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In the first two decades after W.W.II, social scientist heralded Turkey as an exemplar of a 'modernizing' nation in the Western mold. Images of unveiled women working next to clean-shaven men, healthy children in school uniforms, and downtown Ankara's modern architecture all proclaimed the country's success. Although Turkey's modernization began in the late Ottoman era, the establishment of the secular nation-state by Kemal Ataturk in 1923 marked the crystallization of an explicit, elite-driven 'project of modernity' that took its inspiration exclusively from the West.The essays in this book are the first attempt to examine the Turkish experiment with modernity from a broad, interdisciplinary perspective, encompassing the fields of history, the social sciences, the humanities, architecture, and urban planning. As they examine both the Turkish project of modernity and its critics, the contributors offer a fresh, balanced understanding of dilemmas now facing not only Turkey but also many other parts of the Middle East and the world at large. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey.
"About time" was this reviewer's response to a collection of essays reconsidering the Atatürk experiment in secularism and Western orientation some sixty years on.Essays, almost all by Turks, offer high-quality though overly jargon-laden discussions of such topics as architecture, women, and scholarship.

The book's highlight is undoubtedly an unassuming 12-page essay, "The Quest for the Islamic Self within the Context of Modernity," by Nilüfer Göle, an associate professor of sociology at Boðaziçi University in Istanbul.Göle establishes the enormous cultural chasm between the Atatürkists' Westernizing ideals and what had come before, then shows how today's Islamists are trying "to maintain an identity separate from that of the dominant West." In other words, rather than see Islamists as products of failed economies, she shows the acutely important cultural dimension of their effort.To illustrate these points, she looks in more depth at the question of the body, especially the female body, and contrasts the Western notions of care and exposure with the thoroughly different Islamic concepts.Göle concludes by noting the paradox of Islamic pop music and fashion shows-two signs indicating the ubiquity of Western modernity.

All this should be self-evident, but it is not; most analysts of Islam pay too little attention to culture in their fascination with material well-being.Göle has succinctly shown why they are wrong.

Middle East Quarterly, December 1997

Rethinking through an edited volume
This book overall is a strong edited volume. Especially the pieces concerning identity and identity formation have new and interesting vantage points.It is a new perspective that helps the reader to understand and rethink their "image" about Turkey. For those interested in Middle East, in Turkey and generally in modernity this book will be of great value. ... Read more

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If you are fortunate enough to be able to visit Turkey, or even more fortunate to be able to live there, you will come away from your experience with a whole new set of genuine lifelong friends, and you will have the opportunity to get to know one of the world's oldest and in many ways most advanced civilizations.

It's not just that the Turks were the masters of the known world for 600 years, or that they have a history of academic, economic, medical, scientific, mathematical, political, religious and artistic accomplishments going back thousands of years that makes you a fortunate person to be able to get to know them. It's not just that the food is sublime, the geography wondrous and varied, the culture complex and deep, and the society multi-faceted and open to new ideas,

What will really make your time in Turkey worthwhile is that the Turks have mastered the art of being civilized human beings in every respect. Oh, I know, they have their little ideosyncrasies, like their fanatical worship of Ataturk, or their oddly primitive attitudes toward women - especially in rural areas. But all in all, taken as a whole, the Turkish people and their culture offer the visitor or expatriate a virtually inexhaustable set of new learning experiences, and in a world that is becoming increasingly homogenized, that alone is enough to make Turkey one of the outstanding places in the world for foreigners to visit and live.

While generalizations are always inaccurate if taken as gospel, in general you will find that living and working in Turkey as an expatriate is a delightful experience. Again, as a generalization, Turks are hospitable, friendly, welcoming, sophisticated, fun-loving people who enjoy life, the company of family and friends, who love to eat good food, have a good conversation, debate interesting issues, learn new things, and take time to smell the roses. Turks are in, but in many important ways not ‘of’ the middle east, which after all is a British colonial term for this part of the world and not a designation that means much to the people who live here. Americans are generally welcomed, although many Turks are substantially disillusioned by the current (2000 – 2008) American administration, and for at least several years hence as an American new to Turkey you will be probed to determine where your attitudes lie in this respect.

