If you know me, you know this about me. I’m a nerd when it comes to politics, Turkish politics in particular. Somewhere along the way, this fascination turned into a desire for writing. I began dreaming of becoming an opinion columnist.
So, how to do this - became the central question.
I was in college, taking a class on social and political philosophy. We were reading Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, in which, he writes:
“We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”
Much later, Meryl Streep’s Margaret Thatcher would put it more dramatically in The Iron Lady: thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, and habits become character, and character becomes destiny.
So, I took their advice. I turned my words into writing. I wrote on my college’s student newspaper on politics. For the rest of my college years, I covered Turkish and world politics in Turkish.
After graduation, a few years into my professional life, I felt the urge to begin writing again. I was consuming far too much to keep it all to myself. And frankly, my mom had had enough of listening to my oh-so-polished thoughts
Two years ago, I started this Substack to write about current Turkish politics. I wrote to share my thoughts. But, also to keep my optimism alive. I thought if I could try to convince others that there is room to be hopeful about the future, I could also convince myself.
This served me well. But, life threw new challenges my way. I moved to Istanbul from my hometown, Ankara. I started my career. I moved abroad. Although politics remained a big interest of mine, my friends and I had so much more to talk about over dinner.
So, I craved an outlet for these ideas and feelings.
I have also my good friends I met in Cambridge to thank. Every time I told them about my writing, they showed genuine interest in reading it, if only it were in English.
Well, apparently, today is the day.
I'm launching Can in Translation. Here, I will publish pieces mainly on lifestyle. Politics isn’t banned, of course. But I suspect we’ll have plenty to say about food, friendships, love, and everything in between.
To my English-speaking friends: thank you for the inspiration, and welcome!
To my Turkish friends and family: as we say here “dükkan sizin”. If you want, please tag along and meet Can, now in translation.
Here we go!
