Current Mood:
Alarmed
For those of you that have forgotten, I received a warning from the US State Department last week. You can reread the warning by clicking here.
This week, the PKK in the east of Turkey killed 17 Turkish soldiers in an attack. Since then the country has been on edge, and the belief is that the Turkish army will enter Iraq any day now. Of course this has had little noticeable impact on my life here in Turkey, until today.
Today, on my way home from a business dinner, I was stopped about 1 km from my house because of a dead stand still in traffic. The road was blocked by people demonstrating. They had a big dump truck and many other cars and were blocking part of the road, and driving in circles in the roundabout. Everyone was honking their horn, and people were running in the streets shouting and carrying Turkish flags. The whole thing took about 15 minutes before I was able to pass.
The demonstration was small compared to what actually happens in Istanbul. After all, Mimarsinan where I live is a very small place, but it was still intimidating. People seemed very intense about this demonstration. Their was a look and an energy about them that was extremely intimidating. With relations between Turkey and the US heating up, I was afraid for the first time ever in Turkey. My car was completely blocked in and I was on a bridge. I couldn’t see what was going on, and all I could here was a lot of noise. I was not afraid when I was pulled over by the cops and told my ID was no good and I would have to go with them to the police station, I was not afraid when I was tear gassed in Besiktas, but tonight I was afraid.
Maybe it’s because Murat has been telling me to be careful lately. Maybe it’s because I have been reading about Turkeys tumultuous history as a republic. Regardless, I have the feeling that something is happening here. Something big is coming. Six months ago the army threatened to intervene and take control of the government after massive protests around the country (over four million people in Istanbul alone) against what the government had been doing. Here the military believes it has a mandate to uphold democracy. Any threats to democracy and the well being of the people, the army has ‘corrected’ in the past (sometimes peacefully, sometimes by hanging).
In addition to being afraid of what is going to happen, I am excited. It’s like how when I was tear gassed, I felt like I was really experiencing something unique, that most people don’t get to do. Of course, most people don’t want to be tear gassed, but in the end, it’s quite an experience. Here is the same situation; nobody wants to live through difficult and uncertain times, but at the end of the road, people look back and will have gained great wisdom. I feel the excitement of being here to bear witness to that. It’s exciting to see Turkish people out in force, demonstrating their power as the public. Showing their government and rest of the world that the government’s power is mandated by the people. It’s exciting to see people exercising their democratic rights en mass.
Murat says things are happening every day, and the situation is deteriorating. I haven’t been following this closely so I do not know. Murat on the other hand watches enough TV for the both of us so I take his word for it. Let’s everyone keep their fingers crossed that Turkey remains a stable and productive country.
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