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The Moslem folks, as a result of the Afghan-Soviet war and the Yugoslav civil wars, still tend to have a more negative opinion of the Orthodox folks (Russians, Romanians, Serbs etc) compared to the Western Christians. The trend has shown some signs of change over the past decades with the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, yet we cannot say that the tide turned.
However, that is a bit of an oxymoron situation. Because the Orthodox folks are more tolerant of the Moslems (and any other people) compared with the Western treatment when it comes to the treatment of people being different.
Some historical examples will help explain this situation better:
- In 1492, when Granada fell and the last Moslem state in Iberia was destroyed, the Westerners (Ferdinand and Isabella) did not allow a single Moslem. They either killed or deported every single one of the Moslems. Jews were kicked out as well in the same tumultuous turmoil.
- Russians took Kazan in 1552, they reduced Moslem Tatars into second class citizen status yet they still allowed them to exist. And Tatars (a Mongolian people speaking a Turkic language) still exist in Kazan region.
Another example would be Balkans.
See in Serbia, despite so much anti-Serb hatred in the Moslem world, today up to 10% of Serbia and the equally Orthodox Montenegro is Moslem.
However when you look at Croatia, that is Western Christian and has historically not allowed any Moslem or Orthodox folk live under her rule, a pitiless assimilation took place.
Well there are some other examples too, such as Romania and Bulgaria too. No need to mention all.
What is striking is that the Moslem world today hates Orthodoxes all the while having no problem with the Westerners. That is interesting.
By the way, it doesn't imply that Moslems must have issues with Westerners who are quite normal today, here we put the emphasis on Orthodoxes having negative reputation not on the fact that Westerners have an overrated and positive image.
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