Turkey, cosmopolitan and conservative at the same time - a follow-up

To be honest, I don't know if I had any idea of Turkey outside of the tourist centers. After a good three weeks in this country, which is as diverse as it is large, I have to say that I was often amazed by the landscape and the people, but never disillusioned by the fact that we were welcomed everywhere, whether in the progressive Istanbul or the extremely conservative one Erzurum.

Turkey was the first Muslim country on our trip and Islam here means more than the regular call of the muezzin and does not only take place in the mosque, at least outside of cosmopolitan Istanbul: many women wear headscarves or burqas, men in shorts You almost never see it, alcohol is only available, if at all, in special shops or European supermarket chains that do not adhere to local customs. But no, when the muezzin calls for prayer, public life does not collapse here, everything is not left behind to go to the next mosque or spread out the prayer rug. We were also never excluded anywhere because of our choice of clothing - although of course we adapted a little and avoided clothing that was too revealing.

The younger generation seems to want to do things differently without completely breaking with tradition. When you meet mothers with their adult daughters in public, the daughters are almost always less strictly dressed or veiled. In the restaurants and taverns, the fathers take care of feeding the little ones. On Friday afternoons you mainly meet young women on the long-distance bus on the way from university to their hometown.

We were impressed by the seemingly noiseless juxtaposition of religious ideas when three women drank tea together, one in tight western clothing, one with a casual headscarf and one with a veil.

Turkey is becoming more modern, even more Western. And Turkey is not Erdogan and Erdogan is not Turkey. Turkey is a country full of warm people, full of young people who know how to imagine their future, who are ready to break new ground and at the same time preserve traditions without submitting to them.

Robert