Yes, I can see now what a great benefactor the Republic of Turkey and in fact the Ottoman Empire have been to humanity. I wonder why then it took a bloody war in 1877 to drive the Turks out of the Balkans. It must have been that the taxes imposed were too low, and the locals wanted to pay more. It must have been the fact that not enough girls were taken to hareems in Turkey, and that not enough boys were demanded for the janczar corps. It must have been the fact that being about 500 years behind the rest of Europe was not enough, the locals wanted to go back to the Stone Age. It was also probably the fact that Turks (like all Muslims) tend to replace local churches with mosques, or even turn them into stables - as was the fact in the Balkans. Yes, everybody was allowed to speak their own language to the extent that the Greeks have never heard of "Turkish coffee", and are even offended if you order one by mistake. Everybody was allowed to keep their religion - perhaps. Why were the Brancoveanu princes beheaded? Well, I may be mistaken on a lot of accounts, but you certainly live in a dream world. The Ottoman Empire was a plague, a monstrosity, that didn't collapse and didn't implode, it had to be removed by bloody wars.

I think the common folks should travel to other countries and meet with people of different cultures, especially the ones portrayed as the enemy. Most ppl want the same things in life- if only the right-wingers would shut the hell up for good, live and let live.

first you insult them, then you spend your holiday in their country- the TBs during Operation Cast Lead were, shall we say- vitriolic- now all is forgotten- holidays are on again... isn't this a bit inconsistent to say the least?