Turkish Speaking Santa?

On Christmas Eve, I was amused to see a Santa Claus speaking Turkish. But then I learned that St Nick was born in Turkey.  Who knew?  Also, apparently most Turks don’t know the difference between Christmas and New Years.  (Of course, people who are well-educated or have traveled a lot will know, but the average person does not.) If you tell a friend that you can’t go out because its Christmas Eve, he may look confused and respond that New Years isn’t for another week.  Contributing additional complexity is the fact that most Christians in Turkey are either Armenian or Eastern Orthodox and thus celebrate Christmas on the 6th and 7th, respectively.  At first I was surprised at how many places I have seen Christmas trees, but here they are considered New Years trees.  People also exchange gifts on New Years.  A traditional gift is red underwear, for luck in one’s love life for the following year.