The Turkish Peace — Page 25
25 any true sense of the term. A significant majority is wary of Christianity, and yet they continue to spend large sums of money on proselytisation efforts in foreign countries. They do this in the belief that by embracing Christianity, the people of those countries will be salvaged from tyranny and ignorance, rather than necessarily for the salvation of their souls. They proselytise in Islamic countries with even greater zeal because they think that, through this, a large part of the world will move away from barbarity and towards enlightenment. So it is wrong to consider America or other such countries as enemies of Turkey. Rather they are enemies of Islam, not because of the biases of their faith or their ignorance, but due to the false understanding they have of Islam. Despite atrocities in other countries, despite the fact that a civilised white American can on occasions behave inhumanely, despite the fact that Russians can act with great cruelty, they are nonetheless assumed to be followers of belief systems that teach mercy and are morally reformative. Even though they lack in spirituality, these faiths are seen as upholders of humanity and virtue which redeem and elevate the souls of their followers. Hence their own barbarity is deemed to be a momentary lapse. But [as they see it] Islam, God forbid, transforms the