Last Sunday, however, was not an ordinary day in Diyarbakır. By the time we arrived in the city, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) had long since begun its sit-in. We had thought that stores would be closed, shopping centers would be empty and that the site set aside for the rally would be filled with people. One reason behind our assumption was because the atmosphere in the region had become tougher in the preceding days. The news coming from Hakkâri and Van was not inspiring. It seemed that this negative atmosphere would spill over into Diyarbakır at any minute. But what we expected did not occur. The Babil Shopping Center, only a few hundred meters from the protest square, was bustling in the evening hours. And it seemed that Diyarbakır, in the midst of all of the change that has occurred here, was in fact living out a completely serene day. We toured four cities in eastern and southeastern Turkey to take the pulse of the Southeast and to hear the calls for "prudence" and "level-headedness" coming out of the region. We met, in the process, with governors, merchants, businessmen and representatives of civil society organizations. We viewed the investments made in the region on site. And we witnessed many positive emerging dimensions in Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Hakkâri -- dimensions that we will call the "changing face of the East."
We step into a cafe on Sanat Sokağı, sit at a table and are joined by Petr Fulka, who is studying at Dicle University as an exchange student. Uyan Yüksel, who is translating for us, is studying chemical engineering, and young musician Dilijen Roni is excitedly anticipating the release of a cassette of her music in just a few days. Her friend, a French photographer, has come all the way from France to help Roni prepare the album cover. This entire tableau shows how much Diyarbakır has been transformed. The city has become a point of attraction in southeastern Anatolia, and with its shopping centers, luxurious villas, hospitals and schools, it has the feel of a very modern city too. The changing face of Diyarbakır can be seen in the neighborhood of Dicle Kent. Here, there is a growing demand for the two-story villas with pools and gardens that define the area. These luxurious villas are sold the minute construction on them is completed for an average of YTL 500,000. Local businessman Aziz Can has already sold half of the 200 villas on which he recently began work. With this rapid growth, there are many people working in the construction sector here. The promising investment made in recent years in Diyarbakır was the call center opened by Türkcell last week. There are a total of 225 people working at the call center, and Türkcell authority Ebubekir Durgun says they plans to raise this number to 1,000 with steady hiring over the next few months. Their employees have access to a fitness center, cafeteria, tennis and basketball courts and a soccer field available on site.
Another inspiring site of activity in Diyarbakır is the Mega Center shopping center. The first brands we notice here are Boyner, Teknosa, İpekyol, Nike, Vakko and Pierre Cardin. Boyner store director İhsan Bayburt says their store has higher turnover than any other Boyner store in Anatolia. Sinan Aykaç, the owner of the Modern watch store, is very pleased with sales lately. Aykaç, whose store sells brand name watches, says he even sells watches that go for as much as YTL 10,000. Aykaç sums up how far he has seen Diyarbakır come lately: "Six or seven years ago, people couldn't even go out onto the streets. Now even at 1:00 a.m., the streets are full."
Diyarbakır's Babil Shopping Center, which opened up last year, McDonalds and Yeşil Kundura came to the East for the first time ever. And a giant AFM cinema salon serves not only the people of Diyarbakır, but surrounding regions as well. In addition to all this, the new 160 store Forum Shopping Center, which is backed by some Dutch entrepreneurs, is also slated to open up in Diyarbakır soon.
Citizens in the East finally get treatment in their own cities
Some of the most crucial investments taking place in the Southeast are in the health sector. New hospitals opened by both the state and the private sector are finally allowing citizens of these regions to get medical treatment without having to travel to big cities like Ankara and İstanbul. Because people covered by the Social Security Authority (SSK), Social Insurance for the Self-Employed (Bağ-Kur) and the Pension Fund (Emekli Sandığı) are now able to take advantage of services offered by private hospitals, these investments in health have increased. Over the past five years, six private hospitals have opened up in Diyarbakır alone, and construction is underway on two new state hospitals, which will have a combined bed capacity of 700. In short, public and private investments in the health sector in Diyarbakır have raised the total bed capacity for patients by 40 percent over the past five years, and for the first time ever last year, the number of doctors rose above the Turkish average. Similar developments are also emerging in cities like Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa and Batman. In Gaziantep three private hospitals -- Medical Park, Universal Hospitals and Acıbadem Hastanesi -- opened over the past two years. And in Şanlıurfa, the private Middle East Hospital, which opened last month, serves not only its surrounding cities, but also patients from Syria, Iran and Iraq. The hospital, built at a cost of $50 million and with a bed capacity of 240, is among the top five private hospitals in Turkey. Open-heart surgeries are performed at this hospital, and one patient, Çağrı Aksoy, said having his bypass operation here two days ago, in his own city, cut his expenditures in half. In Hakkâri, the Hakkâri State Hospital has moved to a new building, and has a 150 bed capacity and 32 doctors who are experts in their individual fields.
