when you miss the boat

This Saturday was my first week-end staying up here at Koç. I went with my flatmate, Ayşe, to Anadolu Kavağı. We took the boat from Sarıyer to cross the Bosphorus- just about 10 minutes. We climbed steps, pass fish restaurants to the ruins of a Byzantine fortress. The view is superb- clear view of the Black sea and lots of large and small boats traversing the Bosphorus.

We had a delicious fish lunch at a restaurant on top of the hill. The wood-burning stove felt great. Ayşe insisted on buying me a very nice blue glass disk - a symbol to ward off the evil eye- which is in most Turkish homes. We wandered around the village, had 25 min to wait for the boat, so went to have more tea. When we returned to the ferry landing we were told the next ferry was in 2 hours! We missed the boat by 5 minutes. We had enough tea, but it was rather cold. I suggested we return to the store where we purchased the present and wait there.

The owner was happy to see us. He works as an engineer in Russia for 6 mos of the year. He thinks Putin is doing a great job. When I mentioned that I thought corrupt oligarchs control the country, he said after a year of getting the state companies, the rich have to pay 35% tax and this is distributed to the poor.

Then things got more interesting. This guy was happy with Obama. He then said Jews didn't vote for Obama because he was Black and they thought he was Muslim. I corrected him on that. Then Ayşe and him claimed that the US is supporting the PKK (the Kurdish separatist group.) I chimed in that I didn't think that was correct because Turkey is a strategic ally for the US. He said the US woke up to Turkey only after they were turning toward Russia. Then he asked why the US didn't get a peace deal in Palestine. I asked him to what period was he referring. I said things are complicated- the Palestinian Authority is fıghting Hamas. (little did I know that at that moment Israel was bombing Gaza.) Then the guy said- why is Hamas considered a terrorist organization and the PKK is not?

We moved on to 9/11. Ayşe, a post-doc in chemical engineering, said that perhaps the US was behind the bombing of the WTC. There were 4000 Jews in the building and they did not die. A plane crashed into the Pentagon, but that was planned because it didn't do so much damage. Needless to say I told her she was incorrect. She said it was reported in the news. Sightings from extraterrestrial beings are also reported in the paper was my response.

They then asked if I think there was an Armenian genocide. I felt uncomfortable even though I was asking this same question to Turks. I said yes. Ayşe said, "we lived with the Armenians for 600 years. Why didn't we massacre them during this period?" (I was thinking- the Serbs and Bosnians didn't massacre each other when they were under the iron fist of Tito.) Then she said- "They say 1.5M were massacred. But, I am from that region. There were not that many Armenians in the area." They both said it was war time. People naturally defend their homes and people. There were atrocities on both sides. Archives must be open and "objective" historians need to review the material. They insist that the Armenians are not open to reviewing the Turkish documents. They agreed that the Germans committed a genocide on the Jews. Then they said the Germans never admitted this and that they did these atrocities because of Hitler. I again corrected them on this score!

We touched on the American Indian massacres, killing Iraqi civilians and WWII. Of course we parted friends and again putting our hopes for a better world on Obama.

We caught the ferry this time. Back in Sarıyer for my last time, we went to the pudding shop where they serve a special cream pudding with rose water and sugar. Then on to the best borek shop where the man ceremoniously raises his cleaver to cut the cheese pastry.

As I write on Sunday, I have just returned from Kilyos, a small town on the Black Sea. It is a holiday resort for Turks- quite a few hotels and lots of restaurants with big lawns and picnic tables. I dipped my toe into the sea and then walked up to the point. Reminded me of the headlands north of San Francisco. Windy, quiet, abandoned - hearty plants clinging to the rock cliffs. Unfortunately Turks have a very undeveloped sense of the environment. There was litter everywhere. Lots of abandoned property on this beautiful coast and most of the structures standing were quite ugly.

I leave Koç now and head to the city center- Asian side. I am staying in Istanbul for my final week. I contemplated going to the Black Sea coast- east of here. But, it's raining here and that area is the rainiest in the country!

I hope you all are enjoying your time off. Hopefully I will do some final postings before I leave on Saturday. Tomorrow I am talking to some H.S. students in Üskadar- a little recruiting for Emory.