The big news in Fethiye this week was the Prime Minister coming to town. He was here for a couple of hours on Saturday but the visit caused quite a commotion! All the roads in the centre of town were closed and all cars were removed. A stage was erected in the park just off the seafront so all the boats moored on the harbour front were also moved a short way out. The father of a boy who came for an English lesson on Saturday morning reported that ‘a hundred’ buses filled with police had arrived (possibly slight exaggeration!) and Emre reported that from the roof of Burger King he saw several snipers on nearby roofs. There were also helicopters buzzing overhead, panzers (armoured vehicles) ready on the ground and ‘jammers’ – which I have never even heard of – to block remotely operated gadgets, particularly bombs.
I wondered if the Prime Minister at home has as much security when he goes ‘on location’? I really don’t know, having never been present at such an occasion but I rather think that it is probably a bit more low-key. Cem says that is because there are not so many people in the UK who hate the PM. I think there are probably just as many, but they are less likely to act on it. Fiery Turkish tempers make for more of a direct threat; they were even taking loose change from anyone who wanted to go into the reserved area – in case they threw coins at the PM!
Anyway, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was driven through town waving (Emre claims he waved right at him) and distributing diaries (Cem claims he threw one directly at him) before appearing on the specially-built stage to give an hour-long speech. Like all politicians, he spent much of the time praising his party and what they have achieved in the 8 years they have been in office – roads built, hospitals opened etc.….
The one question that many people wanted to hear the answer to was whether there are plans to promote Fethiye to province status. The answer – which he luckily waited until the end to provide – was a resounding ‘no’. I say luckily because as soon as he said that, at least half the crowd listening got up and walked out! It is an issue near that everyone has a strong opinion on, since province status would confer prestige and financial benefits. At the moment, we are a department of Muğla province – Muğla being a town about two hour’s drive away, now smaller than Fethiye (population 61,000 at last count, compared to Fethiye’s 70,000) but to which we have to go for a whole load of official business. Seems silly – but that probably just shows how much Fethiye has grown recently in relation to the other towns in the area.
At Poppy we have been fighting our own little political battle – threatening to tear up our contract with one of the agencies if they didn’t pay the outstanding money from last year. The result was a hasty visit from a sympathetic guy, a long phone-call from the boss…and a bottle of Jack Daniels for Cem (how does everyone know his favourite drink?). Still, happy as Cem was with the gift, we are still waiting to see if the boss comes good on his promise to pay most of the money next week and the remainder in February. I won’t be holding my breath!
