IFP

My IFP experience was a very good for several reasons.

Ever since undergraduate Turkish politics have interested me specially since I did I research paper on the EU accession bid. Therefore having the opportunity to come to Turkey and further my knowledge on the subject with the added bonus of experience the context in which they exist. I was fortunate enough to have Turkish friends who were interested in politics and spend many nights and beers exploring the many facets of Turkish politics from the perspective of a educated Turk.

It was also very good that I was able to further my knowledge even before coming to Turkey with the bi weekly IFP seminars where we discussed various topics dealing with contemporary Turkish politics. By listening to there student speak it was a great way to attain further knowledge on the subject at hand.

Lastly, by being able to interview different organizations in my internship I was able to increase my understanding through the perspective of people who currently work in various NGOs. This is not something that can easily be read online or in the library, these were real citizens' interpretations of contemporary issues that affect them personally.

SKYGD

Sosyal-Kulturel Yasami Gelistirme Dernegi (SKYGD) in english: Development of Social and Cultural Life Association .  This is the organization I interned for dealing with issues of social inclusion of marginalized groups in Turkish society through cooperation of various organizations by formulating programs and events dealing with art and culture. I was reaching out to other organizations and gathering data for SKYGD  for the purposes of data collection.

It was a very interesting place to intern as I was able to visit many organizations dealing with a wide range of topics such as LGBT, mental disabilities, Kurdish, Women's, and prisoners. It was also great that I was working along side my friend so it made it a lot easier to go to the meetings together and share notes amongst one another. She was able to ask questions and I may not have thought about and vice versa. It made coordinating between our supervisor and the organizations a lot easier. Although at first I was frustrated for not being placed in an organization, I am very glad that I was granted a position with this organization.

Coming of Age

In many Latin American countries, boys and girls celebrate their 'coming of age' by practicing First Communion around the age of 8-10. This is a ritual that involves the blessing of priest along with a family celebration with food, drinks, dancing and many gifts for the children. This is an opportunity for a child to expand their faith affirm their position as a member of the same culture within their family. There virtually no controversy surrounding the First Communion tradition as it is seen as an important religious affirmation of a child's entry into adolescence and it doesn't harm them in any way.

In the same manner as the first communion, boys in Turkey celebrate the Sünnet where they are given gifts and will often receive the blessing of a Imam. A party with family members then follows as called for by tradition. Unlike the First Communion, however, boys are dressed up to look like Sultans are taken to undergo genital cutting, also known as circumcision. This surgery is the centerpiece of the Sunnet celebration and is a tradition that to this day continues.

During my visit to Istanbul, I would see billboards and other ads on the Tram advertising the Sunnet. Moreover, walking through the streets of Istiklal and the grand Bazar, I saw many 'sultan costumes' being proudly displayed and sold. I saw many young boys also walking around the streets in these outfits, going to their parties or ceremonies.

It baffles me, however, that no one questions the ceremony and its relation to surgical removal of skin on a boy's genitals. I don't understand the correlation between celebrating culture, religion, and tradition with genital cutting. People are too quick to condemn female circumcision but when done to boys, they have no objection or support it. They say its customary and religious, but they fail to see that African women who perform such surgery on their daughters feel the same way.

Pro Palestine

It's not surprising to find a strong support for pro palestine . This comes amidst the increasing conflict and bloodshed in the Gaza strip. I have walked by many graffitis that have pro-palestine slogans, and even some anti-israel comments like "kill israel".

In late July the Israeli embassy was stormed and occupied by several angry Turks who sought to make their frustration notices. Indeed it is often difficult to separate the muslim vs. jewish mentality from the State of Israel and Territory of Palestine discussion. It is hard to make sensible and objective conclusions about the situation when such discussion runs deep within religious and ethnic divides.

All of the Turkish friends who I have 'friended' on Facebook are completely against Israeli attacks in Gaza and often post very pro Israel posts. It is easy to understand where they are coming from, however, as they feel that Israeli land occupation and violence is unjustifiable but are frustrated that nothing has changed or progressed since the conflict began.

One Turkish Identity, Different Turks

Before coming to Turkey, I had not met very many Turkish people. Therefore, my conception of what Turkish people looked like was completely skewed. I thought they would have characteristics resembling more like those from Arab countries. However, my Turkish teacher back in New York was blue eyed and blonde hair. I was a little taken back by this but thought that she was quite an exception.

When I landed to Turkey, however, I realized that Turkish people are very heterogeneous with some being blond and light skinned while others being darker skinned and darker features. One overarching feature however, has to be facial hair as thought that the majority of Turkish men, regardless of their skin color had substantive facial hair.

It is surprising to see how many different phenotypes there exists within one ethnicity called "Turkish". It was quite an eye opening experience.

Ramazan

It is incredibly interesting to compare the difference between the months of June and July. Ramazan was for the month of July and there were significant changes that I was not use to .

For the month of July, the cafes, restaurants and bars seemed to always be full and I didn't think twice that it could be any different. People would eat and drink on the bus, while walking, and there was constant Çay drinking. It was a fun and festive atmosphere and it seemed like nothing could change. 

However, when July came around things seemed much calmer. On the first week of Ramadan my peers from Turkish class and I went to Ortakoy to grab a beer after class. Not remember that it was Ramadan, we were at first shocked to find the streets so desolate, and so many bars closed. 

It was particularly interesting to see the difference in people eating in restaurants throughout the day, almost like a night and day effect. Of course there was little difference in around Taksim, but even here by republika a fair amount of local eateries were closed more often, or completely empty. 

It was also hard to remember not to eat or drink in public while walking or ridding public transit. I have to admit I slipped up a few times but only once did I have someone give me a not-so-nice look. Over all, it was very interesting to watch the progression of busy restaurant and night life, to a much calmer atmosphere.

PRIDE

On June 29th, we had the great opportunity to participate in Istanbul Pride march.
It was a very exciting event and could easily be called a  "dazzling cavalcade of diversity" as there were many people from all walks of life. There were even toddlers and small children who came with their parents, which was great to see particularly in a conservative country such as Turkey.
It was rather interesting that the police just stood by without interfering with the march whatsoever.
At a certain point of the walk we ran into a police truck where people were writing comments and decorating it with rainbow colors.
A few minutes later however, the police came back to find their tagged vehicle and became angry eventually moving the vehicle. Despite this small encounter, I did not notice other interference by the police with the paraders.










I was hoping to spot women dressed in burkas or headscarfs but it was rather difficult to look around as there was supposedly over 70,000 people who attended the march. I did try to identify if there were any other groups there who were clearly not LGBT but did not find them either.

Overall the march was a great to see local Turkish people come out and celebrate with each other.