Very sad, Claire. I visited Türkiye for a full month in the late 80’s in between my first two jobs as a young attorney. I took bus rides all over, sat near sheep, and drank many a small town’s water, of which those townspeople were fiercely proud. I fell into a kind of love with the colors, the food, the scenery in Cappadocia and on the Aegean cost, and of course the rugs. I’ve been itching to go back, but I cannot, in good conscience, and that’s painful. The country seems to have been in constant decline since then.
Very sad. The sheer level of corruption and indifference to suffering is beyond words. It all reminds me of the Thomas Sowell quote: "What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race?"
You lived in Turkey a long time. If you were not emotional there would be something wrong with you. I started reading you then and I am a happy subscriber now.
Feb 17, 2023·edited Feb 17, 2023Liked by Claire Berlinski
One quick comment I will make that proves very little is I used to know someone who was a very high level person at Transparency International that has now gone hard hardcore Trump like hanging around with MyPillow Guy and Mike Flynn hardcore Trump. Nevertheless, this person back in the day had almost heroine status within Transparency International but now pals around with Mike Lindell.
You definitely wore your heart on your sleeve during that interview, Claire—no bad thing in my opinion.
Listening to you talk about Turkey, I was reminded of Chernobyl. The parallels between that catastrophe and Turkey's are difficult to miss, even allowing for different historical backgrounds. And these reflections led me back to the hobby horse I've been riding in re contemporary Russia: the toxic influence of despotic government on a country's institutions. Viewed from that perspective, corruption is but a symptom of a deeper disease. And while I'm generally skeptical about claims concerning the lessons of history, this one seems valid: despotic government, despite its facade of centralized authority and efficiency, is far less efficient than the most disorderly democratic regime.
Incidentally, I spent eighteen months in Turkey during my Army service—this was in the early Seventies. At that time, I believe, the military was running things. During in-processing I got a briefing about the "host nation." Basically, I was told that most Turks were well disposed to Americans, as long as we minded our manners, but that Turkish university students were a bunch of commies who hated us. By and large, this proved to be the case. Back then, my friends and I travelled all over western Turkey by dolmus with no problems. I have good memories of my time there, and I'm truly sorry for the Turkish people's trouble.
Thanks for sharing your collection, Claire. There is so much to unpack here. I too was impressed with Erdogan in the early days. He made a lot of the right noises and followed through on some.
I don‘t know what I find more perplexing: the turn of Erdogan and the AKP, or the fact that so many of the Turks seem to find this okay. And when I read and consider this juxtaposition, it could describe numerous countries that by rights should be uniformly prosperous and thriving societies-- yet are not.
What will future historians make of this period? I think about that quite often, which is an even surer sign of aging than crow‘s feet and grey hair!
But Turkey. I lived and worked there for almost a year in 1995-6 and remain fascinated by all its history and rich complexity. Even then the presence of journalists was not encouraged, and the Deep State* was real enough.
Very sad, Claire. I visited Türkiye for a full month in the late 80’s in between my first two jobs as a young attorney. I took bus rides all over, sat near sheep, and drank many a small town’s water, of which those townspeople were fiercely proud. I fell into a kind of love with the colors, the food, the scenery in Cappadocia and on the Aegean cost, and of course the rugs. I’ve been itching to go back, but I cannot, in good conscience, and that’s painful. The country seems to have been in constant decline since then.
Very sad. The sheer level of corruption and indifference to suffering is beyond words. It all reminds me of the Thomas Sowell quote: "What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race?"
You lived in Turkey a long time. If you were not emotional there would be something wrong with you. I started reading you then and I am a happy subscriber now.
One quick comment I will make that proves very little is I used to know someone who was a very high level person at Transparency International that has now gone hard hardcore Trump like hanging around with MyPillow Guy and Mike Flynn hardcore Trump. Nevertheless, this person back in the day had almost heroine status within Transparency International but now pals around with Mike Lindell.
You definitely wore your heart on your sleeve during that interview, Claire—no bad thing in my opinion.
Listening to you talk about Turkey, I was reminded of Chernobyl. The parallels between that catastrophe and Turkey's are difficult to miss, even allowing for different historical backgrounds. And these reflections led me back to the hobby horse I've been riding in re contemporary Russia: the toxic influence of despotic government on a country's institutions. Viewed from that perspective, corruption is but a symptom of a deeper disease. And while I'm generally skeptical about claims concerning the lessons of history, this one seems valid: despotic government, despite its facade of centralized authority and efficiency, is far less efficient than the most disorderly democratic regime.
Incidentally, I spent eighteen months in Turkey during my Army service—this was in the early Seventies. At that time, I believe, the military was running things. During in-processing I got a briefing about the "host nation." Basically, I was told that most Turks were well disposed to Americans, as long as we minded our manners, but that Turkish university students were a bunch of commies who hated us. By and large, this proved to be the case. Back then, my friends and I travelled all over western Turkey by dolmus with no problems. I have good memories of my time there, and I'm truly sorry for the Turkish people's trouble.
Thanks for sharing your collection, Claire. There is so much to unpack here. I too was impressed with Erdogan in the early days. He made a lot of the right noises and followed through on some.
I don‘t know what I find more perplexing: the turn of Erdogan and the AKP, or the fact that so many of the Turks seem to find this okay. And when I read and consider this juxtaposition, it could describe numerous countries that by rights should be uniformly prosperous and thriving societies-- yet are not.
What will future historians make of this period? I think about that quite often, which is an even surer sign of aging than crow‘s feet and grey hair!
But Turkey. I lived and worked there for almost a year in 1995-6 and remain fascinated by all its history and rich complexity. Even then the presence of journalists was not encouraged, and the Deep State* was real enough.
* in recent years