So it’s day 9 and I’m truly starting to get my bearings in this massive city (or at least the tiny corner of it that we’ve seen so far). My Turkish is still pretty pathetic, for some reason I’m still having problems asking people what their name is (Adınız ne?), and I always seem to get this blank stare of, “what the hell are you talking about?” Oh well …… I’m trying, right? Yesterday we went to Sabanci University, in “Istanbul”, in reality the campus actually petitioned the city to change its borders so that the university would still be considered part of the city, despite how far out it is. While there, we met a few students, as well as attended a couple of lectures so that we could get a feel of what life is like for university students in Turkey. Sabanci is a private liberal arts school, that is ranked as one of the best in the country, and all of its classes are taught in English (like many other campuses around the country). If you’re wondering Alex found out for us, yes, the report seems to show that students tend to take their notes in English. Student life here seems to be almost identical to that of student life in the states, erratic sleep schedules, cramming for tests, partying, and all. In fact the only real difference seemed to be that the dorms there had cleaning services provided for the students. One thing I didn’t get a chance to ask about was the issue of the head scarf ban in universities within the country. However, I’m not sure if the university being a private one, is still affected by the ban. As part of Turkeys policy of secularization, religious iconography is banned in the public sphere. That is not to say that women are not allowed to cover anywhere in public but that to attend a public school, or serve in public office they cannot cover. Actually, walking down the street, it seems as though you are almost as likely to see as many covered women as not (and that includes all types of covering hijab / niqab / abaya). Additionally, men are not allowed to wear traditional beard, or other religious head wear. Currently the issue of the ban is not only limited to Turkey, but a number of other nations around the world as well, namely France. The issue has recently received quite a bit of international notoriety with the uproar caused by the public covering of both, the wives of the President and Prime Minister of Turkey, as well as the Academy Award nominated movie Persepolis. Islamist women in Turkey have gone to the lengths of wearing wigs over their hijab’s so that it is “hidden” and thus allowing them to attend classes in university. However, this act of covering up the scarf actually tends to make the problem even more pronunciated, as opposed to quelling the confrontation between secularists and Islamists. Secularists fear that if they allow women to be covered in places like class, it will put both direct and indirect pressure on women to cover when they don’t necessarily want to. Conversely, Islamists point to the Qur’an which states that women are supposed to dress modestly, which is interpreted as covering. Therefore there really is no clear way around incredibly sensitive and delicate issue.
Also, while we were at Sabanci, we received a special lecture on the history of the Turkish economy as well as Turkeys relation with the EU, and its possible ascension to the union. Official talks with the EU began in Oct. of 2005, however unofficial talks have taken place since the 80’s. The issue of joining the EU also weighs quite heavily on the minds of Turks. Although the Turkish government has been quite aggressively pursuing the issue the EU currently seems to be reluctant to grant membership for a number of reasons. Namely, if Turkey joins, it would become the 2nd largest country in the EU, and because the EU’s power structure is based on population it would drastically change the way things ran. Additionally, because Turkey is relatively far behind economically too many other countries in the union, it greatly impact the economies of other EU countries. Human rights violations, specifically in relation to the Kurdish population in the South Eastern regions of the country also add to the reluctance of the EU to allow Turkey to join. The other major argument being posited, is that of Turkey being a clear Muslim majority country, while the EU is currently all Christian. As a result of the delays in the EU accepting Turkey, Turks are beginning to feel “strung along” and becoming less in favor of joining the EU, despite the numerous advantages being an EU country would provide.