The search for Turkish identity continues.. lonely Turks do exist.

"There's a fine a line between being kind and being weak, we are confused about the two" said a young Turkish youth in a bar one winter night.

Around three years ago a sighting of a UFO was reported in a village in Turkey, when the locals saw this spectacular vision they started throwing stones at it. A small glimpse of the need for an understanding of a needed education.

A British Airways aircraft was discovered to have a technical fault seconds before take off in January 2006. The British passengers on the flight said, "Well, I guess it's like a car, sometimes they go wrong, better to have caught the problem now before we were in the sky." A Turkish man on the same flight stood up and started cursing at the fact that the pilot had decided to return to bay, annoyed by the delay he shouted out loud in Turkish, "Disgusting." Of course there were other Turks saying, "Chill out man."

While the rising graduated middle class blame the west for the country's woes, at the same time embrace it, demonstrated by the way in which intellectuals are quick to quote western philosophers to explain themselves.

The following quotes were spoken by citizens of an educated Istanbul class:

"Turks came from central asia, a population of nomads carrying tents, this is why we don't have a strong architectural culture."

"We were a nation of nomads which is why we have so many social problems."

"Osman Bey collected the nomadic Turks and created the Ottoman Empire, so yes you can say we come from the Ottomans."

"The Ottoman ruling class were not Turkish, some born of Russian women, that is why you can not say we are Ottomans."

Ataturk unified the Turks under one national identity, a grieving nation that lost its sons and fathers in the great war of freedom was deeply scarred but proud to have finally found their rightful territory. Women of that time married with old men and the physically unfit to go to war. A new indigenous Turkish society was built from this gene pool.

Under the development of its new found motivation the country went through a renaissance period of tremendous growth, ambition and development. With this incredible growth outside forces noticed Turkey and the suppression began in order to formulate a sense of confusion and chaos – to stop reform, set up by the hanging Menderes. The prime minister in the early 1950s under the so-called pressure of western powers closed the village schools, which were accused of promoting leftist thought – something not encouraged under the umbrella of the cold war. However, a greater factor was in play here, the land owners who lived where these schools operated, the men of power, threatened by an evolving educated class were in actual fact a huge pressure in the closure of these schools.

In a country where the young population still depend on the support of their families for their personal sense of security, the break down of the extended family contract in some areas of urban living has led many independent Turks to feel lonely and on the outside of their own culture, as many westerners – in their twenties – struggle with everyday. Living away from their families is at times tough, but it builds character and an understanding for other independents, as shared resposibilities are understood. Quite often being independent in Turkey translates into being selfish, as independents usually put their own agenda first, generally because when you live alone it is necessary to do everything yourself – which can be quite time consuming.

"Searching for support means 'fighting' in Turkey," said another Turk when asked if it was just a foreign phenomenon of needing a support network of friends regardless of gender. In the US and the UK, the extended family contract has disintegrated into a nation of independents, which gives stronger reason for a group of friends honoring the moral actions committed to each other.

Such great acts of selfishness and disregard to acquaintances are washed over by the warm loving arms of a parent. Thus creating a type of egotistical existence. Children don't always understand the consequence of their actions. The republic is still relatively young.

Nowhere is this more prevalent in Turkey. A country that is searching for its own identity. A country that sometimes denies its Ottoman roots. A nation of padishas and princesses, who are happy to play eachother at their own game. A nation that was crippled by a stolen education – after the closure of village institutes in the 1950s, Turkey never really ever recovered so many say. This manifests itself in defensive behaviour and lies that are not thought to be of a moral disability in terms of a greater good for society, the society is much more selfish than an economically independent one in terms of how it interacts with itself daily.

In a nation where a large percentage have no regard for the law, where the word "bribe" is on the lips of many from professionals to students, it leads to a breakdown in a unified vision of the greater good. Survival of the fittest is the name of the game and stepping on someone or something to get what you need or want is acceptable. It is openly ok to steel from the government, but what would you think if your government was openly steeling from the you, why wouldn't you do the same? A unified society formulated with a social contract of responsibility to eachother needs to be led to a certain degree by a visibly more honest state.

"Turks think voting is a privilige, not a basic right," but what they are voting for no one is quite clear about. Voting is an act that one partakes in to try and affect the political policy of the society one lives in. Voting in Turkey is simply a pleasure given to the society.

All of these issues, and there are more, stated above, have led to a society of individuals who have to put themselves first to survive whether they want to or not. Survival.

The future? Communities must come together and understand their basic human rights as well as the laws of the republic so that some sort of effective change may start to take place and build a New Turkey, one that can look forward instead of back, and that can evolve into understanding its own rights under the law of the republic while applying them to its daily life – for the greater overall development of a sustainable equally modern population that can be allowed to breathe in its own way.

To feel the beauty and pain of this diverse although sometimes confused culture listen to: KAVAKLAR by Sezen Aksu