Live & Let Live: On lifting the Headscarf Ban at the Parliament

Author at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Summer 2013

Finally, Turkish legislature corrected a portion of its long overdue dress-code.  As of today (October 31, 2013) women parliamentarians who choose to wear a headscarf can sit on those fancy orange seats.

More than half the women cover their hair in Turkey (approx. 60-65%). Yet, the very institution that is supposedly  representing "the people", would not allow any of these women to hold a seat at the Parliament.

After their pilgrimage to Mecca this year, 4 women MPs decided that they would like to cover their hair from then on. Hence, they came to the Parliament with their new headgear today, and there was no sign of uncivilized protesting or bullying.

There's only a few months left until the elections. We don't know how much of this sudden surge in religiosity is genuine, and how much of it is political calculation. But we do not have a little gadget to measure people's sincerity. Nor should we try to do so. If anything, it might be wise to use this opportunity to lift other ridiculous bans at the Parliament floor, such as No Drinking Water and No Pants for Women (No, I'm not kidding. You cannot sip water even if you're diabetic. Nor can women wear pants and sit on those fancy orange seats. One MP with a prosthetic leg is compelled to wear a skirt, despite expressing her discomfort to display her artificial limb).

There is a great Turkish saying: "zarfa değil, mazrufa bak". It means: don't pay much attention to the envelope, look at the content. It is our way of saying, don't judge a book by its cover. I'm afraid lately all we look at is the envelope/cover....

As a society we need to :

 1) accept people as they are

 2) learn to NOT judge people by their proverbial cover

 3) appreciate each other's differences as legitimate

 4) NOT perceive all forms of difference as a THREAT

5) nor treat differences as frontiers to conquer, suppress and assimilate

6) respect & advocate for the rights of those who're different from us.

7) consider diversity as an asset, rather than liability

We all have to learn to live with each other. Kurds in Turkey have no other place to go. Neither do the religious folks, nor the uber-secularists. Even the non-Muslims, such as the native Armenian, Assyrian, Greek or Jewish communities don't want to leave Turkey, despite all the abuse they have gone through.

Anyone who knows people living in Turkey would know very well that we are one hard-headed people. Mom used to call me "inatçı keçi!"(stubborn goat), when I would resist her and give her the silent treatment.

We cannot bully each other into submission. Those who believe progress means secularism and modernization a la the West will remain that way. No amount of mosque building, media censuring, indoctrination at schools and alcohol ban would change their conviction.

Likewise, those who think salvation is in religion would not change their ways and endorse Westernization, even if the EU takes Turkey in as a member tomorrow.

Kurds and Alevis, on the other hand, have been mistreated so harshly for so long that there is not a single method of abuse or torture that they have not already been subject to. Yet, they're still here, still trying to be part of the game.

For the last decade or so, the Turkish economy remained in the same ranks (17th-18th largest in the world), while other emerging economies showed steady progress (Brazil moved from 11th to 6th). We have a major urban development problem. 2-3 cities in the country are growing into monstrous metropolises, at the expense of all the other cities and towns. They suck up all the resources and human capital, but their sheer size is making them unmanageable and unlivable. This is not a healthy, sustainable trend. People should be able to have the chance for a decent living (i.e. jobs, education, quality living conditions, etc), in the other 70-some cities in Turkey as well.

But we can't even get to talk about these crucial socio-economic problems. We cannot deliberate on practical, policy issues. Because we get bogged down by identity issues. Frankly, we seem to hate each other lately... A very superficial understanding of who you are (islamist if you cover your head, secularist if you drink!!) dominates the discussion. If you're in a different identity camp, we don't even listen to what have to you say.

Each side seems to be waiting for the weakest moment of its opponent to strike a final blow. The happiest moment seems to be when we become one homogenous entity, devoid of color and flavor... But let me reiterate: we're stubborn. No one will give up the essential components of their identity, no one will give in..

Besides, I don't know a single true democracy where citizens are judged and sorted out by their outfits! In fact, in established democracies, this very act would be 'profiling' and a crime, since it is blatant discrimination!

