The Turks get HUGE tourist traffic because it IS safe. We got to see the old Santa Sofia church-turned-mosque. The Turks keep ONE TINY LITTLE CORNER on the ceiling Catholic with a small image.
We LOVED Turkey. My favorite place was "Mary's house" where she stayed when John, in his evangelical journeys, took Mary and they went to "Asia Minor," now Turkey.
Being the mother of Jesus went a long way to converting that area.
The Turks treat Americans well, as long as said-Americans stay in the tourist area. The is NO reason for them to wander away from it either. EVERYTHING a tourist needs (decent restaurants too) are in their tourist area.
We wandered away a bit from the tourist are and met the rest of the folks in Istanbul. At BEST they were uninterested.
The famous (or rather INFAMOUS) Christian Cave Churches and Monasteries in Cappadocia, Turkey, gave us a good sense of the persecutions Christians face in "Asia Minor."
Taking trips out to the countryside is fine if one goes with an official Turkish guide. Freelancers are doomed if they don't speak Turkish.
How does one get around in the countryside without speaking Turkish? (No guides either, lets say you’re a hippie backpacking throughout the country)