TURKEY: THE COUNTRY OF THE CARDINAL SINS

If, by now, you do not acknowledge that Turkey is experiencing a massive economic crisis, then you probably never will. Probably, the country will soon go bankrupt, if no comprehensive reforms are adopted, but Turkey has other deep wounds, too. Arguably, the Turkish society might be experiencing its most tragic era in its long and glorious 1200 years of existence. Little is left for Turks to be proud of, other than its achievements for mankind hundreds of years ago, the last being the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Instead, Turkey has become a land of the sin.

Sloth: In Turkey, one academic year is only about 4 weeks long. 1 week before the mid-term exams and 1 week before the final exams, plus the same for the second semester, equalling 4 weeks a year. Compared to other universities in the world, where students are studying every day (even if it's just 2 hours a day), Turkish students rather ‘enjoy life’. It is therefore not surprising that only a few people develop proper ambitions and strategies to achieve the goals they aspire. However, the exact same students are the first who admire foreign achievements and complain why the country is lagging behind. Work!

Gluttony: However, when it comes to good food, we are the first at the table. While we lost passion for everything else, our food is holy. It has become an integral part of our lifestyles. No matter what we do, food is at the centre of it. Unsurprisingly, Nusret, aka Saltbae, is currently the biggest brand of Turkey.

Lust: With the fading quality of education and the according strengthening of religious beliefs, we can also witness a tragic increase of sexual violence. Not a day passes without news about horrific acts done to women and children. This has become a problem on a huge scale, we are talking about tons of cases. Unfortunately, law enforcement does not seem to pursue proper enforcement and, thus, the citizens take it upon themselves, basically doing the same to those who did it to others. I am ashamed to admit that it has become dangerous to be a woman in this country.

Wrath: Similarly, all the pressures made the atmosphere in the country a fearful one. It is difficult to find people with a positive outlook on the future. Instead negativity hangs deep over the concrete jungles of Istanbul and other metropoles. Anger and fear have become routine.

Greed: Another societal black hole is our affection for material things. Whole TV programs were designed for people, who wanted to marry and the only thing that the candidates were discussing were the income and possessions of the man and what he could materially provide for the woman. It is difficult to build proper relationships (also between friends) in which money does not play a role.

Envy: This greed leads us to hate those, who can afford what we can't. We want to be better than the next one. Well, not really. In essence, we only want to HAVE more, but not BE better and this leads to distrust and more greed.

Pride: Finally, our all-time greatest weakness is pride. This is a mentality problem. It was always like this that Turks have the inability to admit wrongs or even identify mistakes, let alone learn from them. Although we do not contest that we are always right, we also never step up and say: ‘Ey, that was not right’, or ‘I did not see that coming, sorry’. Instead, we blame others. Even in times of the economic disaster, we say that the world envies us and therefore wants to cause economic chaos.

Certainly, the country is still functioning, but these societal problems make our beautiful country sometimes a horrible place to live. Over 60% of Turkish academics wish to work abroad. It is clear that the economic and political pressures in Turkey are taking their toll on the psychology of our people. I, therefore, believe that we have much bigger problems and accordingly much more work to do than just fix the crisis. We need to go through an education process and mature as people; we need to find back to that glorious mentality and mindset that enabled us to be one of the longest surviving societies of mankind, while also being an integral part of the world society. The first step is that we need to admit that we are not a great nation anymore. We once were and, that I am sure, eventually will be again, but not if we substantially come back to our Turkic and Turkish roots and be willing to put in some work little will change for the better.