Apart from being one hell of a vacation, this trip has been an interesting educational experience as well.
The first major shift in my thinking came when I learned that Turkey is a European country. It's been democratic since their revolution in the mid-20's.
More importantly, the culture here is without a doubt closer in feeling to France or Great Britain than to the United Arab Emirates or other Middle Eastern nations.
What makes Turkey unique as a European country is the fact that it is muslim, as opposed to Christian. But Turks are not, for the most part, religiously fanatic. It is often with pride that they mention the separation of church and state in their country.
In fact, they are the probably one of the most liberal muslim country in the world. Although there are definitely some conservative elements in the country (especially as one goes East), the social culture is highly tolerant when compared to other muslim countries.
Some women still wear the traditional dress and veil common in mid-East countries (although rarely covering their actual face), most wear (at least in the bigger cities) body-hugging jeans.
Because of this comfortable integration of muslim culture with Western lifestyle, most middle Eastern countries are opposed to Turkey. They funnel a lot of their OPEC dollars to support the muslim tradition in Turkey, and strongly encourage a change of government that would mirror their own.
Unfortunately, Europe is not much help. Although part of Europe geographically, culturally and politically, other European countries have difficulty fully accepting Turkey as one of them, primarily (it is assumed) because Turkey is nevertheless muslim.
Turkey, for instance, has not been allowed into the EU, much to its regret. But it is still trying.
And then there is Greece. Turks and Greeks get along like oil and water, and they've conquered each other so many times over the last few thousand years that the mutual dislike between them is part of their blood. Istanbul, for instance, was known as Constantinople under Greek rule.
To their advantage, Turkey has a very strong military. They are a warrior culture to begin with, and their army consists of over 700,000 men. And they are, of course, part of NATO (and they completely support the operations in Yugoslavia, by the way).
But the most interesting thing that I learned is that the United States is Turkey's greatest ally. Surrounded by muslim countries that dislike them and a Europe that won't fully accept them, Turkey's number one political and military ally is the US.
It's not an altruistic relationship for the US, of course. Turkey's location is key, allowing easy access to southern Europe, northern Africa, southern Russia and the middle East, not to mention a friendly port in the mediterranean. The US has at least four military bases in Turkey, and military ships often dock in Turkish ports (while we were in Antalya, the aircraft carrier Roosevelt made a 3-day stop there).
Because of this relationship, Turks view America as their "uncle," who has always helped them in times of need when no one else would. As such, Turks are very friendly and receptive to Americans, not to mention extremely hospitable in general.
Interesting, eh? And we all thought when I left that Turkey was another dangerous, American-hating, die-hard muslim country, when the complete opposite is actually the case...
Gabriel
