On leaving Turkey (2021)
ahmetomer.net
ahmetomer.net
Enjoy Istanbul! It's a beautiful time of the year, too. I wish you best of luck in your future adventures.
The other 4 are grass being greener.
Unknown future, I would suggest Germany has the most unknown future out of any country right now.
Country leadership, reads like a lot of countries, even a cynical US take.
Too much politics, literally politics.
Architecture, this one is interesting. If you're comparing a postcard or even tourist perspective to a city that you've grown up and lived in your whole life, you will be able to see warts and all what you know but nothing from the city you're comparing it to.
I've had the privilege now of living in a bunch of different cities for enough time to get to know them more than just as a tourist. I would suggest 2 months of time at a minimum to get the vibe, 4-6 to actually know a place and then the more subtle details continue to be noticed / learned of from then on.
A concrete example of something you won't understand about a city until you've lived there is the postal service / how easy it is to recieve things. I had a drivers license circumnavigate the globe after it was returned to sender thanks to the efficency of the Spanish postal service and their ridiculous Franco era hand cart delivery.
Most corruption indexes rank Turkey as being pretty damn corrupt, which would seem to be pretty well confirmed by having had its government and judiciary turned into the whipping boys of an all-powerful dictator. Do you see that in Germany's future? Because... why? The prospect of high energy prices for a few years?
Expats like to hang out in countries like Thailand, ruled by a military junta, and opine that it's all fine and dandy, what could possibly be better!? It's remarkable, really.
That alone might indicate a world of difference to other political systems.
What? Care to elaborate?
- Slowing down (Turkish people always in a rush)' - Saying 'NO' (we tend to say YES a lot eventhough we think it is a no situation, both in your real life and work life) - Every people I met, they already visited most of the countries in Europe, so they are travelling all world and met with different people from different cultures. Before I came Europe I only visited one country other than Turkey. It takes some time learn other cultures and how to behave... - Politics is stupid. - There are other problems than economy, middle east, religion etc. People are talking about sustanability, climate change, electronic cars etc.
There are other things but these are the ones come to my mind so far :)
Then COVID and Russia happened, and now the world is catching up in doom and gloom. :)
On the other hand, I find these attitudes hypocritical when it comes to war and Ukraine. As if suddenly, these people realized war is bad. Turkish people have been facing it since 2003, if we talk about terrorism we may have to go back even further.
The Syrian War was never discussed, but now everyone is talking about the Ukraine War, and no action is taken instead of painting big buildings yellow and blue.
Not being able to bend the rules.
Sorting rubbish.
The need to get 3 quotes before you get anyone to work on your house
The fact that not everything is a conspiracy
Foreigners sometimes prefer to finish work properly rather than fast - e.g. without leaving wires sticking out of the wall in a big shopping mall etc.
Non Turks aren't all accustomed to you going up and talking to their baby as a total stranger
Not having toilets that squirt water on your bum like they do in Turkey.
This would be sad. Turkish food, for example, might sometimes be good but the world has a lot to offer and I've met a lot of Turks who won't try anything (Brits are probably slightly better on average but many are just as bad).
I have a 1000000 lira note right here that a friend gave me around the year 2000. I kept it because I liked the big number on it. It looks special. Even then he mentioned that it was only about a dollar or two
There is a cycle of wanting economic benefit, then finding that it’s too hard to actually spend it in the US political climate.
However, when I said 'peace' I meant in the interpersonal sense. The US is nice, but there's something to be said about living in a homogenous environment identical to that of your youth.
I find it quite sad how so many capable people leave their motherland because of lack of opportunities. The rich countries keep getting the best people from countries worse off, it seems like a vicious cycle.
Spoken with the confidence (and arrogance?) of someone that's not aware of how rich countries help to create the problems that cause young people to flee their homelands.
Isn't the current inflation and investment issues in Turkey caused by Erdogan? He remains in power by blaming "the west" without providing details and using nationalism to gain votes [1]. He then also gets votes by pandering to conservative Muslims.[2][3].
It's similar to what's going on in the US
[1]https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/13/erdogan-blames-turkeys-curre...
[2]https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14683857.2019.1...
