Birce
I am a 26 year old Turkish woman and I am scared.
I don’t know if you are up to what has been going on in Turkey recently. If you are, then I am sure you will empathize. If you are not, let me tell you why I feel so.I am from southern part of Turkey, known as the ‘city of the Sun’, Antalya. I consider myself to be lucky to be raised by a family who knew freedom and equality were not something given; they were things that every single individual was born with and no one could interfere with what you do with your own life. Although I felt really happy with this while I was growing up, I never thought this way of thinking of freedom would cause me find myself teargassed in Taksim while I was protesting…Birce3 min read
An open letter to anyone who plans to visit Istanbul this summer: Don’t.
Yes, Istanbul is a city that is hugged by different layers of history and culture; it is true that we have amazing food here, the weather will make you forget about the harsh winter and probably it is going cost you way less than any other city in your list. Plus, probably you are not required to obtain a visa to come. But there is one thing you should know; you are going to visit a city in which politicians are calling ‘necrophiliacs’ to hundreds of thousands of people who gathered for the funeral of a 15 year old boy who was shot by the police on his way to buy bread.Birce4 min read
“Fremdschämen”- The word Turkish language needs desperately.
Fremdschämen is a word in German language that can roughly be translated as the feeling of embarrassment in place of for someone else, for something they do. Nowadays, it seems to be there is none another that can reflect the feelings of the Turkish people who have a bit of common sense and conscience, towards the recent leaked tape scandals and the release of people all of whose names have been involved in the biggest corruption in the recent Turkish politics.Birce3 min read