Turkish Tuesdays

Today, as it is Tuesday, the Center for European Studies invites you to read a blog entry by our Professor of Turkish Studies, Emrah Sahin.  Professor Sahin's entry will be the first in our "Turkish Tuesdays" series which will highlight an element of Turkish culture, politics, society, or history, on, you guessed it, every Tuesday.  Professor Sahin teaches Turkish language and a wide variety of Turkish area studies courses with a special interest in Turkish encounters with the "wider world."  For more on Professor Sahin's work and courses, please see the CES website at:

http://www.ces.ufl.edu/people/EmrahSahin.shtml

In the meantime, Professor Sahin is currently in Turkey and sends us the following entry:   

Trending Topics by Location: Turkey

With PhD obtained and a little one born, I am in Turkey with a sense of accomplishment and bewilderment. I changed for good, but how about Turkey? Fellow Turks pose sharp questions about my health coverage and salary at UF. They mind wellness and wealth, the two pillars of my existential universe. I presume this can also be viewed as a vignette of the collective Turkish psyche. The Turkish culture that I know of is self-oriented to the pursuit of happiness—recall this when another flight takes modern Turkish politics around the orbit of a “Turkish voluptuary.”  

Back to where I physically am, the Istanbul Airport. A colleague proudly presents the updates: Times are a changing in Turkey! The new Istanbul bridge (read the third bridge between Asia and Europe) is underway and the biggest airport of Europe will be constructed in Istanbul (in the next 42 months)… By the way, a bunch of guys will take it to the streets tomorrow. “It” is a multi-layered pronoun in his lexicon, referring to numerous possibilities: the government’s position to confront Syria’s al-Assad Regime, the decision to curb alcohol sales, and the determination to reshape urban landscape. “It” might help to sell his Turkish news stories, but “it” does not add to my understanding of how or why these events are happening, or, what in fact remains the same in Turkey.

            Dare to enter the Taksim Square amid tear gas and pressure water. You see that Taksim is still the epicenter of popular interaction. People make political statements in this space and fight to claim it. Here police intercept protesters when the latter cross “the red line.” Here, too, politicians and activists showcase their stature with festive fast-breaking meals (Holy Ramadan kicked off last week with a record-breaking marathon of 17-hour abstinence!). On one side you see people sitting around nicely decorated tables, waiting to eat and drink, and on the other side people are sitting on the ground waiting to do the same. 

 

 This is it, but not the same “it” as I previously mentioned. Rather, “it” in this instance is what is at the heart of Turkish culture and life, despite all apparent differences.  Even in Taksim Square amidst protests and confrontations with law enforcement, where different sides vehemently oppose one another, religion manages to unite the hungry nation when politics would see it splintered.   Need proof?  Check old trending topics by location on Tweeter or befriend a Turk on Facebook. Those who are not present on social media will be the silent majority who are too busy at work and living their everyday lives to show off in the streets furiously chasing liberty.

The Turkish nation has endured far worse - wars and famine, ropes and coups. Each time, doomsayers at home and abroad invited Western interference as a panacea because it was assumed that Turks were incapable of dealing with matters on their own. What they do not know is that Turkish version of democracy is not identical with other democracies. It operates on a delicate symbiosis between Western and Turkish-Islamic ideals, and tends at times to subordinate one to the other. The case of the Hagia Sofia serves as an example of this symbiosis.  The Turks first converted this magnificent medieval basilica to a mosque, but then did not know what to do with it, and finally made it a world heritage museum, keeping intact whatever remained of both its Christian and Muslim legacy.  The case of the Hagia Sofia also highlights Turkish ambivalence about material identity and how this ambivalence prevails across time and space.

Turkey’s intricate politics, vibrant communities, and altering landscapes promise to intrigue minds and eyes for years to come.  And Turkish Studies at CES will offer students and those interested in Turkey and Europe with a unique perspective on these changing landscapes and how they might affect the modern world, all the while keeping a keen eye on the past to better understand the present. 

Turkey Lost and Found

Turkey captured headlines this summer. The determination of a few to survive Istanbul’s Gezi Park (the Turkish analog to NYC’s Central Park) united many to protest the prime minister’s scheme of redefining people and spaces. Media agencies requested me to clue them in on what is happening in Turkey. Their hot questions awaiting qualified answers included: do the police torture dissenters in Turkey? Does the government pursue a hidden agenda? And the gunshot… is this a Turkish Spring? My typical response underscores that Turkish democracy has been plagued since day one by structural flaws, such as the lack of checks & balances in practice and of competent opposition in the parliament… Turkey is more European than most of Europe and more Muslim than most Arab countries (this in and of itself makes Turkish Studies interesting and rewarding), and we should discuss it in its own right. This intimation of reality may not register on the media but UF students can learn about these and more this Fall in “Turkey and EU: History.”    

Note: Our faculty and students will regularly contribute to this blog. Your comments are sought and appreciated.