Reading change (1)

When one observes certain centers of the Islamic world, one can see that the social change, which began with mass migration, is actually happening to some degree, in those centers simultaneously. It is possible to say that the change the Western world has mechanically triggered is also being mobilized by policies imposed by the West. Which is why we are not experiencing a healthy process of change.

Where Turkey is concerned, mass migrations began in the 1950s. One of the two important factors influencing this was the Marshal aid that came as a part of the Truman doctrine after Turkey entered the Western alliance of NATO. When the US provided Turkey with financial assistance, it placed a condition that the funds should be used for agriculture, which meant that there should be a focus on roads and highways. When machines suddenly entered the agricultural fields of Turkey, thousands of people were displaced from jobs that had been traditionally tackled by hand; these displaced workers used the newly built highways and byways to make their ways -- migrate -- to the big cities.

A second important factor in mass migrations in Turkey was that within the framework of the westernization policies it was following, it was envisaged that big industry would generally be formed in the larger cities and certain regions of the country. When you add to this the creation of various educational institutes and universities in these specified centers, mass migrations increased with every passing year, and by the time the 1980s arrived, city-to-city migrations had started. Nowadays, around 70 percent of the entire Turkish population live in large cities. It is possible to say that in the beginning the state encouraged the migration, with full knowledge of what was happening, since it thought it would be easier to westernize society in this fashion.

Of course, there are some great differences between city life and provincial life, which span as wide as even the ways people perceive themselves, perceptions of existence and the meaning of life, as well as the very world of possessions. There are also differences that emerge in the way people living in cities and provincial areas interpret, understand, and live out their religion. It is quite natural that people even dress differently as a result of this.

People living throughout Anatolia, in provincial and even ancient villages set in the middle of natural surroundings, live lives completely intertwined with trees, flowers, rivers, and mountains. And this kind of life is reflected in the materials -- the colors and the designs -- they choose for their clothing. As for city life, most of the clothes are in pastel tones, since the city is dominated by metal, concrete, asphalt, and so on. Old folk songs sung for years talk of young girls heading for the local village fountain with buckets over their shoulders, who see their young love interests there. But when these young girls move to the big cities, they get their water from taps and faucets. And so the folk songs sung about them change. This dramatic shift in the ways things are is best described by some “arabesque” folk songs. When women started to work, their relationships with men began to change.

Another important factor in the mass migration was connected to the ways of living. Within the policies of birth control and family planning propagated by the state, small homes boasting just two bedrooms and one living room were envisaged as the standard. Apartments designed according to this narrow and very individual manner of living were really only suitable for immediate or nuclear families. It was thus, in a mistaken and rather ironic way, that the apartment and apartment life began to be the symbols of true civilization in Turkey. People got tired of their traditional homes, seeing themselves as somehow excluded from the flow of history if they were not living in modern apartments. But the truth of the matter is, apartment buildings were actually a mode of housing originally thought up to house the workers and lower classes in Europe. As a result of this mad rush to build apartments, all cities throughout Anatolia are now split into two sections, the first with their “old-ruined neighborhoods,” and the second with their “new-apartment districts.”