In the short run ethnic identities may appear quite
natural and self-evident to those bearing and those observing
them, but for those who choose to distance themselves and look
at the longer-term movement of history, such identities ebb and
flow and solidify for but a moment in time. Pagans become
Christians; Christians Muslims; Armenians and Albanians become
Turks; Sunni and Sufi, Turk and Kurd meld often indistinguishably
into each other in the same person. Common deities, common
shrines, common saints, common habits, and common foods all
give tribute to this historical intermeshing of identities.
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