Electricity, College, Kurds.

I’ve been a bit MIA from the blog recently—sorry for that. Quite a bit has happened since my last posting, so I will try to be as concise as possible. One of the things that has become quite common at the house are power outages. Apparently during the summer months, they happen multiple times a week. They range anywhere from a brown-out to a few minute black-out. However, on Monday the power went out for over an hour. I didn’t really think much of it, as I have become quite accustomed to having the power go out. However, come to find out that this electricity ran out. Kasaba, the gated community where my family here lives, runs on what I will call a debit system for electricity. You buy a certain amount and when it runs out, it runs out. There is no meter or any warning that you are running low, so it can become a bit tricky (also, apparently you cannot “refill” you electricity until you run out). I just thought that was an interesting way for electricity to function.

Another difference in our cultures: university. Miray will be going to college next year. Though she did well in high school, she didn’t do nearly as well as she had anticipated on state-mandated exam for all seniors. For this reason, she is not permitted to go to the United States for college, as only the top students are allowed to. Therefore she was wavering between France and Istanbul, before settling on Istanbul (which a bit of persuading from both her boyfriend and parents). College beings in about 7 weeks, and Miray is only just beginning to look at schools. This is quite common here. They first will meet with a general college counselor who will recommend the schools that are within their reach. Then, they will visit a counselor who specializes in the field of student the student wants to pursue so ensure that they are going to receive the best education possible. The final day for the students to apply to the Istanbul universities is August 3rd—less than a month before the school year begins.


Great news for Turkey (and me!): Turkey went smoke-free July 19th. Here below is a poster boasting that Turkey is finally smoke free.



This is the final stage of the smoking ban. They first began earlier last year by banning smoking on airplanes, buses, malls and most commercial enclosed areas. Now they are putting on the final touches by banning smoking in all public areas including restaurants and cafes. This has caused quite a bit of talk, though I have been in the city for twice since the ban, and haven’t seen any rebellion (which the state expected). One of the main reasons why Turkey began the smoking bans was to comply with health regulations set for by the EU in order for Turkey to enhance its application. Now, the focus actually does seem to be for the health of the citizens as opposed to cooperating with the EU.

While I am on the topic of the EU, I’ll mention that the Turks don’t seem as excited as they might have been a year or two ago about joining the EU. Especially with the rising tensions between France and Turkey, the people who I have spoken to here would rather not join an organization who sets so many prerequisites for joining (they believe they are already good enough, and do not necessarily want to become European/western). When I asked Firat, Miray’s boyfriend (who will be applying for an international studies program in college for next year) who Turkey’s greatest ally was, he paused. I gathered it was because he didn’t understand the question, as his English though conversational is not quite as good as Miray’s. But no. The pause was because he never really considered Turkey to have any allies. Though it is a bridge between Europe and the Middle East, it is not part of either. Before coming to Turkey, I was excited to see how Turkey functions in both of these two regions, but I am coming to understand it really is ostracized by both more than accepted.
This next story is the one that has resounded with me the deepest since my arrivals. I am quite interested with the events going on with the Kurds in Southeast Turkey. For those of you unaware of who the Kurds are, they are a separatist group attempting to gain independence from the countries in which their region spans: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.



For decades now there has been ongoing violence in the region, as there is a group of Kurds which are deemed a terrorist group called the PKK. As I am quite interested in the happenings of the Kurds, it is frequently a question that I will inquire about when I am talking about politics here. One of the questions I had was where the Kurds acquired their weapons from, as they are a notorious for living in the poorest regions of Turkey. Firat and Miray glanced at each other before answering me. This time I knew that it was not because Firat needed help translating, they didn’t want to tell me. Finally Miray told me that she thought that the US was supplying the Kurds with weapons. When I asked why she thought this, she explained that if the US helped the Kurds to free themselves, then the Kurds would be indebted to the US, and the US would finally have a solid ally in the Middle East. Also, it (so she says) has been proven that many of the weapons that the Kurds using are from the United States. Though this didn’t surprise me entirely, as I know that our weapons have landed in the hands of many terrorists, she mentioned that it was like the movie “Ironman” (for those of you who haven’t seen it, watch it). The US gives terrorists money because it is cost effective for them. So in addition the US fiscally benefitting from selling weapons to terrorists, she and Firat believe that the US is prompting it so that we have friends in the region.