Turkish delight

Turkey is a secular country. There is freedom of religion. The citizens of Turkey have spoken loud and clear about their desire to keep religion out of politics, with the recent protest of 300 000 on the streets of Ankara. That all said there are still very many religious people in Turkey. The country is far more religious in the east than in the west.
On Sunday a Kiwi expat explained the situation to me. Many people here mix their folk animistic beliefs with Islam, to create a "folk Islam." We have seen this with people wanting to give little decorations to Abigail. Now that we know what they are she is not wearing them anymore. About a third of the population in Izmir are the kind who wear head covering and pray five times a day. I have to admit that we have seen far less of that down here in the tourist district.



Previously I mentioned having a good conversation with a shop owner. So on Sunday I picked up an Injil (a N.T) and gave it to Ibrahim on Monday. He was very happy to receive this gift. I hope he reads it and believes.



Yesterday we had fun picking out Turkish delight in bulk. $3.50 a kilogram, is very cheap. The Turkish delight comes in many different varieties. The only kind we seem to have in Australia is spicy and covered in chocolate. Here it is not covered in chocolate, but in icing sugar and I have not tasted any spicy Turkish delight at all. It is far tastier than the kind you can buy in Australia. Go figure??