Why would Germans feel sad about software developers (listed as shortage occupation in Germany) and other educated/experienced mid-class workers moving in to Germany, getting things done and paying taxes?
A major industry moved to my local area about 30 years ago. It radically transformed a unique area into an Anywhere, USA suburbia, with tons of people coming (and going) from all over the country (and some other countries.)
Nothing is the same anymore, and most of it is objectively worse - much higher crime, for example. The tight-knit high trust community is completely gone. A lot of local culture is gone.
But there's higher tax receipts and the roads have more lanes, so uh, there's that.
That may answer your question why they may not be excited to stay in Turkey.
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This sentiment may not be repeatable concerning effects of Turkish government on Kurdish peoples outside the border of Turkey, particularly in Bashur Kurdistan and Rojava (especially Afrin Canton where hundreds of Kurdish civilians were killed in connection with events proximal to what Turkish government refers to as 'Operation Olive Branch'). I can't imagine there are warm fuzzies inside knowing your tax money goes to murdering fellow Kurds near your borders.
Damned if I say yes, damned if I say no. You reveal it's just a bad faith trap -- I'll just be dismissed whether the answer is I have lived there at all or I haven't.
>YPG is a organization with plenty of Kurdisch [sic] nationalists in it.
And Turkey is a country with plenty of Turkish nationalists in it. By that logic you argue any Turkish citizen is an extremist. Feel free to 'fact check' and come up with whatever extremist rhetoric you'd like to use to dismiss away the fatal effect on civilians of recent Turkish-backed incursions into Afrin Canton.
xD
That is quite the truth.
Source: Turkish citizen with Turkish origin with brown skin :)
When I moved to Russia a few years ago, I was delighted to pay less tax, and dismissed the bad political situation as something that doesn't matter and just a way to save more money before moving somewhere else eventually (the famous "some time later").
Well, now that I've had to move because the said "political situation" has escalated quite rapidly, I can say that having to pay more is a good trade-off [in my eyes] for safety and sanity.
> My niche is "make knowledge of Germany approachable to non-Germans".
I too am mostly brown. Love this way of putting it for some reason.
For so long I wanted Europe to encourage Turkey to join the EU and I feel very sad about how negatively it all turned out.
While we have responded somewhat coherently to the war on Ukraine, I feel like this is a temporary moment of clarity. In other respects I feel like our drive to look outwards and take risks is very low.
Some time ago I found that Antalya had low rents and thought it would be nice to live by the beach for cheap. But some things I heard bothered me, like smoking and poor air quality in general. The political stuff kind of makes me uncomfortable but not sure if that's rational.
best of luck to you.
Deutschland, Deutschland, alles ist vorbei!
:)
This statement is casually thrown around generally by those who find themselves belonging to the other side (politically speaking). But where is the evidence?
I’ve visited verifiably — as in the names of the leaders appear in all those leaks over the years — corrupt countries. The corruption shows in the disparities in societies. For example, access to tap water, heating, good roads, and other infrastructural types. For example, accessibility of education. For example, the purchasing power of the averaging citizen as measured in concrete terms (eg housing, food, etc) not in dollars.
In the corrupt countries the infrastructure is generally terrible. The citizens can barely afford food. There are no universities. In turkey it seems like non of this holds.
So, how is Erdogan corrupt? Is it just because OP is in dogmatic opposition to his ideals? IIRC the genesis of Erdogans political career is his management of Istanbul as mayor to improve the quality of life of all of its citizens. I believe that counts for something in a sense that he deserves the benefit of the doubt and the burden is on the accusers to show concrete evidence of corruption. Something like how Kushner received billions from the Saudis after the end of Trumps term.
"Corrupt countries often have poor services. Turkey does not have poor services, therefor it is not corrupt."
But surely that's incorrect.
Just use logic. If a nation is compromised by systemic corruption what do you think will happen? I believe corruption is like cancer in that it will seek to plunder anything in a non-discriminating manner. All the wealth of a state is up for grabs. What do you think will happen to money allocated for infrastructure and services for the average (weak) citizen? Roads, hospitals, services, etc? Do you think the corrupt ruler and the cronies that enable him will resist the temptation to rob these endeavors? If the cronies rob, do you think the ruling authority will a) look the other way or b) prosecute the crony and risk a backlash?