Perception of Turkey in Spain

When I was on way to Spain, that is to say when I was on my way to Europe, one of the things I was most curious about is what Europeans thought about Turkey. While I was there, I had a chance to engage with people from 72 different nationalities and make observations on this issue. So there were some major ideas in my head. After returning to Turkey, when I'm asked about several million questions in this respect, I realized that I was not the only one who wondered how Turkey is perceived in Europe. That's why I said that I should write something which is the article you are reading right now in order to remove the question marks in the head. I will firstly assess the perception of Turkey in Spain, and in my next article I hope I will mention our public image in Europe.

Turks in Kurtuba. (The photograph reflects our sense of humor rather than our political view. )

Since the Spaniards are generally friendly, comfortable and tolerant people, I did not have any problems with being Turkish. It is hard to find someone who has his/her own idea about Turkey. Overall, their information is limited to what the media has recently given them. They have as much information about Erdogan, Arda Turan, terrorism and the coup attempt from which we survived, as they see from television and newspapers. Apart from current issues, there is an Ottoman and Barbaros reality in their cultural memories. As far as I understand from the fact that they are still in their memories, Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha cost the Spaniards dear. I will try to explain some of the dialogues that I have with the Spanish without making any commentary so that you can understand why I reacted this way. Have your assessment, my dear readers...

As I told you in my article "Welcome to Spain", Spanish girl Beatriz, whom I met at the airport in Istanbul and went to Madrid together, was an Turkey/Istanbul lover. She had a boyfriend who is Turkish before and she was like an angel who listened to Zeki Müren and Ahmet Kaya. She was thinking of writing a thesis on Turkey-EU relations. I did not ask directly her ideas on this issue but I guess she supported the idea of Turkey's entering into the European Union. As far as I can see from the comments made in her Facebook account, there is a mass opposition who does not want her to go to Turkey because of safety concerns. Her father, Jesus, who met us at the airport said that he'd been in Turkey before and liked it very much but said that he was worried about the current situation.

When I said I'm Turk, my landlady Regina who was 80 back then asked "Is there any war over there?" I said "No" but I guess she did not believe me much. Then, in a similar conversations, no matter how hard we tried to explain the fact that "It is Syria, not Turkey, " she said "It is all the same to me" ignoring what we said with such an attitude. After a while, I just started to smile whenever she commented on this matter thinking that her ideas won't change.

My landlady, Regina

In my class, there was a pure, sympathetic and leftist boy named Alberto. One day, "the draft of law which forces the girls to marry their rapists is in the agenda of Turkey, right?" he asked. I got surprised and said "Where on earth does this come from?" He said "I've seen it on the news. " I had heard this issue quite a lot, but at that time I did not have detailed information, since I did not follow the agenda in detail and the issue was a legal issue. However I could only said "It is not possible, media distorts some issues. "

There was an event called Meet & Speak that I occasionally went to in Madrid. This event was held so that international students meet and mingle, especially to improve their language. As students who came to the event, we were wearing flag stickers while entering the place so that we could communicate with each other comfortably. In this way, we could understand who spoke which language. As I went to this event with my Turkish friend on a Thursday again, suddenly a brunette girl came to us and started to count the Turkish words she knows as "Merhaba, Nasılsın" with her sweet Spanish accent. We have talked with the proudness of seeing the benefit of the Turkish Flag for the first time in a foreign country. It turns out that the girl did Erasmus in Istanbul last year, and now we are doing Erasmus in Spain. That being the case, many topics opened and we talked for hours. While she was in Turkey, Ataturk Airport was attacked unfortunately, we talked about on this issue. As someone who has visited dozens of countries, she said that Istanbul is the most beautiful city she has ever seen, the food is nice and cheap and Turks are very nationalistic also it is very strange to put flags everywhere. It can be said that she does not much appreciate Turkey in a political sense. As I understand, she has been in contact with some political groups in Turkey. She was so familiar with the political jargon that I would be surprised if she wore a green park and shouted slogans. Overall she was happy to have lived her Erasmus experience in Turkey. I suppose she could not say the same thing about Turkish men. She reproachful on this matter :)

In the final days of Erasmus, when we missed the last train to Alcala, we had to hitchhike with my friend, the first car stopped and two middle-aged "senhoras" took us. The driver said that she went to Turkey 7 years ago and said she liked Turkish cuisine very much. She said that even just tomato was more natural and delicious than the tomatoes in Spain. I can attest this once as a person who has fallen into the vantage of buying tomatoes from Spanish Carrefour. It was nothing like a tomato.

When a Czech, a Slovak, a Japanese and a Turk having the Tarhana soup.

There is a general sympathy for Arda Turan, but people think he has made a mistake by going to Barcelona. Atletico Madrid supporters said "We thought he was different. " expressing their disappointment.

After the Erasmus, I met three Spanish in Denizli who are from Barcelona, named Marta, Alan and Jordi, and an Italian who is from Milan, named Valeria. Marta and Valeria came to Denizli for a month as a part of the European Volunteer Service and taught English here. We had a chance of long evaluation on this matter thanks to their observations on Turkey. What we have as a result, the reality about Turkey is quite different from that of Turkey portrayed in the European media.

Of course, there are not only Spanish people in Spain. I had the chance to establish intimate relations with many Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Syrian and Moroccans. When you say “Esselamun Aleykum!” to a person that you think are Muslim, it will not take you two minutes to be a friend of them. In particular, they support Turkey in the political sense.

My favorite kebab restaurant in Alcala. It was 50 meters from my house.

That's all I can think of the perception of Turkey in Spain for now. In my next post, I am thinking about examining how we are in the eyes of other Europeans. There is a lot to tell about that as well.

Goodbye, both inside and abroad, wishing you to represent us beautifully in the eyes of everyone!

Photo gallery