our next stop after istanbul on our middle east studies program (mesp) travel component was ankara, the capital of turkey. the city was founded by ataturk, the guy who formed modern secular turkey out of the ashes of the ottoman empire. many turks basically venerate him as a god. it’s a little over the top, actually. they justify it by claiming that he represents the ideals of secularism and democracy, and that without this national hero their country would lose its uniqueness and be lost to the fundamentalist islamists. it is to the point, however, that one can be imprisoned for life for simply “insulting” ataturk or turkishness. turkey has banned sites like youtube because one video insulted ataturk.
ataturk is buried on top of a mountain in the middle of ankara in a huge mausoleum called the anitkaber. they bring every kid in turkey to this place. while we were there we saw the president of azerbaijan paying his respects. then we went to the turkish foreign ministry in ankara and also heard from a human rights lawyer representing some christians who were killed recently. the atmosphere for christians here is not very good – but this seems to have more to do with popular sentiment then government rules. interestingly, it is the secularists/military rather than the islamists who are making things difficult for christians.
the bottom line with regard to turkey is that everything is more complex than it seems. there are so many influential groups with their hands in different places. and absolutely everything has historical roots, which perhaps is less universally the case in the west. this said, it was a very refreshing change in vibe from the stagnant political atmosphere in egypt. and most everyone in turkey we encountered has a job and a purpose in life, which often wasn’t the case in egypt. the food is really good too. i really enjoyed our two weeks in turkey!