Let us please learn to appreciate each other as who we are.
Let us learn to live together as who we are.
Let us not look at headgear or mustache style, but look at what's inside that head. What kind of ideas and proposals are inside that brain?
Let us learn to argue over rational, measurable projects and proposals, instead of all this emotional, immature personality attacks.
Let's grow up to be rational, reasonable adults.

We cannot all love each other.
But we have to learn to respect each other as who we are.
Time is running out...
Soon, we'll degenerate into a poor, unhappy, dysfunctional society that is constantly at war with each other.

On Fig Awareness & Summer Ramadans…

Dear Old Readers, Potential New Readers, & Occasional Passers By,

Welcome to a new blog post by Academic Mommy!

Apologies for the long pause….

Believe it or not, a single fig was my inspiration to write this entry, after a long period of silence. Here is how:

As some of you might know, Ramadan started on July 10^th this year. For obvious reasons, July & August are the least convenient months for a person to starve oneself for one’s God. But your humble author is trying her best anyway…

I’m just hoping there is extra credit for fasting 17 hours a day in the summer, as opposed to the shorter and cooler days of the winter. But we’ll negotiate that bridge when we get there J

Even before Ramadan started, my body was at the brink of collapse. Nonstop teaching throughout the year was beginning to take its toll. More often than not, I was forgetting my keys, my cell phone, or was “misplacing” my glasses, purse or even my car!... Fasting only helped increase the frequency of such mishaps.

Ramadan added novel incidents to my usual list of lost/forgotten items. For instance one time, I went through most of the day as if it were Thursday. At 4:50 pm, my students popped into my office with puzzled faces, and told me that it was actually Wednesday. Turns out, I was 20 mins. late for my 4:30 pm class on Wednesday!!!

Of course the professor should never look like an idiot, so I snapped back at them, saying why did they not come & check up on me earlier... On the bright side, next day was really Thursday, and it felt like I lived Thursday twice!

Despite all these little troubles that are probably caused by low blood sugar, the purpose of this writing is not to portray a doom & gloom picture of Ramadan. In fact, it is very much the opposite.

Here is why I still enjoy fasting, even when it might be extra taxing on my body during the long summer days:

·      Ramadan is a break away from everyday routines: During this month, food and socialization around food are no longer ordinary things. You don’t eat during most of the day, and when you break your fast in the evening, it becomes a pleasurable moment to share with friends, relatives and such…

This year I enjoyed wonderful meals with old & new friends, as well as with relatives. Moreover, because you can only eat at night, Ramadan lends itself to wonderfully long discussions enjoyed with  delicious desserts, fruit, and in my case, lots of tea. No wonder why many people end up gaining weight during this month J

·      Ramadan makes you appreciate what you have: This is where the famous fig on the title comes in. Honestly, that juicy fig I had after long hours of fasting tasted like the most marvelous fruit I’ve ever had in my life. Depriving your senses for a while might have the effect of sharpening them. Please don’t have sinister smiles of your face right now… This may not be true for everything, but at least for food, I think there is definitely greater awareness of our taste buds, after fasting all day.

·      Ramadan is for empathy. At least this is what I learned from my family, and it is what I’d like to pass along to my little son. At the age of abundance and instant gratification, it is even harder to develop some sort of solidarity with the less fortunate. This is why the true meaning of Ramadan is not about withholding food from your mouth. More importantly, it is about empathy and charity.

·      Ramadan is to disciple your body & soul. There was a famous phrase in one of the Rocky movies: “mind over body!” I think we all aspire to do this, one way or another. Some people get up at 6 am and run for 10 miles!.. I admire them greatly, but am afraid this is not my cup of tea. I feel like my kidneys are about to fall off, when they bounce that hard. However, fasting is my way of exercising mental control over my body. I feel very much in charge and alive when fasting. Believe it or not, I even attended a couple of power lunches during Ramadan with people who didn’t fast, and was not one bit bothered!... They had their meals, and I did my networking. Everyone was content... After all, my freedom to religious exercise should not be such an inconvenience for others who don't observe. 

Please sit back and try to enjoy an ordinary moment in your life during these freakishly hot summer days. It could be a fruit, or an ice-cold lemonade, or beer. Whatever it is, I hope it’d bring you as much happiness as my little fig.

Wishing you a pleasant summer,

Academic Mommy

Can We Pray Anywhere We Want?

