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| My friend Erdem Akalin |
For my project I interviewed four Turkish people associated with the university; two males, two females, two undergraduates, one graduate student, and one professor. The first person I interviewed was Erdem Akalin; Erdem is from Bursa in western Turkey and is a sophomore foreign exchange student. The second person I interviewed was Ceren Kaplan, she is also a sophomore undergraduate student and is from Ankara, the capital of Turkey. The third person I interviewed was Doruk Ozturk, Doruk is an graduate student majoring in Hydrogeology and is also from Ankara. The final interview I did was with Demet Batur, and professor in the College of Business at UNL. Each of these interviews allowed me to gain a slightly different perspective on the culture I was studying.
The first topic brought up by everyone I interviewed was
the history of Turkey as a nation. Turkey was founded as a republic out of the
ruins of the Ottoman Empire in the post-World War 1 era. The Turks had lost a
large amount of land to neighboring countries following the first World War
but, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, now known as Ataturk, they were
able to reclaim much of this land and start rebuilding their nation. This
reclamation of land is a point of pride for almost all Turks. Doruk Ozturk
summed it up best in his interview saying, “Of course I am influenced by our
history, it is a part of who I am.”
How could anyone discuss Turkish history without
discussing the man who almost individually brought Turkey into the modern world
as a nation and got them onto a level playing field with the rest of the world
powers? Ataturk was one of the first leaders in the modern world to grant
rights to both women and minorities. He put rules, regulations, and policies in
place to prevent Islamist extremism. He was also single-handedly changed the
language and style of Turkish life; practically inventing the Turkish language
on his own. Although some of Ataturk’s policies are now becoming outdated and
are being replaced, it is hard to deny that he had a major impact on a nation
that was developing when he took over as Prime Minister. He was truly one of
the great visionaries of the 20th century.
Partly because of its geographical positioning but also
because of its historical background, Turkish culture is the product of
cultural mixing. You see, Turkey is a very complex nation, its location allows
for easy access and trade with the European nations to the west, giving it a
modern feel to it. But at the same time it has great partnerships with its
neighbors to the east in the Middle East and Asia. This bond with the Middle
East has established strong religious identities among a large portion of the
Turkish population. However, unlike some nations in that region, if you ask a
Turkish person how they would identify themselves, Muslim would not be one of
the first things to come up. Overall, Turks love conversation, family, and the
comforts of home life. This is not just some coincidence, this is a culture
shaped by influences from the east and west, Europe and Asia.
From the four interviews I performed I recorded six
identities that Turkish people most strongly identify as major contributing
factors to their individual identity as well as their overall cultural identities.
The most commonly mentioned identity was National identity. Turks are a proud
people who know their history by heart and are proud to tell you about all of
the great things about Turkey; national identity is what links all Turks
together. The second most mentioned identity was Religious identity. Seeing as
how a vast majority of Turks are Muslim it is only fitting that this be high up
on the list. Turkish people take pride in their religion, and although it is
the focal point of many arguments over the government, it is still something
that goes hand in hand with this unique culture. The third most mentioned topic
was Familial identity. Familial bonds in Turkey run deep; it is not unnatural
to see a Turkish person living at home well into their 20s. The fourth most
mentioned topic was that of Gender identity. Gender identity is always going to
be either very influential or very restrictive in a predominantly Muslim
country. Luckily Turkey is a more modern Islamic state and the consequences of
being male or female are not too extreme either way. The only real influences
are gender expectations; men are expected to work, whereas women are expected
to stay home and take care of babies.
Number five on the list
is Age identity. Age Identity is an important aspect of Turkish culture; even
more so nowadays as Turkey has experienced a population boom recently,
increasing its number of youths by a great amount. Young people are expected to
respect their elders and leave the bulk of conversation to them. However, with
more and more young people in today’s Turkey it will be interesting to see if
that expectation stays. Last on the list is Class identity. In Turkey, as it is
everywhere, if you have money, you can do anything. In other words, in Turkey
the rich hold power and dictate the direction of the country. And in 21st
century Turkey, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Turkey may not be a place where stereotypes are held
about other Turks, but there are gender roles which men and women are expected
to occupy. In Turkey women are expected to cook, men garden, and kids don’t
work until they graduate from college. Women have weekly tea time in which they
invite over their neighbors and gossip. Men have something called Kiraanthane,
which involves men gathering in back rooms to drink coffee, smoke cigarettes,
play backgammon, and gamble on sports, like soccer. Women go shopping, case in
point, Ankara, a city of 5 million people, has 10 malls. Men go to soccer
matches, where the result their team gets on a weekly basis determines whether
or not there will be riots that weekend. To combat this clubs like Fenerbahce
in Istanbul have started banning men from matches entirely.
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| President Erdogan |
Government divides opinion like nothing else in Turkey.
Current President Erdogan and his wife are extremely religious and have set
about to chip away at Ataturk’s policies little by little. Everyone I talked to
had something negative to say about the Turkish government. Erdem said, “The
government tries to cover up state issues through implementation of religious
policies.” Ceren said, “they feed poor people so they will vote for them,” and
that “Erdogan is like a dictator.” Doruk was rather blunt with his statement,
saying “The current government is extreme, no one likes the government.”
