Athena Birckbichler

On Thursday, February 3rd, I sat in Mellon Living room, surrounded by fellow students, many of them scholars, anxiously awaiting the arrival of His Excellency, Ambassador Namik Tan. We were granted the opportunity to meet him in an informal question and answer session before the ceremony where he was to receive his Honorary Degree from the University. After being detained by the greater Pittsburgh community who had their own questions for him, he finally entered the room. It was our turn, our privilege as Scholars, to meet him before the rest of the Chatham’s campus and ask our own questions.
Ambassador Tan began with the aspects that make Turkey unique and different from the United States and all other countries for that matter. First, as a nation, Turkey is 99% Muslim while remaining secular. It is also in the dead center of all of the Middle Eastern conflict, a “bad neighborhood” as he put it, and the only country that can speak freely and negotiate with every one of its neighboring countries. Finally despite the surrounding nations’ practices, Turkey is a democratic nation. It was this final one, the democracy, that Ambassador Tan emphasized the most. When asked about the turmoil in Egypt and whether Turkey would support the election results, he replied, “As long as the proceedings are fair, equal, and democratic, it is something we must all respect as the will of the people.”