The People and Some Closing Thoughts on Turkey

I do not think that I could do justice to the gratitude I feel towards the Turkish people in just this one post. Nevertheless, I would like to try by sharing a compilation of my experiences from the trip.

In my experience as an American traveling overseas, I have come to know but one thing: in many ways after traveling to both Haiti and Turkey I have come to sense that in many ways the American people can be quite xenophobic. By no means, do I want to make a vast generalization of all Americans. In many ways Americans are hospitable to foreign visitors. However, I do not think that I have ever encountered the kind of hospitality that I time and again experienced during my stay in Turkey. I do want to underscore this statement by mentioning that in many ways the people that I met in Turkey were in one way or another trying to make our stay as comfortable as possible. Many of the people we met worked in the hotels we stayed at, ran the tours that we went on, were our guides at historic places, and sold us items from their shops. Obviously any good entrepreneur is going to accomodate the needs of their customer. However, in Turkey I found this to beyond what I have experienced back home.

In Turkey, as with most developed nations, big businesses and conglomerates are on the rise. However, in Turkey I felt that there still was a strong small business community. Though I only stayed in Turkey for seventeen days and have a limited experience with Turkish culture, I felt like open arms and open doors were often extended to me. Most restaurant owners sparked lengthy conversations with us.

In fact, in one circumstance as I was passing by a mosque near Taksim while looking for a store one evening I asked a man sitting outside a hotel for directions. The man, who spoke English fluently, not only took it upon himself to help guide us to our location, but he also invited us back to have tea and coffee at midnight outside of what we discovered was his own hotel. This owner knew that we already had lodgings and were leaving Turkey within a day or so but still managed to talk to us about American, European, and Turkish politics and culture. He told us of his time studying in the United States, how he came back to Turkey to take over the hotel that his family had owned for about fifty years, and his sentiments on life in Istanbul. In the end, this discussion led to one of the more fascinating conversations I partook in during my stay in Turkey: Turkey's possible integration into the European Union.

I was very interested to hear this hotel owner's perspective. From my understanding he was a well-educated man (he received his graduate degree at American University in Washington), a small business owner, and was in his middle ages. During our conversation, he discussed what he considered to be the downside to Turkey's possible acceptance into the EU. Although countries, particularly Greece and Spain, have adamantly and openly declared their opposition towards this future possibility, Turkey becoming part of the EU is still on the floor for discussion. When I had discussed it earlier in my stay with other Turkish people, most were in favor of it. Nonetheless, it was this one owner that spoke quite fervently against it.

I think this was when a strong sense of nationalism finally sunk in. The type of nationalism that can be seen in each statue of Ataturk that is erected in virtually every town that I visited. Now it goes without saying that nationalism runs deep in America, but I do not know if I appreciated this strong sense of nationalism until I had a spontaneous conversation with a hotel owner at 2 in the morning one night. He talked about how strong of a nation Turkey was and how it had withstood unstable economic times before. He said that Turkey possessed something that no other member of the European Union possessed (sadly, by the time I got back I forgot exactly what this was, because we talked for about three hours). Honestly, his argument was compelling and makes me want to thoroughly explore this topic more in my coursework. By the end of the evening I was worn down; however, the owner made me come up to the roof to take a picture from one of his balconies. He never made us pay for the food or beverages he shared. He just was a friendly man that left an indelible mark on my trip.

Although that was one of the most compelling incidents, I could cite numerous other ones. I discussed the Islamic religion in the middle of the night at one of the hotels I stayed at with one of the younger workers as I was adjusting to the jet lag. He explained how Islam faith and practice worked in Istanbul. It once again was a brilliant conversation. I cannot imagine staying up at a Days Inn or a Holiday Inn in the United States and talking to the one front desk worker for hours if I just felt like talking.

Another man who was one of about 50 or more carpet dealers that I visited throughout Turkey invited us to his home to have a traditional Turkish meal. I had Uzo for the first time there. That was an interesting experience. He asked me before the meal started, "Would you like to purchase the kilim? If you are not going to buy it, you are still friends and please stay the evening and chat with my wife and I." To me that was astounding. By the end of the night, he showed us the apartment that they own and told us that if we ever were in Istanbul again to please call him and that we were welcome to stay free of charge if his son was not around.

Yet again, very late one evening as I was passing the Blue Mosque on the way back to our hotel, I walked passed a restaurant that had a courtyard that looked straight up at the Blue Mosque. The restaurant was void of most customers due to the late hour; however, there were a few gentlemen enjoying some beverages at a table near the door. As I looked at the menu to more closely examine the prices, the man turned to me and asked if we wanted to come in for some food or a beverage. I told him that we really were on our way home and really only desired to "maybe" have one apple tea before bed. He turned to us then and told us that he was the owner of the restaurant (it is at this point that I would like to state that his restaurant was the most impressive one I saw in all of Turkey and one of the more expensive ones) and that it was his birthday. He told us that we could have a table and whatever we wanted was on the house. At this point I grew quite skeptical. I had rarely ever experienced generosity such as this. At first, I only ordered two apple teas, because I knew that I could afford them if I in any were being swindled. However, shortly thereafter, one of the waiters, a younger man, came up to us and asked if we would like to play backgammon and speak English with him. He was a student and had no customers left.

Several hours went by and we talked and talked. We had many teas, and I tried a water-pipe for the very first time. Since the man was our age the conversation was quite entertaining. He would tell us what certain Turkish words meant and we would tell him new English words, which he wrote down on a notepad. After several hours, we decided that it was time to go. As we proceeded to the exit we noticed that the restaurant was closed and had been for quite some time. The owner was long gone and the teas and water-pipe truly were just hospitable gifts. I guess I should have let my guard down earlier.

It is not often that I see this openness in America. It is not often one encounters Turkish farmers who are picking up family members and don't even speak a lick of English come greet you at the bus station in a desolate town to just greet you and ask your name (that happened on the way to Kas).

I guess to sum it all up: I have the utmost respect for the Turkish people (mind you some of the business dealers in the Grand Bazaar were a tad bit pushy) and cannot wait to eventually return to visit the friends I made on my trip. Maybe my trip was out of character. Maybe my trip was abnormal. Either which way, I wouldn't have it any other way.