What prompted this blog?

It’s this column, that complains about the lack of prayer rooms (Mescid) at my Alma Mater, Bosphorus University.

The author is among the new cohort of pious, vocal and dare-I-say liberal women journalists, who came under the spotlight after the headscarf protests in Turkish universities in 2007-8.

Full disclosure: I supported her and the free headscarf movement wholeheartedly at the time. I believe women should not be made to choose between their education and their religious beliefs. It’s ludicrous for the state to micromanage people’s clothing, especially when they’re mature adults!

But this time, I beg to disagree…

South Campus, BU

What’s the issue?

Bosphorus University has multiple campuses: South, North, Hisar, Ucaksavar and Kilyos Campuses. South is the oldest campus, but most departments, classrooms, the library, dorms, university bookstore, etc are up on the North campus. There is a small mosque right at the entrance of the North campus.

Students who observe the 5-times per day prayer rule of Islam, want a designated space in the South campus for this purpose.

The columnist above, who is also an Alumnus of Bosphorus university (Sociology), claims that this is an “ontological right”. Furthermore, she says 10 minutes between classes is not enough time to go up to the mosque on North campus. Therefore, the University has to accommodate this demand, and provide a prayer room at the South Campus.

Now, lets be frank:

The only times the students would need a prayer room during class times would be the noon & afternoon prayers, and possibly the evening (in winter times).

Depending on the time of the year, there are 2 to 5 hour windows for Muslims to complete each of these prayer duties.

Noon & afternoon prayers are not short. They have 4 parts, as opposed to 2 parts in the morning & 3 parts in the evening.

Even if there were a dedicated prayer room in the South, 10 minutes between classes is NOT sufficient time. You’ll need to run over there, walk up or down stairs (always stairs, NO ELEVATORS in South!), wash your hands-face-feet, get yourself back in order, line up, concentrate on the prayer, rush all the verses, salute, dress up & pack, and run over to the next class. Again, numerous stairs obstructing your way… In short, prayer-in-10-mins argument does not pass the reality check.

Aside from the unrealistic nature of a 10-minute prayer break, there is the issue of “ontological” rights to prayer.

I support a wide range of rights and causes, all the way from rights to express your native identity & language, religious duties, to rights of workers to a decent wage and parental rights to provide for their new-born babies without the fear of losing their jobs, to free expression of ideas, students’ right to protest peacefully, sexual rights, handicapped people’s access to services, etc, etc…

However, I would never be able to line up these rights hierarchically and say: “Hey, you know, a mother’s right to paid leave for 12 months is an ‘ontological’ right! I just gave birth to a baby! I need to take care of him/her. It’s about life & death, no? Give me my high order right and back off, you foolish advocates of lower level rights!”

Tell that to the workers and union leaders in Argentina, who were dumped into the Atlantic by the military regime, for fighting for a decent pay and decent living.

Tell that to the activists in gay movements, who are still brutally beaten up by law enforcement and ostracized by their societies in many parts of the world, for trying to live a life that is true to their personality.

Tell that to all the indigenous and minority populations, who have been fighting for decades if not centuries, to be accepted as who they are, with equal rights and dignity.

I don’t understand why people can be so utterly self-righteous, when it comes to religious rights. Why should religion be an ontological right, triumphing over all else? Why should one’s self-identity, motherhood, or demands for a decent wage in exchange for their hard labor would count LESS THAN religious rights?

Lets leave ontology for a minute, and go back to basic empirical facts:

South campus is prime real estate no matter how you look at it. The historic heart of the campus is protected by numerous zoning laws, most famous of being the Law for the Protection of Bosphorus View. Practically, this means the university cannot develop the area it sits on.

Kilyos Campus, BU

There are innumerable competing interests and demands on campus. The English prep school (YADYOK) for instance –that every student has to attend unless s/he passes an extremely hard proficiency exam- has NO SPACE to put classrooms. So it ships all its students across the city to the Kilyos campus, which is essentially a beach town along the Black Sea! These poor kids cannot see the marvelous campus they’re entitled to study for a whole year! All they have in the name of Bosphorus University is a long beach and cold winds from the mad Black Sea beating up their walls. Oh, and lots of humidity and mold…

Second, office space is scarce in South. Multiple faculty members with Ivy League degrees –literally- share tiny offices cramped under sloping roofs lines.

