Made in Turkey

If you ask me what I know about Turkey, the results of my brain sand storm would be the following: I remember Funda, the first Turk I ever knew; she was my classmate during secondary school (a couple of years later some rumour spread that she went back to Turkey to get married to a distant relative – never found out if it was true or not) // First and only word I know in Turkish: Güle güle – I can’t remember if it means hello or goodbye, still I think it’s a very funny word) // Turkey applied to accede the EU – remember translating some press article on the topic while I was studying in Vienna; a couple of years later French politics held crazy discourses about the appalling consequences that it would have // what else, some pictures some friends took at some Turkish resorts: nice beaches, warm weather, dreadful choreographies with the Resort Activity Leader // as pathetic as it seems, that’s about all I knew about Turkey as I was invited by a Turkish couple for a coffee yesterday.

So Google tells me it means goodbye; thanks Google!

Mr. and Mrs. S. are from Turkey (respectively from Ankara and the Black Sea region), they’re Muslims and they’ve lived in KSA for over eight years. Here are their views on their country:

“You have to go to Turkey and travel around the country to really realize what the country is like. Media are not able to give a full, accurate picture. Turkey has been changing a lot in the last years; every time we go back we can notice how Turkey has changed. In the coastal cities, the most touristic areas, you wouldn’t notice anything, it’s like being in Europe; people are very open. The change has been taking place in the central regions of Turkey, in smaller towns. The new government in place has been giving the religion a bigger place and it’s been buying the people’s support. For instance a woman who wears a headscarf will get money as a retribution for her religious dressing. Poor people just support any regime which gives them a roof and some bread. The government gets money from large privatisations: they have been selling a lot of national companies. Of course it can’t work in the long run: one day they won’t have anything else to privatize. In the meantime, we can’t believe how Turkish people are turning into the Arab stereotype of people relying on public benefits and not willing to go out to work anymore. There will be an election next June but we doubt it will change anything. The dice will probably be loaded.It’s very sad to see how our country is going backwards. That’s why we’re drinking alcohol now, to forget how bad our country is doing!”

And so we did! We had a very nice glass of home-made red wine, very tasty but really strong, especially when you haven’t had any alcoholic drink in months!