Divorce Turkish Style by Esmahan Aykol

how would the TLF know that you didn’t support them?” I asked.
    â€œAre you asking if the TLF contacted us?” asked Naz, showing that she hadn’t understood what I was getting at.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThey contacted me six months ago, and my sister later on. As far as I know, the organization was formed about a year ago, and they’ve been all over Thrace finding out who’s prepared to support them and who might be persuaded. They speak to anyone known to be concerned about the environment or unhappy with the current state of affairs, so we weren’t targeted especially. They might have put more pressure on us than others, but a number of people—”
    â€œThey used pressure? What kind of pressure?”
    â€œOh, they’ve been making phone calls and leaving propaganda for me at the hospital.”
    â€œI’m going to get some water. Do you want some?” I said suddenly, rising from my chair.
    I needed a few moments on my own to digest what I’d heard. When I returned to the sitting room, I was convinced that I’d been listening to the ramblings of someone on the edge of sanity.
    â€œPropaganda, telephone calls, pressure…” I muttered.
    â€œAre you wondering what the propaganda was about? What is it you want to know?” said Naz.
    My mind was so befuddled that I’d lost the ability to construct a proper question. In fact, I didn’t really know what I wanted to ask, anyway.
    â€œJust a minute. Let me summarize what I’ve understood so far,” I said. “An armed organization called the TLF has been formed in Thrace, and its members want to establish an independent state. Is that right?”
    â€œNo,” said Naz emphatically. “They’re not seeking independence, at least not at the moment. They want to put an end to illegal industrialization, move some of the factories out of Thrace, impose restrictions on migrant workers and strengthen the local administration. Of course, the last point could develop into a demand for federalization.”
    â€œAnd then independence?”
    â€œThey don’t use the word ‘independence’. At least, they’ve said nothing to me about it. They’re demanding cultural rights for people whose mother tongue isn’t Turkish, but that’s secondary, I think. Their list of demands is long, and I don’t remember them all. They refer to themselves as a ‘regional body’.”
    â€œAnd do they have a support base for this?”
    â€œWell, they’re trying to build one. There’s been a lot of dissatisfaction about developments in Thrace over the last twenty years, and it’s created a serious security issue for the major political parties. Many people take the view that Thrace is being plundered and, having lost their land once during the BalkanWars, when they were lucky to escape with their lives, they now feel under threat again from migrants.”
    â€œDo you think they’re likely to support such an organization?”
    â€œThey might. Yet everyone’s so afraid that I’m not sure if they’d go through with it.”
    â€œIt’s natural for people to get scared when they’re about to lose something,” I said, concentrating on biting my nails.
    â€œThe thing is that governments come and go without resolving our problems, and the situation gets worse by the day. Thracians are very aware of what’s happening, unlike people in the rest of Turkey. Their level of education is higher, the region is more developed, the villages have roads and schools—”
    â€œBut could an armed organization win over these people?”
    â€œIn this country, businessmen – the very men who cause the most environmental pollution – get awards for their contribution to the economy. Just imagine if one of those men were killed on his way home with the trophy in his arms. Do you think anyone whose father had