Third, regular capacity cannot meet the demand. Under pressure from Turkey’s Higher Ed. Council (YOK) to increase enrollment, BU is having a hard time to seat and accommodate its ever-growing number of students. Hence, every bit of space, including under the stairs & old closets, are used for something, at times very creatively: toilets under the stairs, copy rooms & coffee rooms inside closets, etc… A dorm room in South Campus is the most precious thing a student can get in his/her entire college life! I had one, shared with 11 (in writing: eleven!) roommates. It was totally worth it, despite the awful metal bunk-beds, non-stop cacophony and insurmountable mess.

1st Girls Dormitory, South Campus, BU

My point: please stop demanding special treatment, and pretending that this is the most compelling case for space on South campus.

BU is the most liberal university in Turkey that not only welcomes students from all walks of life, but also helps them flourish. It is a rare gem, given the suffocating atmosphere in other universities across the country. 

Let us all be reasonable, and NOT beat the tree that bears good fruit.

The freedom loving, controversy-weary Academic Mommy

Thanksgiving in Turkey!

   Friends & Comrades,

   Ironically, I spent the Thanksgiving break in Turkey this year!

   I was invited to a workshop on Latin America. It was hosted by Ankara University, and financed by TIKA. A tiring but certainly worthwhile trip. Below are the highlights:

Distance covered: approx. 6000 miles (~10,000kms), each way

Flight Connections: 3

Total number of poking and probing by the airport security: 6

      (yes, they touch you w/their left hands, despite having beeping detectors in their right hands)

Days spent in Ankara: 4

Total number of days spent while traveling to Ankara: 4

Number of Latin American Ambassadors met on this trip: 7

Number of diplomatic missions from Latin America in Ankara: 9

Hotel reservations: 1

Number of days spent at the hotel: 0

Number of nights spent at various friends’ homes: 4

Happy hours with friends: 4

Amount of stuffed mussels consumed on this trip: over 20

Turkish coffee: 2 cups

Fortune telling from coffee grains:  1

It is the Economy, Stupid!

Lately, problems about Syria seem to have monopolized our attention.

Instead of speculation and sectarian gambling in the MidEast, let me distract you towards some bread and butter issues, my dear readers…

Recently, one of the largest business associations in Turkey called MUSIAD had its annual convention in Istanbul.

Popularly, MUSIAD is known as the ‘Muslim’ Industrialists & Businessmen Association in Turkey, even though the ‘M’ in their acronym stands for ‘Independent’ in Turkish.

The Uber-Prime Minister Erdogan gave a speech at the MUSIAD Convention. The highlight of his speech:

Lamentably low commercial ties among the world's Muslims.

According to the Turkish Prime Minister, the Muslims in the world should wake up and realize that they form a whooping 22% of the world population! Subsequently, they should circle their wagons and start buying and selling from each other.

Now, isn’t that grand? How come no one came up with this brilliant idea until Tayyip-the-Nuevo-Leader-of-World-Muslims uttered it?

After the Prime Minister’s speech calling for the “Muslims of the World, Unite!” the head of MUSIAD obviously got the message.

In his speech, MUSIAD President Olpak happily announced that the trade volume of Turkey with the European Union (yep, the one Turkey is a candidate to join since 1999) was going down.

No doubt with the help of God Almighty, the trade volume of Turkey with the Middle East and other Muslim countries in Asia and Africa was on the rise!

The Head of MUSIAD is not cooking up these numbers. The import-export trends in recent years clearly show that Turkish economy is gradually decoupling from Europe. For the first time last year, the trade volume with the EU fell below 50%. Russia, Asia and MENA countries are inching their way up, gradually becoming more important trade partners for Turkey.

Should we worry about this? 

Yes...Here is why:

We have a saying in Turkey: Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.

This principle is applicable to imports and exports: Tell me who your export partners are, and I’ll tell you how advanced your economy is. 

When Turkey exports to Europe, or to any other advanced economy (Australia, Canada, etc), that means those Turkish products that reach these markets, meet higher standards. Almost always the EU has higher consumer, environmental, and quality standards than say India, China, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.

