Meeting Kadir…

Kadir

I have been inspired by many people since arriving here in September but few have impacted me as much as Kadir. We met early on in the year while sitting around a table with a Nargile (water pipe). Kadir immediately talked about his desire to visit the United States and his hesitancy to go to Syria because of visa concerns. This is pretty amazing considering how close Kadir lives to the Syrian border. He lives in the Kurdish areas of Turkey which span into Iraq, Iran and partially Syria and has much to say about his identity as a Kurd and as a citizen of Turkey. I tell Kadir’s story in my Cornell Sun column today (Click Here for article)- specifically in regards to a trip this summer to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

When we sat down to talk we ended up next to (get this!) a native of Alabama playing professional basketball for Turkey’s Besiktas franchise. The guy was waiting for a friend coming from, of course, Israel. When he told us that he played a few years of pro ball in Israel itself I asked is it was for Hapoel Yerushalaim (Jerusalem’s Pro-Team). When he confirmed that was indeed the team, Kadir and I exchanged glances and nodded- yes, we thought, this only gets more interesting as time goes on.

The details of our conversation are in the article- if you read it, great! If not, I hope you get a chance to do so. Your comments and questions are welcome below…

Cumhuriet Bayram!

Morning Festivities

Today is Cumhuriet Bayram, or Republic Day. This is a big one, a celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. It began early in the morning (far earlier than I would have liked) as elementary school next door had an all out drum procession and horn march. The festivities lasted for over and hour and sounded pretty interesting so I jumped out of bed and went over to watch. Well worth it- these kids were super intense, I do love the nationalism over here.

Lasers

The day ended with a beautiful fireworks and laser display coming from the Bosphorus bridge which, as I have mentioned before, connects European and Asian Istanbul. This was a fantastic way to look into the heart of the Turkish Republic. I was considering heading to the capital city of Ankara but I will do that this upcoming weekend. Look back here for some updates. I also hope to have a column coming out in this week’s Cornell Sun. When I figure out if it will run or not I will make sure to post a preview. Stay tuned…

Fireworks over the bridge

Voyage to the Border

Bulgaria video- as promised!

Huntington’s Worst Nightmare

Lapping the Field

So, what do you get when you suit an American up in football pads and have him catch a pass over the middle against Islamic cornerbacks? Is it a clash of civilizations?

Today’s column in the Sun details the short but lovely career I had as a member of the Bogazici Sultans. Damn, these guys were good. In the end I’m happy I’ve gotten out of the experience in one piece and can safely report that I’m slightly less sore than I was on Sunday.

Tuesday was my retirement practice. I walked up to Jokson, put my hand on his shoulder and said “Dude, this is my last practice.” It went better than I thought and I was invited to come down whenever just to practice. As we ran around the track Tuesday I methodically let my friends know that this was the end of the line for me and was heartened by their warm goodbyes. It’ll be difficult walking by the field in weeks to come and seeing the team out there but, I’m comfortable with my decision.

Bir, iki, uc- SULTANS!

The Boys

Condtradictions- Middle Eastern Politics and Society

Over the next few weeks I  am adding a new feature that I will update periodically. I call it “Contradictions.” The idea of the section it to give you an idea of how complicated Turkey is by dissecting some of my courses and discussing their unique nature being taught here in Turkey. And so, here goes the first:

Pols 317 Middle Eastern Politics and Society: Now, you’d expect a Middle East class to be pretty straightforward over here. What should the class contain? An outline of the region, the political forces that exist there and why conflicts arise. But, instead (at least up until this point) we have gotten a heavy dose of lecture about European domination along with numerous articles about the way Europe views the region. At this point, it starts to get confusing. Europe dominated the Middle East- well, Turkey is the Mid-East but, it is also Europe. It held a large empire (the ottoman one) that dominated the whole of Syria and Egypt yet, it was dominated too by the British at times. Therefore, the study domination becomes increasingly complex over here and it’s starting to get somewhat baffling. Midterm coming up on Thursday too…

1.5- The Promised Land of Currency Exchange

ALRIGHT!!

Well, we’ve done it! On October 6th I wrote about the exchange rate and how life in Istanbul would rock if the rate hit (a then unimaginable) 1.5 Lira to the Dollar. Today that exact occurrence has happened- we’re at 1.53  and climbing, three cheers…

Life paths and why we take them….

Getting Ugly

Today I try a new approach in my attempt to use this blog partially as a sounding board/ discussion area for my Cornell Sun column. Today’s column is about life decisions made in college and where they lead. I had the impetus to write it after picking up a newspaper last week and reading “Capitalzim Kara Gunu” which means “Capitalism’s Darkest Day.” This of course refereed to the trauma being experienced in this financial meltdown.

I thought of all the careers now being thrown into the wind and decided that a good “putting it into perspective” article would be fun to write. So, I wrote it but had some second thoughts after I sent it to my editors. Here you are welcome to comment- was it good? bad? On target? Way off? Etc.

I’m especially interested in hearing your views on the paths we take in life, why or why not do you recommend/ caution against certain ways of doing it….

Access the article via CornellSun.com HERE. Comment box is easy to use- all sentiments appreciated.

Bulgaria? Bulgaria!

Smuggling cigarettes over the Turkish Bulgarian Border. Boa Godaria!

