Contact
Fréderike Geerdink
Phone:
* Netherlands: +316 3393 6375 (also Whatsapp)
* Kurdistan Region, Iraq: +964 75185 44190
E-mail: f.geerdink@gmail.com
Expert Kurdistan
Weekly newsletter with news and analysis from all four parts of Kurdistan. Costs a little and brings you a lot, every Sunday!
Podiumbouwer Maaike van Kempen made this website.
Inspiration
/0 Comments/in Other /by fgeerdinkSometimes, when I’m on a boat on the Bosphorus, I want to litterally scream. Scream because of the happiness working in this city and in this country gives me. A few days ago, I felt it again. I came back from an interview with Cetin Altan and Solmaz Kamuran, married and both writers. The interview was about publishing in Turkey, and how (un)free writers and publishers are in Turkey. Altan’s writing carreer is long: 60 years already. He is 80 years old now, but is everything but finished with writing. Besides books, he published essay’s and is still regularly writing columns for Milliyet newspaper. His wife Solmaz Kamuran writes novels and is a translater. Read more
A landscape in use
/0 Comments/in Other /by fgeerdinkI went walking in Cappadocia. I lived in the region for seven months, but never saw it like I did these last few days. That’s because Evelien – or Elif as the locals call her – showed me the way. She’s Dutch, lives in the small village of Ortahisar and organises walking tours. During the walks, the perspective on the spectacular landscape changed all the time, which made me look at it as if it was the first time. In the meantime, we saw how people fit in this beautiful landscape and make use of it. We saw small gardens in the valleys, close to natural water wells. A hammock between two trees, an old Turkish guy in it. A natural cave, totally open on the front, with cushions alongside the walls and a teapot in the middle.
Some time ago, I went ballooning over Cappadocia. Which was amazing. But from above, you only experience half of it. If you ever go to Cappadocia, I would suggest you keep your feet on the ground. Being part of the landscape is much better then floating over it.
To the market you don’t wear glitters
/0 Comments/in Other /by fgeerdinkThere are headscarves and headscarves. Take a look at the market in Ürgüp, a medium size village in central Turkey.
Decoration
Habibe Akkaya (16): “The scarf I’m wearing now is from rather slippery material, so I’m wearing a tight cloth underneath to keep the scarf in place. I don’t want it to slip down all the time. But the cloth underneath is also decoration: I have these cloths in different colours and brown suits my outfit today. In Turkey, it’s not allowed to wear a headscarf to school. Luckily I live in the Netherlands and there it is not a problem. I wouldn’t go to school if I could not wear a headscarf.”
Glitters
Birgül Fidana (38): “It’s quite warm today, so I’m wearing a cotton headscarf. I have synthetic ones as well, but really, I would get too hot with that today. I have many different scarfs, and today I wear it like women in this region wear it traditionally. This one is also good for the market. I mean, I have scarfs with glitters and nice embroidered sides, but they are for special occasions like weddings. To the market you don’t wear glitters.”
Democracy
Ayşe Şen (45): “I am religious, but I also love Atatürk, the man that founded the Turkish republic. Atatürk separated state and religion and I think that’s very important in a democracy. So that’s why I wear this small hat with his picture on it, with the text ‘Atatürk we are with you’. I bought it at a big pro-Atatürk demonstration in Ankara a few months ago. By the way, I don’t wear the headscarf because I’m religious. It’s tradition here and I want to fit in.”
Honest
Nurten Kiziltepe (52): “More modern women don’t cover their mouth, but I do, just because I’m used to it. In the early days every woman did it like me. Now you also see a lot of religious headscarfs, they are much tighter. I am religious, but I mainly wear the scarf to hide myself from men. To be honest, I should not even have my picture taken and show myself this way. My husband would have never approved of it. But he passed away, so now it’s okay.”
White
Kezban Çetinkaya (55): “The greenish cloth underneath the scarf I also wear at home. It’s tradition, it’s just what you do, and I also wear it because it’s part of my religion. Whenever I go out, I put another cloth over the thin cloth I wear at home, and today I picked a white one. Not that I pick something else all the time, I just wrap something around my head and that’s it. Some women have tens of scarfs, I have only four”
Play
Esma Toker (18): “I’ve been wearing a scarf for about a year now. I read more and more about my faith, I talked to the imam in the Dutch town of Heerenveen, where I live, and then slowly slowly you move towards wearing a headscarf. Faith says you have to, my hair has to remain invisible. Occasionally I wear a hat instead of a scarf, but I like spending time in front of the mirror to play with the scarf till I think it looks beautiful. You know, this world is a test, and the more things you do that are part of religion, the more chance you have to go to heaven.”
Wine
Gülcen Sarkaya (43): “I want to be accepted in the village where I live, so I wear this cloth. I wear it loose, and there’s no need to cover my neck. I am a modern woman and not very religious. My husband and I work in the wine industry: he makes wine and I sell it in our shop. Some people think it’s a funny or strange combination: a woman with a headscarf as saleswoman in a wine shop. But it’s not strange at all, it’s just how we earn a living.”
Prophet
Fatma Özçelik (24): “The scarf has to cover all of the hair, so I wear a band underneath to make sure no hair comes out. The band also keeps the scarf in place, if I don’t wear it the scarf slips away all the time. I like to wear a scarf, but it’s also compulsory in Islam. The Koran says so, the prophet commands it. But I also like to look good. I have many different scarfs, so every day I can choose one that suits the rest of my clothes.”