Hence, when Turkish economy performs in order to meet the EU standards, it is compelled to improve itself. The target market inevitably creates a progressive dynamic for the Turkish economy.

Let’s look at our fellow Muslims, who after all form 22% of the world population and grow more rapidly than anyone else.

Last time I checked, none of the majority Muslim countries had established advanced industrial economies, including the oil-rich, taxis-are-all-Mercedes city-states of the Gulf.

Worse, many of them, such as Yemen, are at the bottom of the Human Development Index. This means, their populations are poorer, less educated and live shorter. The state of women in these countries is not what you’d call decent.

Here is an example of what economic delinking from the West and cozying up to our fellow Muslims would look like in practice:

Instead of producing TV screens, electronic components, car parts, sophisticated pharmaceuticals, and organic fruit for Germany, France or Italy, Turkish economy would produce electric blankets, aspirin, carpets and furniture for Libya, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria (assuming things there calm down soon).

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the products aimed for the EU markets have higher technology components to them. Consequently, they have higher profit margins, greater potentials for R & D, innovation and advancement. You can be only so sophisticated and innovative, while making carpets and furniture.

This is only one problem about steering Turkish economy away from advanced economies, towards lesser-developed ones.

Here are two more:

What would the Prime-Minister & Co-Chair of Dialogue Among Civilizations think, if the US President called for solidarity among the Christian economies in the world??

Imagine Obama saying: “My fellow Christians. Today, let’s forget our differences as Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox. We are more than 2 billion people. Let us combine our economic forces into a single global Christian economic community!”

Sounds weird, does’t it.  

According to the Pew Research Center, 2.18 billion Christians make up almost 1/3 of world population. That’s a pretty sizable market. But you never hear any sensible political leader calling for economic cooperation based on religion.

Even Hugo Chavez has more common sense. Across Latin America, which shares common Iberian and Catholic ties, Chavez advocates unity based on Bolivarianism and socialism, that is, ideology not religion.

Why?

Because, this is the 21^st Century! Hello??? It is discriminatory and wrong to advocate your cause -let alone call for economic integration- based on religion.  

Finally, there is the World Trade Organization.

WTO is a free trade organization among nations. It guarantees that the members play according to the logic of free trade, which means being rational actors.

As such, WTO prevents favoritism and discrimination among countries in their economic affairs. In short, it tells that if you’re a member, you cannot discriminate the Australians because of their funny accents, nor can you favor the Italians, oh because they’re so hot! :))

Back to serious business:

Turkey signed the treaty and became a member of WTO in 1995.

Erdogan’s suggestion of favoring Muslim countries in foreign trade is ultimately a violation of the treaty obligations that Turkey signed onto. As the head of executive, and an advocate of market economy, he should know better. 

Below is an excerpt is from the WTO mission statement.

“Through these agreements, WTO members operate a non-discriminatory trading system that spells out their rights and their obligations. Each country receives guarantees that its exports will be treated fairly and consistently in other countries’ markets. Each promises to do the same for imports into its own market.”

I'm not suggesting we should turn our backs to any economy that is worse off than Turkey. 

But this shouldn't come at the expense of economic rationality, and undermine long-term development capacity of the country. Nor should primordial ties like religion, ethnicity or race be the basis of economic solidarity. 

Wishing you all rational and non-discriminatory economic decisions,

The bread & butter advocate, Academic Mommy

Summer 2012, Part I

Cayyolu, Ankara, June 2012

Esteemed Readers;

I’ve been quiet lately. My last post was almost 5 months ago. Actually, many things happened since then. But it was the sheer volume and intensity of the stuff that kept me from writing.

So here is a quick summary of this summer:

May:

Went back to Ankara, to my beloved university and students. I LOVE teaching IPE! (international political economy). And the feelings are mutual, I might add. My students seem to enjoy my classes as much as I do, at least according to the student reviews.

This semester we stirred up quite lively discussions in class on auto industry. Does Turkey need its very own auto company? My students made excellent claims on both sides. We also had a few engineers in class, who were very much engaged by the topic. I am very proud of them all.

