A Turkish in Romania

Name and Surname: Reha YILMAZLAR

Age: 24

Country: Turkey

Nationality: Turkish

City: Ankara (The capital)

SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY

1. Which is the form of government ruling in your country?

The government of Turkey takes place in the framework of a secular parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Turkey is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of Turkey is the head of state who holds a largely ceremonial role but with substantial reserve power.

Turkey’s political system is based on the separation of powers. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent. Changes to the Constitution are not expected.

Seğmenler Parkı is a good choice for me. We usually take our guitars and beers, go there and play, get drunk and chill.

2. Do you believe corruption exists in your country? How much do you think it influences political life and your private life?

Yes, several months ago it was all on news. There were voice records all over the internet where the prime minister and his son were talking on the phone about a huge amount of money that has been stolen. It is claimed that they were keeping the money in shoeboxes and everyone was making fun of it… It remained on the agenda for quite a while.

Also, last year we had a local election. But during the voting session in some regions electricity was cut off. Most of the people think that it happened because they wanted to rig the election results. However, the funny thing was that our minister of energy showed up on television and said there were some cats near the power centers and they caused all that trouble. We made fun of it on social media for days.

This is one of my favourite places to get a drink, or two, or five in my case! The pub is called “Roxanne Pub” as the song from the band “The Police”.

3. Which is your national language? Do dialects exist in your country? If they do, are they used/known by young people?

Yep. There are certain dialects in some parts of Turkey. So you can identify when someone talks if they are from the Eastern, the Western or the Southern part of Turkey and sometimes you can even guess which city they are from.

4. Who do you believe to be the cultural icon of your country?

Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK. He is the founder of Turkey. We owe him so much that every Turkish citizen is raised by his heroic stories, quotes and principles. You can see his statues everywhere in Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK.

WHAT ABOUT EUROPE?

5. Do you consider yourself European?

Hmm that’s a tricky question. You know Istanbul is a bridge between Asia and Europe. So a little part of Turkey is actually in Europe. That’s why we are both European and Asian at the same time.

6. Are you able to name a person that you consider symbolic for European culture?
   As a European I can’t name a person but when I think of Europe I somehow think of Art. And as a non-European person of course I do perceive its existence.