Turkish party hands out fridges
ISTANBUL – Televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and even furniture: the authorities in the eastern Turkish province of Tunceli are handing them out generously to the poor this week. Social policy, they say. Opponents of the hand-out of free goods on the other hand see a connection with the upcoming local elections at the end of March. The Supreme Board of …
I am walking around a village in the southeast of Turkey when I see some women baking bread in an outdoor oven. We start to chat a bit, the usual ‘where are you from, what are you doing here’ type of conversation. A few children look at me curiously and one of the girls, about eight years old, asks out …
My assistant and I are having a cup of Turkish coffee with the mayor. We are visiting a town in the region of Batman in south-eastern Turkey. The town has 10,000 inhabitants and beautifully situated in rough hilly landscape surrounded by snowy mountains. It’s rare for ‘strangers’ to come here, so we were advised to inform the mayor of our visit …
Sometimes I introduce myself as Feride Gedik. It’s the Turkish equivalent of my Dutch name, and so much easier to get around with than my real name. Some people smile when I say it, but mostly it is accepted without a blink of the eye. That is until I came to Diyarbakir this week, the biggest city in the Kurdish …
My Turkish friend A. got married. The most unusual marriage I have ever seen, but then again, I haven’t seen that many. The bride was in a borrowed purple dress with great shiny purple heels underneath, while groom T. was in jeans. Short ceremony, few friends, lunch afterwards, that was it. Now both the families try to convince the couple to …
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