks to Susan:
Residents of the Turkish province of Antalya have held a rally to denounce the removal of a statue of St Nicholas, commonly known as Santa Claus.
Local authorities replaced the statue of the saint holding a Bible with a plastic Santa-Claus.
The statue was a donation from Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has sent a complaint to the Turkish president….
Despite being a predominantly Muslim country, Turkey is proud of its St Nicholas connection.
Is that so? Then what explains this incident?
The Russian artist who sculpted the statue, Gregory Pototsky, reacted angrily to its removal.
“It is not decent to do such things with gifts. There is nothing about religious tolerance here,” he told the Newsru.com web site.
Demre has become a major tourist attraction, with Russians comprising a large part of international holiday-makers in Antalya.