Turkish Riot, Humor & Business Development

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Turkish Riot, Humor & Business Development

Turkish Riot is an online video game in which the goal is to send as many tweets as possible before the police beat you up. It was created last summer, presumably as a lark, to mock the role of police violence in the Gezi political protests in Turkey. I’m not usually a fan of video games, but as someone living in the middle of Istanbul at the time, I thought it was hysterically funny. I’ve never made it past 17 tweets. Maybe you will do better. You can try it here:

Tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets and political intimidation take their toll on everyone, but the Gezi protesters did an amazing job of using humor to stay energized and motivated.

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2013 Political Protests in Turkey: My Version

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The summer of 2013 was marked by mass political protests across Turkey.  The main protests lasted about a month with some continuing in various forms for another two or three months.  The Turkish mainstream media was not covering the protest and U.S. news sources were covering it only minimally.  Therefore, I like many others, attempted to keep my U.S. community aware of what was happening through Facebook posts.  Since I decided to post on this site about how living through the protests turned me into a Twitter convert, I decided to also share my Facebook posts from that time period here, for any who might be interested.

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Tips for Lawyers Moving Abroad: Lessons from Three Years in Istanbul

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Tips for Lawyers Moving Abroad: Lessons from Three Years in Istanbul

As lawyers, many people may think that their only options for living abroad would be to work for a big international firm or an NGO.  But actually it’s not that hard to find or create a job for yourself overseas.  I moved to Istanbul in 2010 because my Dad had died and I was depressed and wanted a change.  Although technically I am a lawyer, I haven’t practiced in many years and went to Istanbul intending to create a coaching practice, not a law practice.  These tips are based on my experience as well as that of other lawyers who I met living abroad.

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Turkish Weddings

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Recently, I was walking by a wedding “center” with a friend and we saw big crowds of people outside.  She suggested that we go in, watch a wedding and see if we can get some candy.  This seemed odd to me, but I’m generally up for anything, so in we went.  It turns out that this is the Turkish equivalent to getting married at a courthouse, except that couple brings along three or four hundred friends and family, and the whole thing is even less romantic.  A loudspeaker announced the couples’ names and told everyone to file into the auditorium.  It also said that once you have “celebrated” with the couple that you should leave as soon as possible to make room for others.

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Nosy Neighbors and Safe Streets

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One of the first things I noticed about Istanbul was that it felt surprisingly safe. As a tourist, I felt fine walking back to my hotel at 2:00 in the morning. There were always people on the street and though it was often groups of men, somehow it didn’t feel threatening. Some might be leering but others had a more protective demeanor. If groups of men are hanging out on the street in America I would think they are up to no good, but here its generally groups of taxi drivers waiting for business or men sitting around drinking tea.

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Do I Really Look Turkish?

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American friends often comment, “You must really stand out in Istanbul.”  Actually, I don’t.  When I came here as a tourist, everyone spoke to me in English and I assumed that it was obvious from my appearance that I am foreign.  Once I started living here and knew my way around, that changed.  As long as I don’t do anything too blatantly foreign, like carry a backpack, wear sandals or walk around with wet hair, people assume that I am a local.  Turks approach me all the time and ask me for directions, try to hand me political pamphlets or make off-handed comments about the rude person in front of us in line. It turns out that I look Turkish, or at least can pass as Turkish.

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Islam and Alcohol

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Although Turkey is a Muslim country, the national drink is alcoholic.  It's called raki and is licorice-flavored.  From what I have seen, pretty much everyone here drinks alcohol.  This may not be true in the countryside or in the more religious areas of cities, but at least in Istanbul there does not appear to be any sort of stigma against it.  In fact, one friend of mine worked at a university which was so committed to being secular that at staff parties the dean would walk around checking people's glasses to ensure that everyone was drinking alcohol.

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Will Turkey Explode Too?

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I have been getting messages from people concerned about my safety, given the protests and violence in Egypt, Tunisia, etc.  So this seems like a good time to explain why Turkey is different. Turkish democracy is not perfect but it is a real democracy - unlike those other places which have been living under dictatorships.  Conservatives are in power, which does cause concern among liberals within Turkey and observers from outside the country.  (Arguably, this is not so different from the Bush years in the U.S.)

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Turkish Speaking Santa?

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On Christmas Eve, I was amused to see a Santa Claus speaking Turkish. But then I learned that St Nick was born in Turkey.  Who knew?  Also, apparently most Turks don’t know the difference between Christmas and New Years.  (Of course, people who are well-educated or have traveled a lot will know, but the average person does not.) If you tell a friend that you can’t go out because its Christmas Eve, he may look confused and respond that New Years isn’t for another week.  Contributing additional complexity is the fact that most Christians in Turkey are either Armenian or Eastern Orthodox and thus celebrate Christmas on the 6th and 7th, respectively.  At first I was surprised at how many places I have seen Christmas trees, but here they are considered New Years trees.  People also exchange gifts on New Years.  A traditional gift is red underwear, for luck in one’s love life for the following year.