The Thirty Eight

Kayseri, or Caesarea for any ancient Romans reading this, is a small city in central Anatolia that has managed to shock the world by being full of religious Muslims and economically successful (sans oil).

From Istanbul it is easy to think of most Anatolian towns as that redneck uncle who lives far away: they are embarrassing but they are family and when they visit, you still feed them because you’re pretty sure it’s illegal not to.

Just a tiny town in the '50s, years of economic boom resulted in rapid economic and technological development in Kayseri, with social change ambling along by comparison. The city has since become a poster-child of Islamic Calvinism: the Muslim version of that famous work-ethic Protestants brag about to themselves during golf games.

There is no doubt that the city is religious, conservative parties consistently win roughly 70 percent of the local vote, and the Western press is just giddy over it. In the West, surprise over an articulate black man is racist (think Biden calling Obama an "articulate, bright, clean and nice-looking" African-American), but its ok to be surprised by devout Muslims that pick entrepreneurialism over high explosives is sound journalism.

Yet, local businesspeople are tired of being asked about Islamic Calvinism (“Please don’t ask us about Islamic Calvinism” is the type of thing they say) and instead prefer to talk about the city’s ancient culture of hard work and resourcefulness. 

The conservatism one does witness in Kayseri is no more than any other small city in the developed West, with faith taking a back seat to prosperity during boom times and citizens clinging to guns or religion when times are bad. You aren't going to find too many "liberal elites" in French or American heartland either.

And Kayseri’s success isn't just economic: Mr. Kayseri 2007, Abdullah Gül (left), went on to the final round to win the Presidency of the Republic.