In the second half of May, my family flew in from the US. My son went to a public school in the neighborhood. To everyone’s surprise, he managed to fit in quite well. No harm done by local bullies, and he actually made some good friends...

June:

Classes and university obligations continued full blast. Upon Mexican Embassy’s request, I organized a panel on G20. Other than the “death by powerpoint” incident by one of the presenters, it went quite well.

We had a big party for my son and his best friend from our apartment. I mean BIG PARTY! 2 huge cakes, clowns, music systems set up in the basketball court. After hearing the music and seeing the clowns and the guy walking on stilts, lots of people from the neighborhood joined. Both the kids and their parents had great time.

When school was over, we registered our son in an all-day sports school, since both my husband and I were working full-time at the university.

First week, he got injured in gymnastics. At the end of the month when he completed the program, they gave him a “gold medal” in gymnastics! I am telling you, this is a spoiled generation we have… They are pampered left and right…

July:

My son went to the summerhouse with my mom, my brother and his Russian girl friend. It seemed like they had great time along the Aegean Sea, while land locked Ankara was baking in the summer heat. 

The snorkel grandma got for him truly enamored my son. He insisted to speak with me over the phone, while wearing it! Needles to say, I didn’t get most of what he was saying but we played along…

In the absence of a young son, my husband and I jumped right into the exciting nightlife of Ankara! This meant attending some uptight parties thrown by various embassies in town.

Probably one of the best was at the Canadian Embassy, jointly organized by their NAFTA partner, the Mexicans! Don’t ask me why they excluded the US. We didn’t want to stir up any controversies, and were just happy to be invited.

At the party, the Embassy staff had a funky payment arrangement: You paid some money, say 20 Liras, and got a card with a bunch of monkeys on. 5 Monkeys would get you a beer, 6 monkeys for margaritas, and 7 monkeys for whisky.

It turns out, my husband had left over monkeys in a card, but from 4-5 years ago! He pulled it out and politely asked the bar tender, if they would honor the monkeys in his old Embassy card.

To our surprise, the bartender did! He said it’s been years since he had seen a card like that, but served the beer anyway… When my husband shared the incident with the Canadian Ambassador, the Ambassador was super proud! He said: “We Canadians honor our contracts!”

Wishing you all fun neighbors like the Mexicans, and virtuous neighbors like the Canadians!

The Diplomat-Friendly Academic Mommy

Universities: The Gateways to Freedom or Submissiveness

Above photo is taken at a public university in Turkey. It may not seem remarkable at first glance. Just another plain cement building, reminiscent of the uninspiring public sector.

However, what makes it interesting is the two words written above those doors: “Student Entrance” (Öğrenci Girişi)

Few feet away, just around the corner is another door. “Faculty Member Entrance” (Öğretim Üyesi Girişi) it says.

I am sorry, but having separate entrances for the academic staff and the students -at a public university, of all places- reminds me of the Jim Crow laws in the US. This is segregation to me, no matter how you swing it.

What could be the rationale for having separate doors for faculty members and the students? Are the university students a wild pack that we need to avoid when getting in and out of the buildings? Would the mighty professors get stepped on if they walked with the common folk? It just doesn’t make sense…

The problem of hierarchy and super rigid pecking orders under the roof of what is supposed to be a universal institution of higher education bothers me a lot.

When I was teaching at a public university in Ankara, my university had five (yep, FIVE) separate lunch halls depending on your status in the pecking order.

At the bottom were the students. They had their separate place and God forbid, if they dared to show up at the other lunch halls. Their cards wouldn’t work and they would get scoffed at.

Then came the super rigid ladder for the staff. The lowest step was the manual laborers. They had their separate quarters tucked way in the back. Only once I peeked my head in, for I had lost my way. Instantly everyone stared at me and I understood my grave (!) mistake. I bowed down and backed out to my assigned quarters…

Next, came the second tier of staff. These were low ranking, white-collar workers, such as secretaries. They wouldn’t mix with the manual laborers, but wouldn’t mix with the higher ranked staff either.

With my meager status as a TA, I was a member of the third tier. This was a middle-of-the-road crowd, with bunch of low ranking academics, like TAs and instructors, and high-ranking admin staff, such as faculty secretaries. Assistant Professors who wanted to show some solidarity also came and ate with us.

