sure he wanted to meet an /mericanrnjournalist, because Americans always sidedrnwith the Turks. He said he had tornthink about it. I mentioned that we werernhaving our problems with Muslims, too,rnthat our attitudes were more complex.rnThe United States had suffered thernTrade Center bombing, and the ReverendrnFarrakhan was meeting with ourrnIvan Saruev, priest to the Pomaks.rnenemies in Libya for some walkingaroundrnmoney for his mosque. Finallyrnhe agreed to meet with me.rnAs a matter of fact, m- contact withrnMuslims had started in my hometown ofrnBaton Rouge. In the 198b’s I attendedrnthe trial of nine Muslims who had comernto teach the “blue-eyed devils” a thing orrntwo, bv blockading part of the city, permanentlyrnmaiming a television journalist,rnand generally destroying that part ofrntown. Probably they had counted on thernBerkeley or Cambridge campus police,rnbut our men in blue had not et been torncrisis management school and did notrnunderstand the routine. All nine of thernbrothers went to prison for a long time.rnSubsequently, I moved to a small universityrntown in Missouri where the wordrn”union” is not much heard of unless it’srnthe teachers’ union, and you can’t orderrna hamburger without mentioning thernword “diversity.” Here I was greeted withrnMuslims demonstrating for AyatollahrnKhomeini while Americans were heldrnhostage in Iran.rnFather Sarue’ had a muscular build,rnlarge hands, and long light-brown hair.rnWe chatted in his modest house in arnworking neighborhood of town, andrndrank tea made from sexeral herbs thatrnhe had gathered himself on his walks inrnthe mountains. I asked him how he wentrnabout his work, right in the middle ofrnMuslim countr’, and how successful hernwas. He said he was reasonably successful,rnconsidering he was a oicc crying outrnin the wilderness. One thing the communistsrnhad done in Bulgaria was educaternall classes, including the Gpsiesrnand the Turks. Because of this, theyrnknew about Bulgarian Christian culture,rnand they knew that the Church had heldrnBulgarians together after they had beenrnmade inferior subjects of the Turks.rnWith this historical background. FatherrnSaruev visits their homes and organizesrnmeetings. One problem is the scarcity ofrnpriests. “We need 12,000 to 14,000rnpriests in Bulgaria and we have onlyrn2,000.” He has converted some men tornthe priesthood and thev ha’C built a newrnchurch, besides the one that yvas next tornhis home.rnI asked how the Muslims were reactingrnto this; he smiled, and said the hodjasrnsay he is Enem’ Number One. For thernmoment he is tolerated. I had heard thatrnTurkey was gi ing help to the BulgarianrnTurks, and asked if this was so. “Absolutely.rnBulgarian TV is ery weak becausernof the signal o’er the mountains,rnand Muslims are helped with their satelliterndishes, which cost around $120 forrnthem. The’ onK’ listen to Turkish TV.”rnBut it is not just Turkish help. Missionariesrnare coming from Saudi Arabia, Iraq,rnIran, and Egpt. “They are trying tornisolate the Christians.” Furthermore,rnTurkey is stopping its policy of lettingrnMuslim Turks freeh’ emigrate there. Atrnfirst I thought he meant t^hat Turkey feltrnit had enough problems without morernpeople, but that was not what was guidingrntheir policy. They wanted to havernstrong Turkish contingents in otherrncountries. Then the drumbeat could beginrnfor “autonomy.” This has alreadyrnhappened across the border in GrecianrnThrace. What this can easily lead to, ofrncourse, is an excuse to “rescue” theirrnbrothers from the oppressors.rnDuring our conersation. FatherrnSaruev mentioned tfiat Valya Balkanskarnhad sung at some of his meetings. Ivornexplained to me that she was perhaps thernmost famous folk singer in Bulgaria andrnhad sung for the state folk group for 30rnears. Ve made arrangements to meetrnher in Smoljan, which was even closer tornthe Greek border. The drive through thernRhodopes was breathtaking, and Ivornstopped several times to take pictures.rnWe stopped for coffee in a small townrnthat looked completely Turkish, as wasrnour coffee. Outside I heard the muezzinrnannounce the call to prayer, but noticedrnthat the men hanging about in the streetrnmade no motion to answer it.rnIn Smolyan, h o pointed out thernmountain that Orpheus reputedly hadrninhabited, an appropriate place for a folkrnsinger to lie near. Valya Balkanskarnlooked to be in her 50’s, and her handsrnshowed she was accustomed to manualrnwork. She said that her retirement fromrnthe state was only 5,000 leva a monthrn(perhaps ten dollars), and she raised arnfew sheep and cattle at her small mountainrnfarm in order to survive. She saidrnshe had converted to Christianity inrnI960. For the second time I heard aboutrnforeign Muslim missionaries. She saidrnthey stood outside the public schoolsrnand handed out Muslim literature. (IncidentalK,rnCarl Sagan had chosen fromrn1,500 submissions a song sung by her tornbe representative of mankind’s strivingsrnafter knowledge to go with Voyager I andrnVoyager 2—it’s called “Delyu thernRebel.”) Other songs that I listened tornlater included the Bulgarian bagpipe,rneerily like that of m’ own Celtic ancestors;rnthe Celts had made it to Bulgaria inrnthe third centur- B.C.rnOn the way back to Sofia, Ivo and Irnstopped at Batak, where in 1876 Muslimrnconverts slaughtered 5,000 Christians.rnToday the skulls and bones can be seenrnin St. Nedelva’s Church. Of course, inrn1986 the Bulgarians were kicking aroundrnthe Pomaks, for example back in Kurdzhali.rnBut that’s another Balkan story.rnThe Christian-Muslim conflict is notrnone that is going to remain remote forrnAmericans, much less for Bulgarians. Alreadyrnvye are seeing this. Unless thererncan be much clarification about the relationshiprnthrough dialogue and politicalrnaction, this conflict yyill be contestedrnby force of arms. Just as the UnitedrnStates should insist on parity and reciprocityrnin our trade with Japan, Christiansrnand Jews must insist on parity andrnreciprocity with Muslims. It’s notrnenough for a Muslim college professor inrnthe United States to point out a messagernof brotherhood in the Koran, whenrn42/CHRONICLESrnrnrn