The more things change

Turkey has changed dramatically over the 25 years since I first came here. Health and life expectancy have increased significantly, there are now metro and light rail systems, and most homes feature all the modern conveniences. In general, globalization has made Istanbul feel much more similar to and closer to home than ever before. For the most part this is a good thing for the people of Turkey. The standard of care at the American Hospital (private hospital) has advanced tremendously. In 1988 quality of care seemed about 30 years behind American health care. Now it is on a par with the US in most respects, and better in some (last year we were able to walk straight into the ER with no wait, be seen be a doctor immediately, and have all the same tests and procedures that would be done in a modern American hospital and have a good diagnosis and treatment plan in about 1/4 of the time it would take to go through an American ER). Some of the imports from the US and Europe are not necessarily, in my mind, an improvement. Obesity is up dramatically since the 1990s, and fast food has become a fixture. Turkey is, though, still Turkey, and many of the customs and religious traditions remain. I was also surprised to see, the other day, the return of the "halk ekmek" stand. Halk Ekmek is government-subsidized bread. I haven't checked prices this year, but in the late 1980s it cost about 7 cents a loaf (and it wasn't that cardboard-like substance that passes for bread in the US, either. It was a nice solid loaf that was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside). Most Istanbullus eat bread that is made early each morning in a bakery in their own neighborhood and purchased fresh from the oven each day. Halk ekmek appears to be made in factories around the city and distributed in the morning to stands. Yesterday was the first time in years that I've seen one of these stands. The stand in question was, in fact, a halk ekmek stand back in the 1980s. Since that time it's been used for a variety of other purposes including selling cigarettes and transit passes. When we passed it on the tram I did a double-take because I had no idea that halk ekmek was even still available. Turkey has had an increase in poverty since the 1990s, unlike most middle income countries. I only have stats for a couple of years ago, but the seeming sudden reappearance of the halk ekmek stand makes me worry that things may be a lot worse than they were even a few years ago.