Whether you are going to Turkey to live and work, to study, or to retire you will discover early on that you have arrived in the midst of some of the most gregarious, alert, hard-working, devoted people on earth, and in a place where if you put forth even half an effort you will be welcomed into their lives as a true friend.
... Read more

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THIS IS A BRAND NEW COPY OF [THE MIDDLE EAST] DISCOVERING WORLD CULTURES [VOLUME 5] ... Read more

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At a time when the turmoil and conflict in the Middle East dominates world news, students need to develop an understanding of the people and culture of this region. This five-volume set, part of the Discovering World Cultures series, examines geographical, historical, economic, and cultural issues in 16 Middle Eastern countries. For each nation, information about people groups, natural resources and geography, economy, and religion is included. A section on everyday life considers education, leisure activities, dress, holidays, the arts, and food, including sample recipes. Tables, charts, illustrations, timelines, and fact sheets provide visual references to support the written material.

Volume 1: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt

Volume 2: Iran, Iraq, Israel

Volume 3: Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman

Volume 4: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Volume 5: Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Grades 6-8

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Chapters: Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Transport and Communication, Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Ministry of Agriculture and Village Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 37. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Turkish: ) is a government ministry office of the Republic of Turkey, responsible for environmental and forestry related affairs in Turkey. Since 2007, the office-holder is Prof. Dr. Veysel Erolu of the Justice and Development Party. Official website ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=10284334 ... Read more

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Voice of Conscience

Like most of the other boys in his village, Ramzi Ozcomert Junior is a happy boy until the death of his parents and sister. Witnessing the bloody aftermath of the murders changes the direction of his life forever. Even though he has been taught at an early age to take care of himself, to control his emotions, always be on guard and never to turn his back to his enemies, he doesn't fully understand the meaning of survival until he is completely on his own. Yet, an unseen bravery and determination exist within him. Inherited from his parents, it defends him from head to toe against the fatal invasion of loneliness, need and degradation. With this inheritance, also, come the sins of the father, which he shoulders without protesting. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

Heard the Voice Loud and Clear
Book Title: Voice of Conscience
Author: Behcet Kaya
Publisher: Authorhouse
ISBN: 9781449014537
Reviewed by Michele Tater for Review The Book

"The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience."Mohandas Gandhi

With the on going discussions of where to build a Mosaic in New York City near ground zero or not, a book comes along to give a reader some insight into the lives of a Muslim family in Atamkoy, Turkey.
Although the first part of the book takes place in the year 1962, the descriptions of the rites and ceremonies may still take place in some remote parts of that country. With the abundant of Turkish words included in the text, they are recognized as being italicized and are given the English translates right after so a Turkish dictionary is not needed.

"Voice of Conscience" is a story of a family preparing for the marriage of there only daughter Erin, whose mother died in childbirth. Ramzi Ozcomert, her father, has remarried a woman named Nermin Ozcomert and they have a son named Ramzi Ozcomert Jr. Even before the wedding week can begin a rift is make with Ramzi Ozcomert and Elder Korucu for not giving in to the request of the Elder that Erin should marry his grandson instead of her boyfriend Turkel. Tragedy strikes with a very heavy and violence plow on the family of Ramzi Ozcomert Jr., which changes his live forever. His taken on a journey of both through different lands as wells as different ideas and what his destiny may have to be.

Within the Turkish culture it is instilled that vengeance is away of life and a death should be avenged at any cost. This becomes Ramzi's mantra has he grown into a man of great means; wife, two daughters and a vast company. He soon finds that this way of thinking takes a toll on the mind as well as his heart. He must make the decision to uphold his traditional ways or let go of the rage that will consume him.

"Voice of Conscience"gives a glimpse into the world of the Turkish Muslim as he becomes an American with more questions than answers regarding his religion, philosophy and challenges of his life. As this book is written in a easy understandable way, I would recommend this book to adult readers and even to young adult readers.

