I’m back in the good ol’ USA now and look back on my time in Turkey with a longing gaze. The people I met and the things I learned there will stay with me perhaps for life. I appreciate those who stuck through with my writing and promise to write more. It will, however, have to continue in other forms. I say goodbye to Turkey knowing that what I encountered there will continue to resonate deeply within me as I move forward in life.  As time passes, I know I will gain a deeper understanding of what I have just experienced and look forward to seeing that happen.

It is a broad and mystifying world we live in, filled with deep culture and unexplored realms which a single person, no matter how hard they may try, cannot  grasp in one lifetime. Thus, I am glad to have gotten the chance to have seen yet another amazing facet of this world and am satisfied, once again, with the knowledge that I gave it my all and took in whatever I could. What comes next? Well, I’m hearing good things about a nice little country called India…

With Madra at Açik

Turkey has sometimes proven to be a tremendously difficult place to get an opinion out. Article “301″ of the constitution makes “Insulting Turkishness” a crime and many have faced (and served) prison time for expressing their views on how to improve the state. It is important to realize just how important a free forum for these ideas  actually is as freedom of dissent is a main driver of democratic government.

When people are not allowed to air dissenting thought in a society, well, there is no way for it to progress. Turkey is so close to reaching a point in its development where it can finally become a strong, proud, open democracy, it is difficult to see it stuck where it is.

I know I am an outsider and have little legitimacy when expressing views on the Turkish political landscape- but what a great benefit it would be to the global community to see Turkey move past these obstacles and fully join the international community as a member of the EU and regional powerhouse.

Omer Madra and Açik Radyo are propelling Turkey in that direction. Despite all the challenges they face, they bring hope to the country. I write about this dynamic today in my Cornell Sun COLUMN “Turntable Activism,” your thoughts, as usual, are welcome below…

ABD

Anti-American imagery is something we see often these days but, despite this familiarity, I was particularly disturbed when seeing the real thing last Sunday. The group we marched with in no way represented the mainstream views of the Turkish people but from the reactions of the onlookers it was clear that their message wasn’t exactly rejected.

Election day was fantastic. We had a large party in the center of Istanbul and watched with many fellow interested Americans. For more info on that, please check out DAMARIS KREMIDA’s fantastic article in Hurriyet- HERE.

If you’ve read my article (HERE) in today’s Cornell Sun I thank you, and welcome any questions or comments below. If not, I think it may be worth a look-through.

It’s been a long week and I promise more content coming up, stay tuned for future updates.

(I’m now officially late to class)

Us on Turkish television Tuesday night!

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…

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

Bulgaria video- as promised!

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

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…

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…

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.