Thoughts…Urfa
I appear from nowhere and ask the magic question, Do you speak English? Youth come alive eager to communicate in English, in Turkish translated by their friends, in sign language or Turk-English if necessary. They are excited to speak, they are excited to be heard and they are appreciative to have someone listen and respect what they say.
Today we arrived at the Urfa Airport to fly to Istanbul. I spy University students in line at the check in counter and once again leap at the opportunity. Do you speak English? A little – responds a surprised young man in the red T-shirt. The young woman near him says, yes but we are all very tired. They have just finished a swim competition and they won.
We continue to talk briefly. They are from Istanbul and they are all around 20 years old. We note that we are on the same plane and as I am walking away I say that if they have any questions for me about America, to please come ask me. I starting walking to the gate and the next thing I knew, my friend in the red T-shirt came up to me and invited me to join his group of friends sitting together in the lobby. Three of the young women had been cultural exchange students in Texas, Michigan and Illinois when they were in High School. I am honored and I am appreciative to be invited into their world.
I say to them, the future of the world is in your hands, the youth of the world, your generation! They wrap their arms around the responsibility and run with it. They are warm, bright, funny, welcoming, appreciative and eager to share their opinions.
Here are the thoughts of some of the students:
Some believe that America is not good for their country. They do not like the politics. They believe that President Obama is the face of change but one leader cannot change the world. My new friend in the red T-shirt thinks that President Obama believes that he is more important than he is. We clarify that to mean that President Obama wants to make changes in the world but the world is very complicated and he is only one leader in a world of many leaders.
They wanted to know if I knew of Ataturk, their revered leader who made reforms in Turkey in the 1920’s that still exist today. It was expressed that they will wait and see if President Obama will succeed in making change, but they stated emphatically that if Ataturk came to America, there would be change.
I asked what they thought of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and they said that they thought that Israel was a Little America and that the Palestinians were poor and nobody takes care of them, not even the Arab world.
When I asked them if they feared that what happened in Iran could happen in Turkey, they said no because “we will not let it happen”.
I have only connected with primarily conservative Muslim and Christian youth, I hope to have the opportunity to connect with the more observant Muslim youth. That is going to be more difficult, but I believe important in order to have a balanced understanding of Turkish youth in today’s world.
The students I met want to continue the conversation I look forward to hearing their comments in replies on the blog.
Thank you Yavuz, Ekin, Nisan, Yavuz, Barany, Ozlem, Meric, Engin, Mutluerkan and your friends for sharing your lives. I welcome you to Generation Connect!
Peace, Harmony and Good Wishes to you all!
Continuing the Conversation This is a wonderful exchange with one of the youth I met in Turkey recently. I kept it as-is so that you can see it:
Hello Trudi,
This is Ekin ,one of the students you met in Urfa airport. I am really glad to have met you. What you do for Generation Connect is amazing! I personally thank you so much for caring about our thoughts and listening to us.
I did not understand the part in the blog where you said “I have only connected with primarily conservative Muslim youth, I hope to have the opportunity to connect with the more observant Muslim youth.” Because I think our group is one of the student groups in which religion is in the third even in the fourth place in our lives. I remember stating that we go to Bogazici University which is one of the best schools in Turkey. If you are informed we have to take an exam to be accepted to a college like SAT but a much harder one since the competition is so great and the schools are too few. So the students who get accepted to the University we go are the ones to take this exam and get any place in the first thousand of a million people. I never claim that having been taken this exam and getting a great place makes the students better in thoughts and views but there is a great possibility that most of the students have the opportunity to observe and criticize in a way more educated way. I do actually make judgements about the system since it make the opportunity-lacking students not get any proper education. I don’t want to make you think the education is so horrible in Turkey. It is indeed great for the most part. Well I found a way to compare the high school education in USA and in Turkey. The high school I went to I was seen as “a nerd who never studies” because it was too easy for me. So we go back to the subject of competition. It makes people
study harder so the life standards gets bitter in Turkey.
I again thank you for your attention. Talk to you soon.
Ekin
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Dear Ekin,
Thank you so much for writing back! While still in Turkey, I emailed all of you and I originally sent you the blog I wrote before I put it on the website. I wanted approval and corrections from you first so I didn’t misrepresent you. My emails within Turkey must have been blocked, as I didn’t hear from you.
What I meant by conservative was that religion was not the central part of your lives and that I wanted to also talk to youth who’s religion is the central, most important part of their families. What terms should I use to describe you versus those young people of Turkey? I would appreciate it if you would correct what I wrote. I would also like your permission to add your email to the comments section on the website.
I just returned home on Wednesday night and have not had the opportunity to write about my experiences in Turkey, especially with youth. I will try to finish this weekend.
I know you are in the middle of finals for the next two weeks. When you are finished I would like to invite you and your friends to become part of Generation Connect as representatives of youth in Turkey. I am reorganizing now and will keep you informed.
Meeting you, your friends and other youth were the highlights of Turkey. You have a very beautiful and very interesting country.
Thank you again. I look forward to continuing the conversation with you.
——
Hello Trudi,
I think I got it the way around but now I can see why. Thank you though for explanation. So what I was trying to tell you is that the observant youth would not be able to talk to you about the issues of the world because some of them I know and in general they are supressed by their families and by the closed society they live in. They don’t get the proper education so they don’t watch the news or read the newspaper or even read anything. If they make comments on anything they just tell you what they hear from the family leader or a leader they see as an icon or a trustful person who maybe just a figure for them but nobody else educated. You can of course put my commentary on the blog but I think I was just mistaken
by the structure of the sentence that you said “conservative and observant”.
Well how did you like Izmir my hometown?
Take care
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Hi Ekin –
Thank you for the explanation. I began to understand that I would not be able to talk to the very religious youth. Your emails are going to be great on the blog. Can you think of a better way to describe your group, a word or phrase other than “conservative”? Well educated, muslim and Christian youth versus very observant Islamic youth, perhaps?
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Trudi,
Well we read and learn about the religions in a more objective way. well Most of us dont I do accept that I am one of the few. Here is another thing I have a lot of relative who are indeed religious but this not an obstacle for me to stop learning about the human discoveries one of which is religion. I claim that we have the opportunity and guts(!) to think and talk freer than the people who are under pressure. I dont really know how we can refer to us and them. You can just leave it like this. It wouldn’t hurt:)