Loren McFarlan, a Grinnell College alumna (’07) studied off-campus in Turkey her junior year, and wanted to return. With a bit of enterprise and some help from Craig’s List, she found a job as a copy editor at Todays Zaman, a new English language Turkish newspaper. Loren arranged for us to have a tour of the Zaman building, where Todays Zaman is produced, as well as the Turkish Zaman and some other publications. We were shown around parts of the building by Loren, Fatmah Dişli, one of her co-workers, and Emrah Ülker, the managing editor.

            Todays Zaman is a small part of the Zaman empire, with 30 employees and a circulation of 3600 compared to the Turkish Zaman, which employs over 600 people and has a circulation around ¾ of a million. Turkish papers sell mostly through news stands, and Todays Zaman is aimed largely at foreigners, with an explicit agenda of making Turkey more accessible as it becomes a more important player in world politics and economy. The Zaman enterprise has a somewhat Islamist orientation. For instance, Zaman employs women like Fatmah who wear headscarves in the office, which is forbidden in government offices and many large businesses. Headscarves are a touchy issue in Turkey at the moment. The AK party currently in power wants to loosen rules, claiming that headscarves are a matter of personal freedom of expression, while many secularists view them as a wedge issue and a foot in the door towards a more Islamist nation. 

The news coverage in Todays Zaman naturally focused on Turkey and the Mediterranean, with wider editorial comment and human interest notes from countries likely to have visitors in Turkey. In addition, there are more articles on getting accustomed to Turkey and columns on things like legal issues for foreigners in Turkey.  Most articles are written specifically for Todays Zaman, with a few translated from the Turkish paper and others picked up from wire sources. The staff writes in English, and Loren and three other native English speaking copy editors make sure the English is idiomatically correct. Writer’s stances are not always readily predictable to an outsider. The issue due out the day before our visit included a rather lopsided article calling for Greece to remove its settlers from Cyprus, and editorials with opposed views on Turkey’s response to claims of Armenian genocide at the end of World War I, one responding with outrage to Jewish organizations’ recent decision to use the term “genocide” in referring to the deaths of thousands of Armenians, the other suggesting that Turkey should admit some wrongdoing, if not genocide, and attempt reconciliation instead of denial. This last may land the author in legal trouble, as some authorities interpret any such comments as criminal defamation of Turkey.

            What is most striking to the outsider is how salient some political issues are in the minds of the people, and how immediately felt the effects of some political stances can be.  The parallels in Turkey and the US between competing claims of religious freedom and freedom from other people’s religion, arguments about a contested past, and political polarization can hardly be missed by visiting Americans.

            Also interesting are some differences in corporate culture between businesses like Zaman and most in the U.S.  The company provides free meals for all its employees round the clock (due to the need for people to work odd hours in the publishing business), an on-site doctor, a gym, a shuttle that transports employees to and from work, and a driver to take employees who work late home. We had a chance to experience the cafeteria food.  The verdict?  MUCH better than the ITU school lunch!