turkish delight
Yeah, I’m still in the Middle East…but the other day I saw snow. Well, I guess depends if you feel comfortable with qualifying Turkey as part of the Middle East, which is actually more complicated than you might think. But still, being in snow made me realize that I was out of the desert and what I remember November feeling like…and also that I did not pack a very heavy coat.
Since last Thursday I’ve been in Turkey, first seeing Istanbul and now writing from Ankara, the capital city. Istanbul is wonderful. I remember even from World History class in high school, thinking that Istanbul would be an amazing place to see, and, well…it is. We toured around some of the really famous places, including Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (do a Google Image search on both and imagine walking through there) and also some traditional Turkish markets, where I did buy a nice assortment of Turkish delight as well as a scarf to try and make up for my light jacket.
I even walked from Europe to Asia one afternoon.
Everything here is just so unique. It seriously feels like Europe all around the city—the way people dress, the advertisements, the old castles covered with ivy, little tea and coffee shops everywhere…and it might sound simple, but just seeing hills covered with trees again makes it feel more familiar. Turkish people love the feeling of being modern…or should I say, Western (the two terms have become almost synonymous here). Its made me wonder if perhaps Turkey’s current bid to join the EU is, at its roots, an attempt to make the jump from just being up and trendy to officially recognized as an integrated part of the Western world. After a couple of days of walking around Istanbul, it’s something that certainly seems to make a lot of sense.
But Turkey is a lot more complicated than that. Just as warming up to Europe looks pretty promising, up pop some of obstacles that remind the Turks that they don’t really fit anywhere. It not only has to do the requirements of the EU—which, in Turkish opinion, continue to change—but the effort to stabilize many of the internal problems. To cite only one example of the complexity, meet Mustafa Kamel (aka Ataturk), the undisputed and nearly worshipped national hero of Turkey, whose monumental gravesite I just visited today. Following WWI, Ataturk took power during a revolution and united the Turkish people from under rubble of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, thanks to his powerful leadership and vision. His reforms began to secularize the government and society of Turkey, which he saw as essential to bringing about the modernization that the Ottomans had utterly failed to jump on. This plan was a pretty comprehensive remodeling project with implications that included a militarily-motivated nationalism and the institutionalization of religious leaders, the combination of which effectively replaced religion with civil religion. Wow, sorry. In other words, a dude named Ataturk showed the Turks that in order to have a country worth anything, they had to put their total loyalty in the government and be willing to separate government and religion. The crazy thing is, he had this plan something like 80 years ago and its still the heartbeat of Turkey today. Ataturk is the shizzle fo rizzle in Turkey. His picture is hung up in every shop I’ve been in and they even saved his pajamas in the museum I went to today…do you feel him living on in your heart?
Anyways, the reason things are complicated is that Turkey wants this “secular” government in a place where 97% of the people are Muslim. They don’t fit anywhere: people in Europe are afraid of admitting a whole country full of Muslims into their club, and the people in the Arab-Muslim world think Turkey is a copout on the true religion because of the secular political trends and the desire to be Western, while Turks are in the middle trying to figure this thing out.
And I’m not even going to go into other EU issues, the Kurd situation, the problem with Cyprus, Turkish foreign policy, anti-Americanism, social Islamic movements…needless to say, a lot is going on here and I don’t know the half of it. And, gosh, who’s ever even paid attention to Turkey? The only reason I can even scratch the surface or identify any of these matters is because of the phenomenal speakers we’ve had over the past few days—serious experts on the issues that have graced us with their time and knowledge to help us understand a little better. I didn’t know I ever even had this interest. But I’m fascinated.
Taking time to understand their lives from their point of view, is (not too surprisingly) very meaningful to people. It fosters a relationship from which to grow genuine knowledge and to hack away at the all too popular, but sadly true “arrogant American” stereotype. Today, our group sat down with college students from a Turkish university and probed their minds with questions about their country and their politics and listened to their answers. They are students, just like me and after we talked politics, we talked about LeBron James and our favorite movies over lunch as we both only ate a couple of bites of this nasty pile of vegetables.
