The Turkish work ethic is insane. They work six days a week, many even work 7 days a week, and this is considered normal. Many Turks wouldn’t even think of asking for a vacation until they have worked that kind of schedule for at least two years. Many Turks never take vacation ever. The average salary for a high end job, like a banker, is 600 YTL per month, about $370 or €300. So they aren’t making all that much money for the ammount of hours they work a week.
Since we came to Turkey as ex-pats working at a language institute, the clash of cultures was ever so evident. Management was constantly trying to get people to work more, they would call people with questions on their days off with things that could most certainly have waited until the next day. They would grudgingly give vacation days. They would attempt to not pay teachers and managers for paycheques during months that vacation was taken. In fact, paying teachers and managers was consistently like pulling teeth. Each month there was always someone who was paid late for some ridiculous reason.
The excuses would always amount to: “But this is how it is in Turkey.”
The mind boggles at how this happened and why people put up with it. When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk began the process of modernising Turkey after ousting the Ottoman Empire, one of the things he brought was a new work ethic to Turks. Ataturk encouraged Turks to work, work, work and to make work the centre of their lives. Work was a privilege and workers should not complain, demand, or do anything less than work 6 days a week.
This, coupled with the fact that around the world Turks are an unwelcome nation, how would the greater population even know it is any different anywhere else? Turks, like Iranians, have the most trouble getting visas even if they are married to someone from another country. It is notoriously difficult for Turks to even travel, and most Turks have only vacationed in other places in Turkey. Very few have travelled outside the country, except to Germany.
So, without real life exposure to other modes of life, and an allegiance to Ataturk that is usually reserved for the Prophet Mohammed in Muslim countries, Turks have an oddly protestant work ethic. Work will set you free. There is nothing more important in life than work and Ataturk. For foreigners in Turkey, this is by far one of the most difficult things to get accustomed to. The 6-day workweek. You really begin to recognise the importance of time off. How the mind simply does not have enough time to relax, and how slowly this crazy work system makes work everything in life. There is so much more to life than work.
In the year we spent in Turkey, we explored some of Istanbul, but didn’t have a chance to see anything outside the city because of the 6-day workweek. When was there time? On Steve’s one day off a week, he was so tired all he wanted to do was stay home and relax. And I can’t say I blame him. We couldn’t even take a weekend trip to Cappadochia or Ephesus. Because there is no weekend for those working in Turkey. There is no time off. Our holiday time was spent with our families in Sri Lanka and Florida, and thankfully so. Even if we had the option to travel in Turkey, I think we would much rather have left the country because the vibe is insane. After working like that, we didn’t even care to see anything else in Turkey. All we wanted was to get out.
Maybe once we leave Turkey we will go back and do the tourist stuff. But, knowing now what I do about Turkish people and culture, I can’t say that I am all that interested. I would rather go back to Granada to the place we got married. I would rather see Romania. Friends around Europe. Turkey will be on the bottom of my list, in spite of all the wonders and history to see.
I will not be sad to go, and I will not be in a hurry to come back.
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