On a business trip, with some HQ people we visited the partially owned branch of our company in Ankara last year.
We had a super nice and MBA-educated host from investor relations lead us through the day. It was all going well, until a few drinks into dinner, he shared how the CIA funded the terrorist Gülen to ruin the country, and that’s why they have high inflation, etc. I of course smiled along, but was surprised he thinks this way.
I am originally from an eastern European authoritarian country, and 99% of my experience have been that white collar people are cynical and hate the shit government, even if they have to go along with the bullshit propaganda to keep their jobs.
Also, their capital Ankara is quite the shithole, sorry. It has sparkling skyscrapers, but it’s orders of magnitudes behind in livability compared to even to poor European capitals in the Balkans. Blackouts in a luxury hotel, asphalt breaking off the road an hitting our car, concrete jungle of multi-lane roads with no walkability, fast asshole-style driving (not even letting ambulance pass) causing massive traffic.
On a business trip, with some HQ people we visited the partially owned branch of our company in Ankara last year.
We had a super nice and MBA-educated host from investor relations lead us through the day. It was all going well, until a few drinks into dinner, he shared how the CIA funded the terrorist Gülen to ruin the country, and that’s why they have high inflation, etc. I of course smiled along, but was surprised he thinks this way.
I am originally from an eastern European authoritarian country, and 99% of my experience have been that white collar people are cynical and hate the shit government, even if they have to go along with the bullshit propaganda to keep their jobs.
Also, their capital Ankara is quite the shithole, sorry. It has sparkling skyscrapers, but it’s orders of magnitudes behind in livability compared to even to poor European capitals in the Balkans. Blackouts in a luxury hotel, asphalt breaking off the road an hitting our car, concrete jungle of multi-lane roads with no walkability, fast asshole-style driving (not even letting ambulance pass) causing massive traffic.
It’s just a very different world and culture.