Euro-Turks & Migrant Websites

Link: http://www.tetedeturc.com/home/spip.php?article257

I found the website tete de Turc which is created by Franco-Turks in France. Their main objective is to change the negative image of Turks and Turkey. They claim that French media is biased and do not provide much information about Turkish news. In that sense, they try to provide some information. Their main focus is political not cultural. In the Kaya & Kentel's article, writers mention about the ignorance of Franco- Turks toward the political issues in Turkey. I think this site forms an anti-thesis to the argument about the ignorance   of Franco- Turks on political issues.  The site focuses on Armenian question, PKK- the Kurdish issue, problems with Greeks etc ... Since the Armenian issue is a hot topic in France, they take attention by showing the Turkish side of the problem. (like ASALA 's massacre) 

Thanks to the site they find a space to express their views towards some issues. May be they do not express themselves within the community concretely and they feel themselves much more secure. They have created a community through the site.

Unlike le tete de Turc, the site blue blanc turc gives much more cultural and geographical information about Turkey. Its main goal is to introduce Turkey and its people in order to eliminate the prejudice against them. The Turkish minority in Turkey is more prone to protect their culture and religion. Despite French assimilationism, Franco-Turks are much more protectionist. (they have stronger religious and cultural affiliations.) There are lots of wrong perceptions or prejudices against Franco-Turks both from French and Turks. The major Turkish stereotypes about Euro-Turks are those of their being rich, eating pork, having a very comfortable life in Germany/France, losing their Turkishness and becoming more and more German/French.(Kaya & Kentel , 2005) However, it does not reflect the real picture as we realize from the websites and Euro- Turks data analysis. Turks see the migrants as in between, German-like,degenerated, conservative, radical, lost generations while French or German population see them as guest worker, foreigner, co-citizen. So these migrants do not feel belonging to anywhere. In that sense, I think these sites are very useful for migrants who share the same feelings with their counterparts. 

Reference:
Kaya. A., & Kentel, F. (2005). Euro-turks: a bridge or a breach between turkey and the european union?.

The Kitchen

I visited the Kitchen this weekend, it was very different experience for me. Those of you who doesn't know the Kitchen I added the link below. In that post, I would like to share my experience with you because this topic is really related to what we have covered till today. The Migrant Solidarity Network has established the Kitchen. All Saturdays it serves meal to different migrant groups. It does not seek any profit and it pays its expenses by organizing some events. First of all I would like to tell my feelings about our experience rather than just saying what happened in there. While going the Kitchen I was very nervous about being in Tarlabaşı because of negative news that we heard from news previously. However, when I went there, my discontent turned into excitement. I have met lots of native children from Tarlabaşı. They are very different from us in terms of of their speech, behavior and culture. I met two black Nigerian guy Stephan and Eddie. I ashamed of myself for naming them as a black. Although I am a humanitarian, there have always been a stereotype against black people especially when we see them in Tarlabaşı or other places like that. Now, I think I am much more unbiased towards them. When I talked with Stephan and Eddie, we talked about drawbacks of being migrant in İstanbul. They told me that although they are like family with people in Tarlabaşı, they have faced some stereotypes outside Tarlabası. He said sometimes others look (and treat) them as if they are drug dealer or criminal. Eddie and Stephan are close friends and they earn money from R&B dancing although they studied management in Nigeria. The Kitchen helps them to form a big community. Despite their differences, people finds some similarities among them, at least they are sharing the food. It provides people warm environment and creates solidarity. Not only the migrants are different from each other but also volunteers itself come from very different backgrounds. For example, there was a volunteer who comes to study here from Germany. (She told me that Turkish people in Germany are alienated from society as we have talked in class. Although the second generation speaks German as their native language, they are excluded just because their names are Turkish.) Other volunteer works in THY as a customs officer. They have one thing in common which is sense of responsibility towards alienated people in society. It was very different experience . At first, being there was just a mandatory course responsibility for me but it was very amazing to be there. I promised the chef that I will visit them again and actually I will (I hope to see you there). 

For more information please visit: http://gocmendayanisma.org/blog/there-is-a-kitchen-in-tarlabasi/