Turkey seems on its way to Europe. The number plates of cars are ready, only the 'EU' sign is missing from the corner. Atatürk's portrait hangs on every second apartment block - the founder of the republic and ardent secularist leader is meant to spread news about the European and Western values of Turkey.
Istanbul will be a European Cultural Capital in 2010. If we squint at the mosques and minarets (and disregard the ingrained bargain culture) it could easily be a European metropolis. On the metro and state-of-the-art trams there's discipline and cleanliness, only the Western tourist speaks loud, and headscarved women almost only appear around the largest in-betrieb Blue Mosque. (I've seen one or two fully clad women in black chador, much more with headscarves fully covering the hair, but most women seem to run around without a scarf in downtown Istanbul.) Turkish people apparently work diligently, often until late night, sitting at their fruit stand at 3 a.m. or digging on the building site. Schoolkids up to 18 strictly in uniform, studying is priority - thousands young people apply to university every year, and it is hard to be admitted, unlike in Europe.
Turkey has a privileged place in the EU Youth programme as well: even though it is not a member, its youth projects can be fully funded as any European country. Looking up in Wiki, it turns out that about a quarter of its 72 million people are teens - meaning that they will swell up the European youth population when it comes to accession.
Whether this is near or far, the YIA programme already counts with the Turkish youth, and in turn, they started to use their possibilities on such scales that bigger cities like the Mediterranean Izmir or Antalya organizes projects every month, with the additional support of the local government.
During the youth exchange in Antalya we haven't only seen the Troyan and Bizantine ruins, bathed in the now quiet sea or floated over a sunken city by boat. Keeping to the Turkish protocol, we have also visited the education ministry officials and the local government. To the question whether the mayor only receives foreign youth or also keeps in touch with the local students, the mayor, as a good politician, gave an indirect reply. The teamleader, Gizem answered me: the mayor has regular meetings with the youth delegates. If these meetings bring fruit or not, there is no way to find out. But I know how much the interest and support of decision-makers can pave the way for good changes.