Work trip to Istanbul, Turkey - 12th to 13th September 2006

This flying visit to Istanbul to talk to some of my company's clients. I didn't really see much of the touristy part of the city, but I did get to meet lots of people, and have some interesting conversations.

On arrival at the airport, I noticed that there were lots of planes from not-very-good countries and airlines there. Afghan Airways was a particular example, I really can't see myself being even remotely willing to get onto one of their planes. Obviously because of Turkey's location, close to all the former Russian republics that end in "stan", there were lots more dubious national airlines on show.

Into the airport terminal, and it transpires that citizens of certain countries need a visa to get in. "Certain" countries seemingly are those that use hard currency, so they can pay in money that the Turks want to get hold of. £10 for British citizens (which is more than the tax for a lot of other EU nationalities), to get a sticker in your passport that doesn't even stick down very well. Even after getting this, the immigration queues were particularly slow.

I think that all countries seem to view this as a flexing of national muscle, how irritating they make it for foreigners to get into their country. It is their one big opportunity to say "you will do things our way, and we have immense power over you right now". The shittier the country, the more they seem to use this power, as the huge and complex visas for former Russian republics demonstrate.

Turkey struck me as a country that is very big on national pride and identity. There are Turkish flags everywhere, lots of things (and people) very proudly proclaim that they are of Turkish origin, and the language is almost totally dominant - you see very little of any other language there. The bottled water on the plane screamed that it was Turkish, so were the hazelnuts, so was the olive oil, and that even got into its sachet courtesy of a "modern production process".

Much of this seems to spring from an inferiority complex - Turkey suspects that other countries view it as a little bit rubbish and backward. So it tries especially hard to appear modern, cosmopolitan, and international. Sometimes this works, sometimes you can see through it very easily. They have the big civil engineering projects that they trumpet as examples that they are capable of building stuff like bridges. Istanbul is clearly a very cosmopolitan city. But there are signs everywhere that the third world is not too far away.

One of the more amusing experiences was driving (or rather, being driven) around the place. People seem to use the horn as a genuine driving tool, probably more important than the brakes actually. It is most definitely not for the faint hearted - even crossing the road is a challenge of wits. There are people walking alongside the motorways, where they really shouldn't be.

The food is amazing there, that is one important thing to say. Kebab heaven, and they have a fantastic drink of sour cherry juice, which I could drink every day and not get bored of it. The other amazing thing are the mosques, beautiful buildings with twin towers, that rise above the normal buildings wherever you look. A very interesting place to have seen, a strange mix of first and third worlds. I would like to go back and explore some more (although definitely NOT for football).