ChuckD
The Gay Lord of Freestyle
A Turkish mayor Monday defended a decision to remove a bronze statue of his town's most famous son, Saint Nicholas, and replace it with a brightly colored model of his modern incarnation, Santa Claus.
The move has been criticized in the Turkish press, which said it risked making Muslim Turkey -- an EU candidate -- look intolerant toward a Christian figure who, among other things, is also Russia's patron saint.
Hurriyet daily said the Russian embassy had made an official complaint, although this could not immediately be confirmed.
Saint Nicholas, a fourth century Christian bishop who lived and worked in what is now the southern Turkish town of Demre, is especially revered by Russia's Orthodox Church. A Russian artist donated the bronze statue of the saint to Demre five years ago.
Mayor Suleyman Topcu said he and the Demre council respected Saint Nicholas and had not acted out of ill will, but said the modern-day commercialized Santa Claus had wider popular appeal.
"The current statue is the best way to introduce Saint Nicholas because the whole world knows this image of him in his red clothes and hat, with his sack of presents and a bell in his hand," Topcu said in a statement faxed to Reuters.
He said the new statue would help draw more Turkish and foreign tourists to the town, near Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey does not celebrate Christmas, but like many other non-Christian countries has embraced the festival's commercial trappings, including Santa Claus.
The old statue of Saint Nicholas, with arms outstretched and one hand holding the Bible, has been re-housed in a local museum from its previous vantage point towering over a town square.
Topcu said visitors would be able to see him better there, and he would be shielded from the weather.
"If we harbored prejudices (against a Christian saint), the municipality would not have chosen Saint Nicholas as its emblem and we would not use this with pride," Topcu said.
Officials in Demre declined to comment on Hurriyet's report that Topcu had offered to restore the statue in its original place if Russia agreed to erect a statue to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, revered founder of the modern Turkish republic.
The legend of Santa Claus, or Noel Baba in Turkish, is said to have started in Demre when Bishop Nicholas gave anonymous gifts to village girls who lacked dowries by dropping bags of coins down their chimneys, thus giving them the chance to marry.
He became the patron saint of Russia, sailors and children.
The move has been criticized in the Turkish press, which said it risked making Muslim Turkey -- an EU candidate -- look intolerant toward a Christian figure who, among other things, is also Russia's patron saint.
Hurriyet daily said the Russian embassy had made an official complaint, although this could not immediately be confirmed.
Saint Nicholas, a fourth century Christian bishop who lived and worked in what is now the southern Turkish town of Demre, is especially revered by Russia's Orthodox Church. A Russian artist donated the bronze statue of the saint to Demre five years ago.
Mayor Suleyman Topcu said he and the Demre council respected Saint Nicholas and had not acted out of ill will, but said the modern-day commercialized Santa Claus had wider popular appeal.
"The current statue is the best way to introduce Saint Nicholas because the whole world knows this image of him in his red clothes and hat, with his sack of presents and a bell in his hand," Topcu said in a statement faxed to Reuters.
He said the new statue would help draw more Turkish and foreign tourists to the town, near Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey does not celebrate Christmas, but like many other non-Christian countries has embraced the festival's commercial trappings, including Santa Claus.
The old statue of Saint Nicholas, with arms outstretched and one hand holding the Bible, has been re-housed in a local museum from its previous vantage point towering over a town square.
Topcu said visitors would be able to see him better there, and he would be shielded from the weather.
"If we harbored prejudices (against a Christian saint), the municipality would not have chosen Saint Nicholas as its emblem and we would not use this with pride," Topcu said.
Officials in Demre declined to comment on Hurriyet's report that Topcu had offered to restore the statue in its original place if Russia agreed to erect a statue to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, revered founder of the modern Turkish republic.
The legend of Santa Claus, or Noel Baba in Turkish, is said to have started in Demre when Bishop Nicholas gave anonymous gifts to village girls who lacked dowries by dropping bags of coins down their chimneys, thus giving them the chance to marry.
He became the patron saint of Russia, sailors and children.