Day 10: Ankara

Today started with a 9:30 am departure to the Turkish Parliament, known in Turkey as the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. While there, our tour guide walked us through the General Assembly and the areas surrounding, such as the entry point for important politicians and dignitaries, and the wreckage from the 2016 Parliament bombing. We learned about the physical division of the Grand Assembly: elected representatives sit on the floor, dignitaries are situated above and to the left, high ranking military and judiciary personnel view from the upper, right section, and the press sits in the back along with other spectators (see photo below). Parliament has 600 members elected by proportional representation. Perhaps one day I’ll be entering through those tall and shiny doors as a diplomat!

Next, we spent time at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk essentially founded the Turkish Republic, and led the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ataturk helped to establish a strong national Turkish identity based on the principles of state development, social ideals, and secularism. Ataturk is buried beneath the large stone box in the main hall. We also browsed the attached museum and learned more about Ataturk’s important contributions to Turkey and modern politics. Moreover, we saw many artifacts belonging to the former leader, including books from his library, state gifts, and commemorative paintings. The following quote from Mr. Ataturk is featured prominently throughout Turkey, and happens to be one of my favorites: Sovereignty unconditionally belongs to the people.

The next stop was lunch! We ate at Unique Burgers near Anitkabir, and we all had excellent meals. An hour later we were back on the bus to meet with Islamic scholar Abdulbasit Bahi at Ankara University Faculty of Theology. Mr. Bahi discussed Islam at length, using examples from Christianity also. We must always remember that God, or Allah, is the one who judges us, so even religious scholars do not have all the answers to our questions. He taught us that Islam is based on five pillars, some of the traditions and practices of Islam, and the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. This was a great roundtable activity considering that most of us have little to no experience with the Islamic faith.

As it was a long and hot day, we were kindly granted a break after our earlier activities and came back to the hotel after meeting with Mr. Bahi. Later, we met with Chengis and Yeshim (our hosts here in Ankara) at Newcastle restaurant in a mall near our hotel. Dinner was relaxing and the company was good. Later, Evren and Michael kindly walked Blake, Betsey, Taylor, and I (Cole) to TOBB University to meet our new friends for a concert. Nur and Selim met us at the stadium, and we had an excellent time dancing the night away. Most of the music was not in English, but we had an excellent time anyway!

Today was another long day, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’ve so enjoyed building relationships with new Turkish friends and the SDSU students on this trip. Parliament was such a unique experience, as was Anitkabir. I enjoyed a delicious burger and saw even more of Turkey. There is such a learning curve because every experience is new to me. However, reflecting on today’s experiences helps me appreciate them more. I fully expect to revisit Turkey in the future!

Cole Peterson







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1: Istanbul

Image
          As we adjusted to the time change and our  new  surroundings, the first stop of the morning was  Altinbas University ,   where we enjoyed some coffee for on ly  ₺5  (about $0.30). The campus we visited is a part of  Altinbas  University, which is our host institution. A warm welcome and introduction was then presented from our  generous  hosts ,  followed by a roundtable talk with faculty  and  the  h ead of their International Relations Department . We discussed Turkish politics and foreign policy. A few topics mentioned were issues they had faced in recent years with war in surrounding countries as well as current issues with climate change, migration, and inflation  of the  Turkish  lira .  O ur  gracious  hosts spent the day giving us a tour of some of the local sites like the  Dolmabahce  Palace, which served as the  court for the lat...
Read more

Day 12: Urgup

Image
Our morning started bright and early at 4:30am for a sunrise hot air balloon ride! We drove through the city to the balloon valley; a place full of people just like us waiting in anticipation for the ride. We watched our jackrabbit blue and yellow ballon blow up before climbing in. As we dipped between the valleys of Kapadokya we watched the sun rise over the horizon admiring the view with the other hundreds of balloons around us also on a morning ride. We had a smooth landing followed by cherry mimosas to celebrate a successful flight. After that it was back to the hotel for breakfast. After a quick moment of rest we meet the students from Kapadokya University who will be traveling with us throughout our time here. They are all students in the English Language and Literature Department and will be helping to translate on the excursions. We started our day of touring with a bus tour of the Castle of Cappadocia and The Red Valley. The Castle is the tallest rock structure in the area and...
Read more

Day 2: Istanbul

Image
I can’t believe it is only the second day with all that we have seen! We started our morning  taking a bus to Kadir Has University. There we met with Professor Mustafa Ayden who told us  that American and Turkish relations originally started in the Ottoman Empire and how they  have changed and developed. Professor Ayden also explained the history of the campus building, which  has four different levels where the history was left and built on top of. We  were able to see the cistern (an old waterproof receptacle), an old cigarette factory, and museum  that are all part of the campus building.  After a wonderful morning, we set out on foot to go have a meal at a beautiful little restaurant  where Dr. Gonda made a stray cat his friend (or rather the stray made Gonda and his chicken its  friend). Moving along through the city we saw the Bulgarian Iron Church which was the last church built  in the Ottoman Empire. We also saw an Armenian chur...
Read more