However, the most philosophical statement came from Professor Batur, she said
“The economy is going well along with other things, we will see if they can
find a balance, in general people are happy.” By balance she meant that if the
government can strike the right balance between religious policy implementation
and standard government procedures, they will be successful.
The next aspect of Turkish culture we discussed was the
education system. Many Turkish students come to America because a degree from
the States is very marketable. However, in order to get here, Turkish students
must go through a rigorous curriculum of secondary school. Parents push their
children to become doctors and engineers. For this reason, much emphasis is
placed on the equivalent of the ACT in Turkey. If you can do well on this exam,
you can become what you want. But you better be 100% sure that that is what you
want to do, because once you select your major there is no switching. It is
interesting to note that in Turkey college education is viewed as supplementary
to high school education.
In all of my interviews I asked the participants to
compare Turkey to the United States and vice versa. Erdem flat out told me that
the US is stereotyped as fat and uneducated in Turkey and other portions of the
world. He also said that Turkey is good but some aspects and social stigmas can
often be overbearing. Also, he noted that the food is good in both places.
Doruk said that in the US people do not care for one another and that
everything is very organized and regulated; whereas in Turkey it is the
opposite. Demet had the most interesting view in my opinion. She said that
there is more work discipline in the US than in Turkey, that there is less
ethnic diversity in Turkey because everyone is ethnically Turk there. Demet
also said that in the US people are more political and that people are often
more protective of their private lives, which, as she said, “is more natural
with so many different cultural backgrounds.” She also went on to say that you
are going to change your level of openness depending on who you are talking to.
One of the other participants, Erdem, disagreed with this statement, saying
“Race does not matter to me; I will be open with anyone.” I believe this is a
truly admirable quality in a person and I think that is the mindset of a
majority of young Turks nowadays.
The next topic I discussed with the participants was
Popular Culture, be it American pop culture they consumed or any Turkish pop
culture, every participant had something to say about it. Erdem said he would
watch American television shows like Fringe,
CSI: New York, Heroes, Lost\, and Ellen DeGeneres, and listen to American
rap music like Lil Wayne to help him
learn English. Through consuming popular culture Erdem grew to perceive
Americans as crazy people who knew how to party and had lots of blonde women.
Ceren did not really indulge in American pop culture because she did not learn
the English language until very late into her teen years, but she did mention
that she would watch Turkish soap operas about the Ottoman Empire and listen to
Turkish hip-hop music. Demet was slightly older than the rest of the
participants and did not have the same experience consuming pop culture as the
rest of the participants. When she was growing up there was only on television
channel and it was state run. So a majority of her experiences with American
culture came from the fast food chains American companies had brought to
Turkey, like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and
KFC, she said that these restaurants had a better reputation in Turkey than
they did in the States, not only were they healthier but they were fancier as
well.
The last thing I
discussed with all participants was the U-Curve theory and each of their
individual experiences with it. Erdem said that he was excited to experience
the American dream upon arriving here after consuming so much pop culture, but
he faced a rude awakening upon arriving in the small town of Franklin,
Nebraska. He lived on a farm and took part in doing farm work with his host
family. This was disappointing and depressing for Erdem because he came from a
family in which both of his parents were doctors in Turkey and the idea of what
youth should and shouldn’t do is different from Turkey to Franklin, Nebraska.
Eventually Erdem was able to cheer up once he was able to start playing
basketball (it is important to note that Erdem is 6’7”). It was not the same
for Doruk and Ceren though, both of them said they experienced little to no
adaptation period upon arriving in the states. When I asked why they both said
it was because they came from one of the more westernized parts of Turkey. Once
again Demet gave some of the best insight into this topic out of all four
participants. She talked about how she moved here in 2001 and was excited for
new things and new opportunities, but after a while she realized that nothing
was perfect. She, like many other international students and migrants, missed
home, family, friends, and in this case, Turkish food. She told me how much she
had to learn in such a short time. Think about this; we have 10-15 years to
learn everything about our culture, cues, manners, etiquette, etc, but migrants
must learn all that in the span of a year. There was so much adaptation and
learning, and some adjusted better than others. But there were others that for
whatever reason missed more what they lost than what they gained, and decided
to go home. Obviously transitioning from one culture to another is hard, but if
you can make it over the hump, or in this case the U, then you might just find
happiness in a place you never thought you would.
Turkish culture is like a body of water in which ocean
and fresh water meet. There is diverse life and unique surroundings. It is the
best of the west mixed with the best of the east. It is interesting, exotic,
and unique; a true gem in a part of the world where beauty is often
overshadowed by violence and bureaucracy. Turkey is home to some of the most
interesting people in the world. My friend Erdem told me that I am welcome to
come there and visit him any time I want. I might just have to go experience
Turkish culture first hand someday.
Works Cited
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013).
Intercultural Communication in Context. (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
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