

Diary of a Foreigner Living in Turkey (1993-1998)

History of this Diary

Disclaimer on this Diary

Also, I saw this diary as a dialogue, not only with myself to put my thoughts in order, but also with my readers, who often helped to put my understanding on the "right" path, or challenged my position.

Contents of this Diary

Interviews, Feedback, and Reprints

The series is wildly successful, as I am receiving hundreds of encouraging letters, and even some hate mail, plus some offers for homestays, invitations to pastry shops, ... I had wonderful discussions with some readers, with both sides learning a lot in the process. My readers are mostly Turks living abroad, foreigners who have also lived in Turkey, and foreigners about to live or travel in Turkey. I have even met some of my readers and made some wonderful friends that way (what bozo said that the internet was isolating people?!).

I was interviewed a few times about my years in Turkey:

The Turkish daily Cumhuriyet published on 8 April 2012 an interview entitled Pierre Flener'in Türkiye güncesi (Pierre Flener's Turkey Diaries).

The Luxembourg weekly Télécran published on 23 March 1996 an interview of me at my job at Bilkent University, entitled (in translation) A Luxembourger in Ankara.

I have lost track of all the pages on the internet that link to this diary, or sometimes even carry illegal local copies thereof. I have granted permission to reprint (translations of) excerpts at various places:

Turkish Travel, since 2005

Turkey Central, since 2002

The Turkish daily newspaper (Yeni) Evrensel featured a translation of passages from parts 1, 2, and 6 in its Pazar supplement of Sunday 11 October 1998.

Walkabout - A Mixed Bag of Travel reprinted selected passages of parts 1 and 2 in November/December 1995.

Some Danish newsletter once featured some excerpts, but I have lost the details.

The Travel Library was the first to archive this diary (and my other travel-related writings).

The Future of this Diary: A Book?

In the meantime, I highly recommend the two following books:

Birds Without Wings, by Louis De Bernières, 2005 (originally written in English; available in German as "Traum aus Stein und Federn")

In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong, by Amin Maalouf, 2003 (originally written in French, as "Les Identités Meurtrières")

HoSCakalIn,

Pierre Flener

Last modified: Wed May 2 09:27:39 CEST 2012