Truly a literary work
Voice of Conscience - truly a literary work
If one defines literary fiction as an agony of moral choices, then Voice of Conscience fully lives up to that definition. The author has created a masterpiece in the sense that he does not take sides with the main character's life choices, but rather manages to get inside the mind of Ramzi Ozcomert Junior and show the character's thoughts and actions without influencing one way or the other.
At the age of fourteen, Ramzi is forced from his secure home, transported to a strange city and into a scary adult world. During his transition from boyhood to that of a young adult, he manages whatever life has to throw at him. Entering into his adult years, he becomes a successful and wise businessman, but always, always haunted by the terror of his childhood.During the last part of the novel, his life choices become a confused philosophical turmoil.
In today's world, we the readers hope for a happy ending and most writers resolve their work with complacency. But so often life does not end with a happily ever after. We may wish and we may beg for this story to end differently, but the ending is what separates Voice of Conscience from all others. Kaya masterfully shows the good life along with the very bad, and along the way, emphasizes cultures of opposite. Ultimately, our life choices are influenced by our culture into which we are born. The good life we in the West perceive with its entrepreneurial pursuits, power and romantic success are not necessarily satisfying pursuits in other cultures. That is the lesson we must take from this book and remain carefully mindful about how we bring up our children.
You will not forget this book even after you close the last page.

Voice of Conscience reviewed by ForeWord Clarion
ForeWord Clarion Review
by Whitney Hallberg

In rural Turkey in the 1960s, during the week-long marriage celebration of a young couple, the bride and her parents were murdered in a revenge killing. With the help of his aunt and uncle, the girl's teenage brother Ramzi escapes, making his way to the home of relatives in the city, then on to England, and eventually to America with his new wife. Voice of Conscience is the tragic story of a man dealing with an unimaginable secret while experiencing a series of personal transformations.
Author Behcet Kaya uses his protagonist's innocent childhood in Atamkoy to illuminate aspects of life in a rural Turkish village. Grudges are held for generations, and rituals must be observed when receiving visitors, even those who are despised. In a country where it is an exception from the norm to allow a daughter to marry for love, rejecting an offer of marriage is seen as a dishonor to the prospective groom's family, and revenge in the form of kidnapping or murder must be guarded against. Kaya successfully shows the stark differences between this conservative village and Istanbul, London, and California. As Ramzi grows into a handsome and shy foreigner, he becomes irresistible to women, and as a hard-headed California businessman, Ramzi is able to earn the respect of his wealthy father-in-law.
As Ramzi develops into a conventional American family man, he largely pushes the events from his childhood to the back of his mind, never telling his wife or his children the truth about how his family died. Nightmares and visions occasionally plague him, but only after thirty years does Ramzi listen to the primitive voices in him that call for retribution. "Nagging discontentment filled the depths of his soul," Kaya writes. "He accepted the reality it was time to do something about it. It was now or never."
The expected revenge sequence comes in the last quarter of the book. The ensuing events are unsatisfying for Ramzi, but also for readers, who will find his transformation to a cold-blooded killer unbelievable. After only one month of rigorous training, Ramzi undergoes a personality change, has an affair, and successfully navigates the underworld of Greece and Turkey. Even the author seems to find this change implausible, breaking in with a bit of distracting authorial intrusion: "This once good-natured, wise man had slowly metamorphosed into a devious, malicious, vengeful one," he writes. When Ramzi comes to realize he has made a terrible mistake, readers are unfortunately taken outside of his head and required to guess at the motivation behind his actions.
This is Kaya's first novel. Like his protagonist, he has lived in rural Turkey, Istanbul, London, and finally America, which he now calls home.
Apart from some unnatural dialogue and events in the last part of the book that could have been handled with more eloquence, the story proceeds swiftly and believably, with vivid scene setting and exciting action. The final tragedy is Ramzi's inescapable fate: though he has absorbed Western culture, he still cannot fully leave behind the convictions of his father or the pride of his traditional culture.

Tragic story draws you in
Reviewed by Marcy Blesy for Reader Views (1/10)


"Voice of Conscience" by Behcet Kaya draws the reader in from the beginning.Divided into three parts, the first begins in Turkey.The culture is well-described, setting up the values and traditions of the story's main character, Ramzi Ozcomert.When a tragedy befalls Ramzi's family, he flees Turkey to London, where most of the second part of the book takes place.Though he flees the physical location of his heartaches, he never loses his memories.The memories, coupled with his strong roots in tradition haunt him throughout his life.While in London, Ramzi meets the love of his life, Megan.American-bred Megan brings Ramzi to a new life in America, where much of the third part of the book takes place.

