Merhaba!

Lucy and I recently started taking Turkish lessons at the Hudson Turkish American Cultural Association in Ridgefield, New Jersey. One of Lucy’s close friends at Bergen Community College is from Turkey and she urged her to enroll in the free Sunday evening classes. I went along out of curiosity and because of a long-term interest in the country. When I was in college majoring in Political Science I took a course in Mid-East politics and learned that the region’s cultural, political and religious landscape is complex and should not be easily generalized. Turkey is a case in point. The country straddles both Europe and Asia with the Bosporus straits serving as the gateway between the two continents. Starting in the 1920’s Turkey, under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk, embarked on a program of becoming more like Europe, such as with the adoption of a Roman style alphabet. Political reforms followed and Turkey is now one of the few true democracies in the region. Turkey is eager to join the European Economic Union and began negotiations in 2005, a process that is likely to take a decade.

I worked with a Turkish co-worker at a travel agency during the 1980’s and again when I was at Merrill Lynch a few years ago. Until now that was my only experience in meeting Turkish people. I came away with a very positive attitude towards Turks because they were both very professional and exceedingly personable. Now that we are having the opportunity to meet and talk with many more Turkish people, I’m finding that that previous experience was no anomaly.