Nowadays, Turkey is facing a turban issue. On one side, the government is trying to change the constitution; AK party wants new regulations for the constitution’s 10^th and 42^nd rules (permit for wearing turban in universities and administrative institutes). On the other side, the court of justice wants to protect secularism. In a democratic country, if half of the citizens vote for a party, there should not be anything to argue. Still, I cannot stop arguing like the other half of the country who did not vote for AKP. The main reason why we do not accept the situation is because we do not believe that democracy works in Turkey in a right way. Intellectuals of the country are afraid of an end that is similar to Iran, a regime without democracy and laicism, but half of the Turkish people do not care about our end. Half of us living in Turkey do not know what is waiting for us, but a student in a university in the US knows what is waiting for Turkey.

This woman is a student in one of my courses as an auditor.  An approximately seventy year old woman takes her out of my classical perception of a student.

As an ordinary day, I took my class and was trying to arrive to my other course on time. On my way she caught me and told me where I was from. Being an international student brings these kinds of questions frequently because of your foreign accent. I told her where I was from and we talked a little about Turkey. She had been there and she liked it very much. She told me that she believed one day Turkey will be a really developed country because of all this rich history of Anatolia, and glorious past of nations who lived in Anatolia. I learned about her. She had two doctor’s degrees about philosophy; we talked about our common course. After a silent second she said exactly these words: “I think now you have this turban issue. I know Ataturk and I know about his revolution in 1920. You should follow him and fight against those people who want to turn your country to Iran.”  I was surprised that she followed the Turkey’s news. I agreed with her and told the painful truth about our country; “Forty six percent of the citizens voted for the AKP”. As a professor who has two degrees, she answered me with the best way possible, “Well, this is democracy.” Is it? Still I am arguing like I did last few years, is it possible to have a true democracy in Turkey while people vote for people who handle their job? But my main point has nothing to do with that question. The main point is that, how can a person live far away from Turkey realize the critical situation of our country and people live in the country while experiencing all the changes first hand can not realize this? Maybe it is time for us to get rid of this irony…