With one foot inching toward Europe and the European Community and the other firmly rooted in Islam, Turkey has been divided in two for almost a century, ever since Kemal Ataturk began modernizing and secularizing the nation in 1923. With a geographical position straddling East and West, especially Istanbul, and with neighbors such as Iran and Iraq, the whole country is experiencing an internal political and religious battle: cannot decide as to which way to look. One doesn’t know how to describe it: democratic but unconditionally religious-not to be confused with fundamentalist. Cosmopolitan and sophisticated while agrarian and conservative. The charm of both worlds along with the controversy.
Being the bridge between the East and the West, the once upon a time
capital of the Byzantine Empire is still undecided as to which way to
look, as well as the whole country. The charm of both worlds along with the controversy.