Oxford-graduate Rector İbrahim Belenli: I am here in Hakkâri to repay a debt of gratitude to the state
All along the road from Şırnak to Hakkâri, we see teams from the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ) working hard. At one point during the journey, we get out of the car to wish them well. When this particular project is completed, the residents of Şırnak will be able to drink clean water from the Akduman River, 49 kilometers away. When we arrive in Hakkâri, our watches say 10 p.m. We head straight to the university to speak with Rector İbrahim Belenli and find night students still at the university. Belenli's life story was in the press as the story of the "Oxford-educated rector in Hakkari." Visiting him in his office and witnessing his dialogue with his students is a unique experience. Belenli has shouldered the weight that comes with being a "founding rector," even researching the site for the university and asking those he knew in Hakkâri to donate their land to the university.
Of course, Belenli also has a private life; his wife and children live in Bolu, and he often goes to Ankara for his scientific research, so he spends a great deal time on the road. When he first arrived in Hakkâri, he was felled by the lack of hope. But on his last visit to Hakkâri, the prime minister spoke well of the university, promising Belenli and his colleagues that Hakkari University would not remain just a university by name.
This southeastern city has addition importance to Belenli, who explains that he sees his duties here as a way of repaying a debt of gratitude he owes the state. "My father's finances were not good enough to send me to London to study, so I studied abroad with state support. Now it's the time to pay back some of this scholarship support I received," he says. Because of his education in English in both the US and England, Belenli has set the bar high for students here. He is already planning to require first year students to take English preparation courses. Belenli's plans are to see this institute become one with Hakkâri, influencing life and preventing terror from making inroads in the city. He even has high hopes for sports activities at the university, with plans to form parachuting, trekking and rafting clubs for the students in coming years.
Tourism will bring a smile to Mardin's face, while industry will do the same for Şanlıurfa
The phrase "a cemetery in the daytime, a necklace at night" makes Mardin residents angry. In fact, they've switched it to "an outing in the daytime, a necklace at night" to make themselves feel better. And in truth, Mardin has different sorts of beauty in the night and in the day. A city with many different cultures and an interesting history, Mardin has really managed to get people talking about it in recent years. It serve as a set for television programs and films, and its tourism industry is growing. While in previous years it had received around 700,000 tourists, last year it raised this number to over 1 million.
Mardin has turned its famous stone houses into gorgeous 8-10 bedroom boutique hotels, which buyers are willing to pay $2 million for. The owner of the Artuklu Kervansaray, Sebahattin Evrensel, paid YTL 1 million for this home and then, investing $3 million in the site, turned it into a boutique hotel, opening its doors to local and foreign tourists. Evrensel is also involved in the restoration at the Mardin City Museum, being carried out by the Sabancı family. The Sabancı family, which purchased a former barracks building, will open the doors of this museum to city dwellers and art enthusiasts next year.
There is no room left in Şanlıurfa's first organized industrial zone. A second such zone is currently being constructed with funds from the European Union. The owner of the Ufuk Boru pipe factory, Mahmut Öksüzoğlu, provides employment for 300 people in his factory. His company exports products to 50 countries. He believes the future of the region is strongly connected to an increase in regional investment. The CEO of Zümrüt Textiles, Naci Toplu, says now is the right time for the private sector to invest in the region and that investments have been made easier by certain aspects of the Encouragement Law, which aims to promote investment by the private sector in the region.
Investments in southeast Anatolia by the numbers
Diyarbakır: A part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) Action Plan, YTL 135 billion was invested in this city last month. The Village Infrastructure Support (KÖYDES) project has met the needs for water and roads in about 700 villages in the region. Waterworks projects are currently ongoing in 15 villages in the region.
As mentioned before, hospital bed capacity in the city has risen in the past five years by 40 percent, and two new state hospitals, slated to have a total of 700 beds, are currently under construction.
The İç Kale project, which will transform Diyarbakır Castle into an open-air museum, will see the restoration of 80 ramparts. According to information from the Governor's Office, this project will begin very soon.
Hakkâri: Two state hospitals, in the center of Hakkâri and in Yüksekova, were finished in recent months. These hospitals have a combined bed capacity of 150. Construction has begun on a new state hospital in the city of Çukurca, which will have 30 patient beds.
Since 2003, a total of 90 schools have been built in Hakkâri, including eight preschools, 72 primary schools and 10 middle high schools.
Since 2005, YTL 4 billion has been spent on the KÖYDES project in Hakkâri. The money was spent on the construction of 34 water networks and 59 road projects.
Mardin: YTL 42 million was spent in Mardin within the framework of the GAP Action Plan in 2008.
Mardin has received YTL 31 million in funding for waterworks and road construction as part of the KÖYDES project. The Mardin Governor's Office has contributed YTL 1 million to the Mardin City Museum project.
Over the last year, YTL 27 million has been spent on school construction and repair work in Mardin. With these newly finished schools, the number of classrooms has been increased by 22 percent. Two state hospitals and four smaller clinics are being constructed in Mardin. A new dental health center opened in the city last year.
Şanlıurfa: Since 2002, the number of hospital beds available in this city has risen by 43 percent. The KÖYDES project has provided clean drinking water to 95 percent of local villages. Some 33 percent of roads going into villages have been asphalted. With the newly opened factories in the area, there has been a 16 percent increase in the number of people who work in industry.
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