Odd Times In Turkey: Memories of a Trip to Turkey in June of 2014 - Just Before the Refugee Crisis

This is a book about a trip to Turkey, in mid-2014 just before the crises of ISIS and the Syrian refugees became international news. While much of the crises to come was not apparent to the standard tourists, these two companions saw the impacts on the area before the news hit the world. Not always sticking to the "safe" tourist areas, the two went to places where just a few months later were unsafe for any Western. In many ways this book is a typical "two for the road" story of "very different" traveling companions having to get along with each other. However, the situation in which the companions found themselves was similar to the conflicts within Turkey of today; an older culture in conflict with a younger culture. The “road trip" aspects of this work, with its humor and continuing odd set of circumstances presents on a micro level, the recurring theme of the current crisis; the "modern" versus the "non-modern." Through the people they met across Turkey, the stories also present the same conflicts of "modern" versus "non-modern" on more of a macro; playing out in Turkey in 2014, before it became international headline new. So while the main theme is the story of the two travelers, we also have stories the Turks; of the professional “modern woman" whose lifestyle is at risk; a cab driver who can’t stand the new Syrians, the retired professor whose wife is Muslim and he Jewish. A news reporter desperate to find people to talk about the disasters to come; and others. We also have stories of so many who are dependent upon the tourists who have stopped coming; and those who came to Turkey to help people in need, and those who take advantage of the crisis for personal gain: So included in the story is meeting: The real internationalist humanitarian; The "shady" people engaged in "projects;' and The opportunist selling misery as a product. Then there is the situation where the personal plans of a tourist are challenged by the start of a new war. While the book is focused upon the relatively minor events, that impacted the travelers, it is a story on multiple levels of individuals, and a nation, who want to know how to balance, if they can, the "modern" and the "non-modern."