Lastly, the top tier: Assistant Professors and up. The mighty professors didn’t line up with trays like us the commoners. They were perched up at a restaurant with the best views of campus, had tables with white linen and waiting staff…  

In a recent column, Gunduz Vassaf states that human beings feel extremely submissive to authority, when they don’t feel confident and powerful as individuals. He gives the examples of universities in Turkey, as institutions that cultivate this culture of hierarchy and submission.

Unfortunately, since the last military coup in 1980 the academic circles in Turkey failed terribly in terms of adhering to the universal principles of higher education. Instead teaching universal values like equality and freedom, majority of the universities are grinding the young generations into docility and submission. Their institutional culture is inimical to cultivating self-respecting individuals with critical thinking skills. Segregated entrances and lunch halls are all part of this structure that instills submission to authority.

The word university is derived from the Latin word, universe. It is composed by putting together uni (one) and versus (turned), with the combined meaning referring to one becoming whole, as in the whole cosmos.

If we cannot even bring students and faculty together and have them walk through the same gates and have lunch at the same tables, what kind of a whole are we talking about? What kind of a university are we talking about?

When I transferred to a different university in Ankara, one of the first things I appreciated was the de-segregated food court! Faculty members and students all lined up with their trays, chose their meals and sat wherever they could find. All as equal human beings! What a relief, I thought...

Wishing you all free and egalitarian university experiences,

The hierarch-averse Academic Mommy

On Dichotomies and Fused Identities...

Esteemed Readers;

Nothing about Turkey is simple, easy, clear-cut, black-or-white…

Take it’s geographic location: Is it in the Mid East or in Europe? Is it Mediterranean?

How about the identity? Is it Eastern, Eurasian or Western? Is it Muslim or secular?

How free and emancipated are women? Are we traditional or modern?

Tons of academic and polemical debate is devoted on these... Yet, the jury is still out...

Here is yet another thorny subject: How gay friendly is Turkey?

I remember asking some standard tolerance questions on public opinion surveys (adopted from the World Values Survey), during my undergrad years in Istanbul.

The respondents were given some options of potentially dislikable groups, and were asked to pick their least favorite. Then, we would ask what basic rights and liberties they were willing to grant to their least favorite group.

Here is how the questions looked like:

Which group below is you least favorite? - people who drink a lot - people of a different religion - people of a different denomination - unmarried couples - people of a different race - homosexuals

Do you think …….. should have the right to vote? Do you think …… should have the right to run for office in the parliament Would you like to have …… as neighbors

Nearly in all surveys, homosexuals ranked as the top disliked group.

 Here is where things get fudgy:

Zeki Muren

This is the country where two of the top singers in classical Turkish music have openly defied homophobia. Both were loved and cherished by millions! 

And these were not some young, defiant millions. It was the very mainstream, traditional, middle-aged flock that appreciated the music of Zeki Muren and Bulent Ersoy.

Zeki Muren was openly gay. In the 1980s, he wore gleaming silver platform boots and hot pants at his concerts. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1996. To this day, my mother has tears in her eyes, when she hears Zeki Muren's voice…

Bulent Ersoy

Bulent Ersoy –may she have a long, healthy life- is a transsexual. Although she avoids political issues, she doesn’t shy away from taking confrontational positions either. Years ago she received a lot of heat for taking an anti-militaristic position on conscription in Turkey

What prompted me to write this entry was not Muren, nor Ersoy but the zenne tradition in Turkey. Recently, I had the chance to watch the movie, Zenne Dancer.  It’s a Turkish-German co-production, depicting a male dancer in Istanbul.

While giving the most homophobic responses to surveys, it is the same Turkish society that produced the tradition of men dressed as women, belly-dancing… It was an established, mainstream form of entertainment in Anatolia for ages!!!

            The movie was great! Those interested should not read the reviews but rather go see the real thing. On a topic this controversial, I think one should make the effort to receive the first-hand data, before reaching a conclusion. 

For a great essay on gays, transsexuals and zennes in Turkey, see the eminent author Elif Shafak’s article in The Guardian here…

In these miserably cold winter days, wishing you all some warmth in your hearts for all the human differences...

The heterodoxy loving Academic Mommy