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Turkey
Culture & Identity
Turkey's Personality
Turkey is the land of a million and one carpet shops...
every person you meet owns a carpet shop, has a relative who owns a carpet shop,
or has a friend who owns a carpet shop. In fact, it's difficult to walk more
than a block in any direction, in any town, at any time of day without meeting a
new "friend," who will gladly take you to one of these shops.
Turkey is very unique in many ways. They are Turkic, yet
are surrounded by Arabs, Greeks, Slavs, Persians,
Armenians, and Georgians. This outside influence
from the above groups and even back to the days of Constantinople has made Turkey
open to suggestions, yet also encourages them to take pride in being Turkish. Turkey
has been secular for nearly a century, yet they remain Muslim; they embrace capitalism
and alcohol, yet are considered a great ally of the Islamic
Middle Eastern countries; they are the crossroads between east and west,
the present and the past, Europe and Asia.
Identity
Turks identify as such and after touting their friend's
carpet shop, they are eager to inform you that they are liberal Muslims and enjoy
beer as much as the next European. Many Turks seem torn
between their past, their religious allies, their location and a will for a capitalistic
future looking west towards Europe. After all, Europe begins and ends at the Bosporus
Straight, which runs down the middle of Istanbul.
This page was last updated: February, 2012