Whenever I tell people I want to go to Turkey for two years to get a Masters in International Affairs and Public Policy, I always get a funny look followed by “Why Turkey?” When I first pitched the idea to my mom, the conversation when something like this:
“TURKEY? That’s in the Middle East right?”
“Yeah…”
“Well how close is it to Iraq?”
“Uh…it shares a border.”
::visibly taken aback:: “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Michael.”
I think this incredulity is rooted in some misconceptions about Turkey. It seems most people think Turkey is a cross between Mexico and Iran with a hint of Egyptian exoticism thrown in. Granted, the country is relatively poor and 99.8% Sunni Muslim, but it is important to remember that the country isn’t Arab, its Turkish, which is a distinctly different culture.
Turkey has been a confluence of eastern and western cultures for thousands of years. Sure, it borders Iraq and Iran, but it also borders Greece, the seed of western culture. Troy is/was located in Turkey, as was the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, two of the seven ancient wonders of the ancient world. John the Revelator wrote the seven letters in the beginning of Revelation to churches all in Turkey: Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7), Smyrna (now the third largest city in Turkey, Izmir, in Revelation 2:8-11), Pergamum (now called Bergama, in Revelation 2:12-17), Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29), Sardis (3:1-6), Philadelphia (3:7-13), and Laodicea (3:14-21). Emperor Constantine moved the seat of the Roman Empire to the Grecian colony Byzantium, renaming it Nova Roma (New Rome), but that didn’t catch on like the name Constantinople did. He also designated the Bishop of Constantinople to have the same rank as the Bishop of Rome (aka The Vicar of Christ, aka His Holiness, aka The Pope), sparking the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox church. The city became the largest and richest city in Europe by the 5th century and stayed that way until about the 15th century when it fell to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Turks renamed it Istanbul (from the original Greek "eis tin poli" "to the city"), which didn’t become the official name of the city until 1930.
Aside from geopolitics, Turkey was extraordinarily important economically since most trade routes going east to Asia and west to Europe had to pass through Turkey or end in Turkish ports.
In modern times, Turkey hasn’t changed its role much. It’s still the knee between the west’s thigh and the east’s calf. It’s been a member of NATO since 1952, is currently heading all security operations in Afghanistan, is allied and trains with the Israeli military (Turkey was one of the first to recognize Israel when it formed, I'm not sure any others in the Middle East have formally yet) and is currently making a serious play to be admitted to the EU. Lots in Europe want to prevent the accession because “its cultural and religious roots are too different from EU countries.” That’s Europe’s superiority complex if I ever saw it. Turkey’s roots are intertwined with Europe as far back as recorded history goes. Turkey is the Cinderella of Europe, living all her life with a stepmother and sisters who refuse to recognize her as part of the family while she does the work keeping the house together.
It’s been a stable, secular democracy for years, which is particularly interesting given its demographics and region. It’s a nation on the cusp of Weberesque modernity due to its history of pluralism and the tons of money it’s dumped into education in recent decades. Given all this, my interest in technological developments and a society’s interaction with technology (the ISF degree), and its future potential, Turkey is an extremely attractive country to study in, especially since they let me do it in English. And when in my life am I ever going to get to do something like this again? C'mon, how cool is that?
# posted by Mike @ 10:54 PM
