The conquest of Vienna failed, perhaps Berlin will fall?

About three months ago, Turkey’s top Islamic cleric, Professor Mehmet Görmez, introduced a new understanding of the concept of “conquest.” According to Professor Görmez, “In Turkish history there has never been occupation... but there has always been conquest.”

What distinction was Görmez trying to make from taking a foreign land by force? According to Professor Görmez, what the Turks have done throughout history was not “[occupy] lands or destroy cities and castles,” but was simply “the conquest of the heart.” In other words, the Turks had not occupied, for instance, Constantinople, but had merely “conquered the Byzantine hearts” there. How very romantic!

And what was the fancy term the head of the Turkish ulama deemed most appropriate to describe the Turks’ millennia-long westbound journeys? According to Professor Görmez, “One of the two pillars of conquest [of the heart] is to open up minds to Islam and hearts to the Quran.” An interesting view.

What was it when Christian armies took the lands the Turks had taken from Christians? Occupation. What is it when Turks take lands by force? Conquest of the heart. What is the difference? Because when we occupy we do not occupy, we benevolently open up non-Muslim minds to Islam and non-Muslim hearts to the Quran. Very well. But then why did the non-Muslims whose hearts must have been conquered by the Muslim Ottomans remain non-Muslim for centuries and, at the first opportunity, revolt against their benevolent conquerors for freedom?

The conquest of Viennese hearts was once near at hand, but the Viennese missed the great chance to have their hearts conquered. I am sure they will repent forever. Now the Germans have the same great opportunity at their doorstep, and I am sure the ever-rational, wise, intelligent and smart Germans will not repeat the mistake for which the Viennese repent to this day.

According to the findings of the Berlin-based research firm Info GmbH, only 15 percent of the 2.7 million Turks living in Germany feel that Germany is more their home than Turkey. Nearly half of the them (45 percent) plan to move to Turkey, but 78 percent say they want to integrate with German society, although 62 percent said they preferred just being around Turks (up from 40 percent in 2010). Confusing? Yes, like all things Turkish.

Ninety-one percent of German Turks said they believe Turkish-origin children need to learn German at an early age, while 95 percent said it is absolutely necessary for the Turkish community to preserve its Turkish identity. That’s probably called Turkish pragmatism. Meanwhile, only 39 percent of Turks living in Germany think their host nationality is trustworthy. And 87 percent believe that the German society, which they don’t trust, should make a great effort to be considerate of the customs and traditions of Turkish immigrants.

Are Turks considerate of “the other”? Nearly one in every five Turks living in Germany thinks Jews are inferior people, and one in every 10 thinks Christians are inferior people. But more than 90 percent of them consider themselves religious.

The conquest of the heart... And the heart of the matter: According to the same survey, nearly half of Turks say they hope there will be more Muslims than Christians in Germany in the future. The conquest of the heart.

History tells us that the missionary mindset is not specific to Muslims. But it just sounds pathetic if 1.3 million Turks want to make 80 million-plus Germans Muslim, or if a handful of Hindus wanted to make America Hindu, or if a few Christians want to make China Christian.
 
By the way, why do the 6.5 million or so Jews not want to make the 300 million-or-so people of the United States overwhelmingly Jewish?