Economically breathing

To the seaside from Ankara, every intercity road is going through building works. These public investment activities are vitally important to reactivate the economy but they also have become nightmares for holiday goers.

It is usually very difficult to go to the Mediterranean or Aegean coasts during holiday seasons due to traffic jams. To top it all, now we have road construction. A friend of mine told me that he took the bus from Ayvalık to İzmir at eight o’clock in the evening and finally reached his house at two o'clock in the morning. But if it is a Monday morning you can make the same distance in three hours.

I want to ask the authorities why they start this road work in the middle of the summer when they could do the same work in April or May? The same is in Istanbul. People living in Istanbul wait for the summer to have an easier time in traffic, but the city officials decided to start maintenance work on one of the Bosphorus bridges and traffic became impossible again. İzmir is a jewel of a city. Its natural beauty is unique. It is also a very touristic place. On one side you have olive orchards, on the other fig trees. As a Greek king said, it is a unique city. It is not difficult to find the reason why all the big civilizations had settled in the area. But, the city has become a forest of cement blocks in the name of urbanization. The paradoxical situation is that the ones who created this sin now have become environmentalists. Per capita income in İzmir and its surroundings is higher than the rest of Turkey. Also the rate of literacy is very high. Another interesting feature in the region is the very high rate of women in active business life. But it is obvious that the economic crisis has had deep negative impacts on the region.

If Turkey's rate of exports drops by one-third, the same happens in İzmir. Lay offs in businesses have reached their peak. Even the poultry sector is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. If the food sector is getting deeply affected by the crisis then it means people are taking their last breaths. A region used to having everything in abundance now is trying to survive with limited means. In a summer resort of 147 houses only 60 were inhabited this year. It means everybody has started to cut down on their holidays and entertainment. But now it is time to forget these gloomy thoughts and disengage oneself from real life for a while. Even the decisions the G-8 will take has lost their importance. Now the important thing is to go to the Symra dance school near the seaside in İzmir and watch those young, spirited people do the tango. This is the civilized life itself.

When you talk to the tango dancers you realize that they all have different professions. Among them are physiotherapists, bankers, engineers, teachers, security agents, shop owners, businessmen and farmers. This dance school has its own strong principles. First of all, there are training sessions. Then a question is posed to all the dancers: "Who is Vargas?" After the correct answer is given everybody rises in attention to commemorate Vargas.

Arts and sports are such strong winds that everybody who is taken by them gets lost under their influence. But to get lost in this way turns into a blissful hobby and even love. If you say to them, "Among all our problems, is your only thought about dancing?" you will be wrong. You have to see the blissful way they look after two or three hours of dancing. We leave them with their own bliss and go to a cafe to have some coffee. Turkey is really a wonderful country with its flora, with its people and nature. The important thing is not to fight with each other and try to solve our problems in a sensible and mature way.