Without wanting to give too many details away, I will tell you that you will become emotionally involved in the lives of the characters.While Mr. Kaya spends varying amounts of time on individual characters, he captures their essence well.The characters all impact the life of Ramzi.He struggles to make a good life for himself and his family, but remains haunted by his past and his desire to defend the honor of his parents. Internal struggles dominate his life despite his wife's love for him.

To me, a sign of a good book is the author's ability to make you want the main character to succeed despite his flaws.Mr. Kaya did that for me.I wanted Ramzi to be happy and find a way to make peace with his history.I wanted him to love his wife passionately and faithfully.I loved and hated him for decisions that he made throughout the book. The pace of the well-written story was appropriate and kept me turning the pages.

I highly recommend "Voice of Conscience" by Behcet Kaya.The story is soundly thought out with many twists and turns.Surprises will play with your emotions.Be prepared to root for Ramzi despite the burdens he feels he must account for.

A Universal Read
Voice of Conscience

Author:Behcet Kaya (September 3, 2009)
ISBN: 978-1-4490-1453-7 (sc),
Category: Fiction
Author House (Bloomington, In)
428 pgs, Paperback, $20.10

Ramzi is a young 14 year old boy, whose right of passage from boyhood into manhood, is defined through a traumatically nightmarish experience that promises to alter his persona forever. Given time to escape the horrendous event, he learns the art of prolonging the inevitable response, but not without delayed consequences. It is in the realization of his need to deal with it, that the consequences must be taken as well, and must forever alter the state of everyone else near and around him, especially those most closest to him.

Ramzi Ozkomert was a child of Turkish descent and the product of Turkish culture, complete with tradition, ritual, family pride, vengeance and ultimate religious duty. But even more to the point, he comes to terms with universal principles that transcend all cultural mores. He must come to realize that his traditional Turkish culture is not the last word, but only a snippet of the universal principle of life and death, and the way human beings deal with their own discoveries, traumas, pains, and delayed reactions. This story is multi-faceted and one that will make you realize that it could be, and should be read more than once, as there are a variety of cultural themes, character analyses, plot twists, and more, that can yet be widely discussed and understood.

While Ramzi does not stand out immediately as the protagonist of the story--in fact, his father does--the reader will feel the impact of the change as Ramzi comes to the forefront when his father is faded out. But there is just enough about the father, that explains the sins of the son. Ramzi will not escape his father's hold on his life directions, for his Turkish parents come to him through dreams and permeate his conscience.

Culture clash is definitely embedded as one of the themes in this fiction, which is found throughout the plot as Ramzi must cross a number of changes from Turkey, to England, to America, and back again. The protagonist's inner turmoil between his traditional culture and that of his new American citizenry is agonizing. Anyone who has left their cultural roots by force, and has had to learn and embrace a different culture and its people, must deal with emotional trauma, perhaps even on a daily level. Ramzi finds a place in spite of his displacement from his homeland, culture, and the cultural absolutes that haunt him. He becomes an American citizen and for a while, leads a typical life of American capitalism: success in entrepreneurial pursuits, romance, marriage, wealth, prestige and power. We almost think it is the end of the past, and a bright and different future, until...this new life ultimately does not satisfy. He must deal with the past.

Furthermore, his newfound life with his American wife and children, have ultimately no hold upon his perceived duty to his family and the embedded traditional heritage; there is a deeper and more profound voice that he hears within the universal moment of choices and actions. He has well ingrained in him his Turkish belief in vengeance, and will carry out what he believes at the time, is the right thing. The twist is how he comes to grapple with his actions, and his ultimate choices in spite of those he loves, and those that love him.

This book is a true tragedy, and is well worth reading, as it provokes thoughts upon those objects of affection that can be a distortion to one's own natural sense of being, and can even dictate such actions that can plague the conscience and bring ultimate crises and climactic consequences that one never expects. Bravo for author, Kaya's work.

Reviewed by L.Nolan-Ruiz, Editor
International Books Cafe
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VHS! Video 1: Galapagos, 12 minutes.VHS! Video 2: Turkey, 19 minutes. ... Read more