The student perspective in Turkey
By Gary Graham | September 25, 2008 | Turkey
One of the many benefits of our 10-day trip across Turkey has been the wide range of individuals we've had access to, from the prime minister to villagers living in dusty poverty.
One day this week we spent the morning and lunch time with 15 to 20 students of Sabanci University, a 10-year-old private university about 25 miles outside the city core. In the evening, we split into groups of threes and fours to have dinner in the private home of ordinary Turks.
The students were eager to discuss their country's future and the role they themselves will play. The family I visited with two of my colleagues was more subdued. The students are paying $20,000 to $25,000 a year in tuition. The family of Abidin Karabulut, on the other hand, has to survive on far less than those tuition payments.
Abidin's cousin, 48-year-old Suleiman, used to be a well-paid hotel manager. However, Suleiman does not speak English and as the hotel saw its English-speaking clientele increase, it replaced Suleiman.
Suleiman now works in a publisher's warehouse, bringing home only about $400 a month. Rent on the family's four-room apartment in the Gazi Mah neighborhood is $320, so his two teenage children, each making about $480 a month, are playing key roles in the family's survival.
By comparison, Abidin's father runs a teahouse but is also a musician who can make more than $300 for performing for two hours at a wedding.
Abidin and his family are Alevis, considered an unorthodox, liberal branch of Islam. According to the BBC, it is estimated that as many as one in five Turks worships this way. Abidin says Alevis don't go to mosques because that's where Alevi was slain centuries ago. Alevis believe in both Alevi, God and Mohammed.
Abidin described three fundamentals of the Alevi faith:
-- Never lie.
-- Don't cheat on your husband or your wife
-- Don't steal from others.
Alevis don't fast during Ramadan, although they fast at other times of the year.
As for the students at the prestigious Sabanci University, members of our group heard a variety of opinions from the students, many of whom are studying management, economics and engineering. Asked “what do you fear most?” the students gave answers we would find in the U.S.:
-- Finding a job
-- The transformation around the world, especially regarding economic and social issues.
-- An economic crash
-- The polarization in Turkish politics.
One student, perhaps reflecting universal cynicism of political life, said “It's hard to be a politician in Turkey if you are honest.” Another student said simply, “Most of my generation is not interested in politics.” A third student said young people are not encouraged to enter politics and argued that such events as a military coup in 1980 discouraged students from getting involved. Still, this particular group of young Turks seemed very interested in politics and world affairs. And the vast majority said they liked Barack Obama over John McCain.
No matter the age group, when the discussion turns to how women are treated in Turkish society, the issue of wearing headscarves comes up. This mostly Muslim country is secular by constitution and practice, but the ruling AK Party has Islamist leanings. The AK-controlled government recently moved to eliminate the ban on wearing scarves in public universities. The government move was overruled by a court, but the issue still comes up frequently in many conversations with visiting journalists.
Sabanci has what it calls a middle of the road policy toward scarves. Students are allowed to wear the scarves while on campus but not in the classrooms.
One female student said “Living as a girl or a woman is very hard in Turkey.” The underlying issue on scarves, she said, “is a gender issue. The head scarf is just a symbol.”
The university president said women often hold top positions in academia, but that is less likely in other employment sectors.
“In some ways, women prefer getting older faster because it's easier for them to live as an older woman,” said another female student. Still another said “for me, in Istanbul and Sabanci, being a woman is no big deal.”
Most of the students seemed eager to see Turkey expand its role in the world. One key to attaining an increased status would be approval of Turkey's application for membership in the European Union. “We want to catch up with the world,” said one student. “We want Turkey to have more global say. Turkey at least will become a regional power in the next 10 years.”
Our tour of Turkey, sponsored by the International Reporting Project at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, officially ended on Wednesday. As I write this on Thursday, we're on a three-hour and 20 minute flight from Istanbul to London, where we will connect with a British Airways flight to Washington, D.C. I've been unable to post any of the more than 200 photos I took on this trip because I forgot to bring along my USB cord, but I hope to put up some of the images along with more narrative when I return to the U.S.
Your donation helps continue the IRP's work to inform the public about international issues.
Make A Gift