A young Kurdish girl watches vigilantly in Diyarbakir, Turkey on August 31, 2006.
Diyarbakir, Turkey is a city where Kurds rule the streets but the Turks dictate the law. The Kurdish people in this south east Turkish city do not enjoy the same freedoms as their counterparts do further down south. In the Kurdish region of Iraq, the Kurdish flag flies high and many murals around the cities of Arbil and Dohuk tell stories of the Kurds. If any Kurd made a similar attempt in Turkey to document Kurdish history, they would be incarcerated. In the eyes of the Turkish Government, being a Kurd in Turkey is not a good thing.
I had the opportunity to walk the alleys of Diyarbakir, which are beautiful and haunting. These alleys are where the poor live and where I felt welcomed the most. The residents of these alleys go out of their way to make visitors feel welcomed and safe. Naturally, you can find the usual city scammer although this is not the norm here. Diyarbakir is a fairly large city with many historic sites that are a source of local pride. One of these is an immense wall that separates the alleys from the wealthier part of the city.
One of the locals that I will remember the most is Omar, the bell boy at Class Hotel. This is one of the only hotels in Diyarbakir claiming to offer Wi-fi where it actually works. Omar is a devout Muslim with nothing but love in his heart for all human beings including people he’s only just met, like me. He dreams of becoming an English teacher, but making only $120 a month with a family of six makes that very difficult. There is no time for school, only work. He asked me to tell everyone back in the states that not all Muslims are evil terrorists. I promised him I would, but could not guarantee the results.
It was very difficult for me to sit back and watch a healthy, intelligent man with so much potential catering to the rest of society which seemed to have no appreciation for him or his efforts. I did not want to waste another moment, so that same day my travel companion Regan and I purchased a laptop computer. We showed up at the hotel and put the computer on the counter. Omar looked at it, thinking we were simply showing off our computer. When Regan and I explained to Omar that it was for him to keep, to study hard and become a teacher, he did not know what to do. With tears in his eyes, he promised that he will become an English teacher.
A young Kurdish man stands in a bake shop in Diyarbakir, Turkey on August 30, 2006.
Mother and son stand by their home in Diyarbakir, Turkey on August 30, 2006.