Stay tuned for a video report coming soon to this blog documenting an escape from Turkey into Bulgaria. Learn why we went, what happened when we did and how we accomplished it all on a Monday night, making it back in time for classes Tuesday morning. As a bonus feature, there will also be an explanation as to why the above picture is of me above smuggling cigarettes for a Gypsy woman. Stay tuned…

Watching the Forex

Economy Down, Dollar Up!

Well, guess not all is bad when the US economy goes down the chute- the Dollar has risen nicely over the past few days! We’re now at 1.3 Turkish Lira to 1 USD. This is pretty good news because it means my money is worth more.  Before coming I had a serious fear that due to the Dollar’s steady decline over the past few years I’d have very little buying power. Well, it’s not the best right now but I’ll take it. Just to put things in perspective- if the Dollar hits parity with the Lira things will get very expensive and I’ll really be in a pinch when it comes to money. But, if the pattern continues and we reach, say, 1.5 lira to the dollar then I’m going to be in really good shape. Bottom line- 1.3 Lira to the Dollar is pretty good, let’s hope this keeps up!

Ending the Bayram, Your comments…

Happy Bayram

Today marks the last day of our break for Seker Bayram- a week long stop in action to celebrate the end of Ramadan. So, this means that tomorrow begins the real haul- classes will finally gain momentum and the fun and games will end. Thank goodness for that, I’m ready to get going and hit the books already (hopefully not too hard though). All said, I will be periodically posting here on the journeys that have taken place so far over the breaks- expect the first installation sometime later this week.

As promised, I now post my Cornell Sun column about the headscarf crisis at Bogazici and invite your comments. Did I make the right call? Do you think the headscarves should be allowed or forbidden? Please, your comments below:

Empty Seats

ISTANBUL — As a university student coming to Turkey, I knew there was a chance of encountering today’s incarnation of the brutal and bloody struggle for this country’s soul. While I had that knowledge, I never thought I would actually see it. When I saw it, it took me a few hours to comprehend what actually took place. Here I will relay to you what I saw, what I think it means and why it is important. This is not simple subject matter to write about and I do not claim to be an expert in any way on the topic. I can only record and observe. The following is just that.

Monday marked the first day of classes and started as you would expect. I woke up, checked where I was going, grabbed a notebook and headed down to campus. As I approached, I saw a large gathering next to the entrance and wondered if I was going to have to wait on line to get in. Already late, I blew by the crowd, nodded at security and started down to class. About 10 seconds later, the crowd went up in an angry chant and began clapping their hands at a vehicle entering campus.

It was early in the morning and I was low on sleep from the night before but it didn’t take much to register that I had just crossed a picket line. Things started to hit me quickly but I still needed to get to class — so off I went, forgetting the whole thing.

Didn’t take long for the issue to be placed front and center once again. After handing out the syllabus, one of my professors looked out at the class and said “Some people, some of you, were not allowed into campus today.” As a tense quiet came over the room she explained that the University was not letting in women with headscarves anymore. If the policy continued, she said, she was going to move the class outside the gate. Visibly disturbed, she went on to outline the semester and then dismissed us.

Bogazici University, which I attend, has always been known for its progressive policies and inclusiveness. I spoke to a shaken girl on the way home from classes who told me that in her four years at the school she had never had this happen to her. But this summer was a turbulent one and the issue of the headscarf was at the fore.

It all started this past February where the ruling AK party, a conservative group whose leadership comes from now defunct Islamic parties, proposed to lift a longstanding ban on headscarves in universities. The policy was deemed to interfere with the secular nature of the state and was overruled by the courts in early June.

Lifting the ban on headscarves was seen as a serious offense by the secular establishment (which operates through the powerful military and the court system) and charges were brought against the AK party seeking to ban them from Turkish politics completely.

This showdown meant everything for Turkey. If the party was banned, it would mean that Turkey was still not ready to entrust its civilian government with the power to rule and, after much progress, would revert back to its 1980 form. Back then, power was seized by the army and a new restricting constitution drawn up in response to a shaky political situation. If the party was not banned, however, it would mean Turkey had taken a tremendous step in the way of democratization and would now be one step closer towards EU membership and normalcy as a nation.

In the end, the AK party did win the case and still controls parliament but not without feeling the effects of a judicial bullet sailing right past its head. They likely will not try to legislate on issues similar to the headscarf one for quite some time.

This summer was also an interesting one here at Bogazici. The Rector went up for election and, perhaps due to student protests the semester before, was replaced by a new Kemalist (secularist) candidate.

All this ended up on my doorstep Monday as I watched scores of young women wrapped in their scarves recoil at the fact that they were not being granted entry to their own school. The summer’s events had sent a sharp message to the people of Turkey that the country was not going to let its secular character be picked apart without a fight. When it came down to it, Bogazici got the message too and went along with the law.

Many on campus here feel that the move was a correct one. This is the Turkish Republic, they say, and Turkey is unique because of its secularism — that should not be compromised. Also, many have claimed that in a region such as this, Islamization can happen rapidly and that barriers must be put up to ensure against it.

While these arguments may be valid, I cannot agree with them. To exclude people from education due to religious practice is something I find personally hard to stomach, much harder when those excluded belong sitting next to me in class. And so, while I will continue to walk the grounds of this fantastic university and take part in her lectures, I will be looking at those empty seats wondering if one day this country will be strong enough to make the right decision.