The Turkish economy is growing by about 6 percent a year. You could call that positive, but for many Turks it’s hard to see it that way. The official growth doesn’t result in a higher national income or less unemployment. Some Turks still dream of going abroad to increase their standard of living, but more and more young people have no …
My central heater wasn’t working properly. My landlord lives above me, which is useful in these sorts of situations. I heard him on the stairs in the hallway, asked him to come in and explained the problem. He would send somebody to fix it, he promised. And so he did, the very next day. And I witnessed in my home …
She earns 500 liras per month, working six days a week, eight to twelve hours a day. Her rent is 300 liras, bills around 40 liras, transport to and from work about 75 liras. It’s obvious: she is seriously short of money. Now, I remember times when I too was seriously short of money. But that was as a student, …
Sometimes, when I’m on a boat on the Bosphorus, I want to litterally scream. Scream because of the happiness working in this city and in this country gives me. A few days ago, I felt it again. I came back from an interview with Cetin Altan and Solmaz Kamuran, married and both writers. The interview was about publishing in Turkey, and how (un)free writers and publishers are in Turkey. Altan’s writing carreer is long: 60 years already. He is 80 years old now, but is everything but finished with writing. Besides books, he published essay’s and is still regularly writing columns for Milliyet newspaper. His wife Solmaz Kamuran writes novels and is a translater.
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