Is there a connection between Santa hatred and the massacre?

They were so fixated on how a Muslim should not celebrate Christmas.

Any outside observer would think that full-bearded old Muslim men were wandering around laughing "ho ho ho" on New Year's and were coming out of mosques in Santa Claus costumes, trying to cheer everybody up...

You would think there was a spree of buying gifts to each other for New Year's even in the most conservative families...

You would think that some of our people, who want to fully live their religion, were forced to eat dried nuts and fruits every New Year's Eve. Seeing all this reaction, you'd think our pious people were bullied into celebrating the New Year...

As a matter of fact, in this country, none of our "haji uncles" were dressed up as Santa and nobody was forcing dried nuts down somebody's throat at gunpoint.

Well, what was the reason for all that fanfare about Muslims not celebrating Christmas? What was trying to be done?

It was quite simple. It was some kind of bullying that could be summarized as "Others, too, will live the way I live," or an imposition that can be summed up as "Now, I rule in this country. Everybody has to live the way I do."

This was the atmosphere intended to be created. And against this atmosphere that was trying to be formed, none of the statesmen came up and said, "Don't be ridiculous, everybody can live the way they wish, what is it to you? Why do you interfere into the lives of others?"

But, despite everything, it is true that the Reina massacre did not occur because of this atmosphere created. Even if such an atmosphere was not created, such a massacre could have taken place. As a matter of fact, in France and Germany, similar massacres took place even though such an atmosphere was out...