A brief description of what is central in Turkish newspapers over the past week: The Hrant Dink murder and the controversy it has sparked. It seems that the slogan used at Dink’s funeral “We are all Armenians” fuelled a reaction and many people, from what I read in the newspapers, declare now “No, we are Turks”. What seems to be the reality is that there are two different Turkeys, on that is more open and tolerant, and another infused with ethnic nationalism. The latter one seems to spoil the image of Turkey as the example of a tolerant state regardless of religious, language and ethnic differences.

The other day I went to Fener (Φανάρι), the old Greek neighbourhood midway up the Golden Horn, where the Christian Orthodox Patriarchate is situated. The streets are full of remains of historic houses that are left in oblivion … I was moved. It seems I cannot escape my Greek identity either. I tried to imagine almost 3 centuries ago, how this neighbourhood would look like when the people of Fener, the Phanariotes, who were prominent Greek families occupied in political and administrative posts in the Ottoman Empire during the 17^th and 18^th century, where living there. And now all you can see is ruins, reminders of another epoch, alive only in memory.

It’s funny but once you are abroad, you tend to stress your nationality, as the most important feature of your identity besides sex; the rest follow: student, worker, musician, artist, traveller, anthropologist, photographer, etc. This is why I sympathise with the Greeks I meet here and their attachment to religion, history and memory. Wherever I go, to the Greek consulate, to the schools, I find big marble inscriptions of Patriarch Bartholomeos, the oath of Alexander the Great and so on. Justifiable, in a way, I think…

As far as my research is concerned, all my contacts come from the Zografeion Highschool. From there I was informed that the majority of graduate students go to study abroad and especially in Greece, because they have advantages as foreigners. Consequently, there are not a lot of young Rums in the city, a fact that makes my research more difficult. But I think that if I talk to family or friends and achieve to find at least 10 or 15 informants it would be satisfying. The principal of the Greek school told me that this year 49 students attend classes in total and that the last 11 years 140 students have gratuated. I have managed to find only a few so far but hopefully I will find more. I have 55 days to go, I am optimistic.