I love Turkey (yes, the country, ok?). They have their problems that they are trying their best to figure out, just like anyone …especially us …especially me. It’s beautiful and exciting and cold and welcoming. We only have a few days left here, but really, I only have to learn to speak Turkish…then I’ll come back and stay awhile longer.
Since last Thursday I’ve been in Turkey, first seeing Istanbul and now writing from Ankara, the capital city. Istanbul is wonderful. I remember even from World History class in high school, thinking that Istanbul would be an amazing place to see, and, well…it is. We toured around some of the really famous places, including Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (do a Google Image search on both and imagine walking through there) and also some traditional Turkish markets, where I did buy a nice assortment of Turkish delight as well as a scarf to try and make up for my light jacket.
I even walked from Europe to Asia one afternoon.
Everything here is just so unique. It seriously feels like Europe all around the city—the way people dress, the advertisements, the old castles covered with ivy, little tea and coffee shops everywhere…and it might sound simple, but just seeing hills covered with trees again makes it feel more familiar. Turkish people love the feeling of being modern…or should I say, Western (the two terms have become almost synonymous here). Its made me wonder if perhaps Turkey’s current bid to join the EU is, at its roots, an attempt to make the jump from just being up and trendy to officially recognized as an integrated part of the Western world. After a couple of days of walking around Istanbul, it’s something that certainly seems to make a lot of sense.
But Turkey is a lot more complicated than that. Just as warming up to Europe looks pretty promising, up pop some of obstacles that remind the Turks that they don’t really fit anywhere. It not only has to do the requirements of the EU—which, in Turkish opinion, continue to change—but the effort to stabilize many of the internal problems. To cite only one example of the complexity, meet Mustafa Kamel (aka Ataturk), the undisputed and nearly worshipped national hero of Turkey, whose monumental gravesite I just visited today. Following WWI, Ataturk took power during a revolution and united the Turkish people from under rubble of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, thanks to his powerful leadership and vision. His reforms began to secularize the government and society of Turkey, which he saw as essential to bringing about the modernization that the Ottomans had utterly failed to jump on. This plan was a pretty comprehensive remodeling project with implications that included a militarily-motivated nationalism and the institutionalization of religious leaders, the combination of which effectively replaced religion with civil religion. Wow, sorry. In other words, a dude named Ataturk showed the Turks that in order to have a country worth anything, they had to put their total loyalty in the government and be willing to separate government and religion. The crazy thing is, he had this plan something like 80 years ago and its still the heartbeat of Turkey today. Ataturk is the shizzle fo rizzle in Turkey. His picture is hung up in every shop I’ve been in and they even saved his pajamas in the museum I went to today…do you feel him living on in your heart?
Anyways, the reason things are complicated is that Turkey wants this “secular” government in a place where 97% of the people are Muslim. They don’t fit anywhere: people in Europe are afraid of admitting a whole country full of Muslims into their club, and the people in the Arab-Muslim world think Turkey is a copout on the true religion because of the secular political trends and the desire to be Western, while Turks are in the middle trying to figure this thing out.
And I’m not even going to go into other EU issues, the Kurd situation, the problem with Cyprus, Turkish foreign policy, anti-Americanism, social Islamic movements…needless to say, a lot is going on here and I don’t know the half of it. And, gosh, who’s ever even paid attention to Turkey? The only reason I can even scratch the surface or identify any of these matters is because of the phenomenal speakers we’ve had over the past few days—serious experts on the issues that have graced us with their time and knowledge to help us understand a little better. I didn’t know I ever even had this interest. But I’m fascinated.
Taking time to understand their lives from their point of view, is (not too surprisingly) very meaningful to people. It fosters a relationship from which to grow genuine knowledge and to hack away at the all too popular, but sadly true “arrogant American” stereotype. Today, our group sat down with college students from a Turkish university and probed their minds with questions about their country and their politics and listened to their answers. They are students, just like me and after we talked politics, we talked about LeBron James and our favorite movies over lunch as we both only ate a couple of bites of this nasty pile of vegetables.
I love Turkey (yes, the country, ok?). They have their problems that they are trying their best to figure out, just like anyone …especially us …especially me. It’s beautiful and exciting and cold and welcoming. We only have a few days left here, but really, I only have to learn to speak Turkish…then I’ll come back and stay awhile longer.
posted by matt at 9:26 PM
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