美国国家公共电台 NPR--Young, Educated Are Leaving as Turkey Marks Its 100th Anniversary

Young, Educated Are Leaving as Turkey Marks Its 100th Anniversary

Economic problems and fears of repression¹ in Turkey have caused Huseyin Buyukdag to make a decision. The teacher and his wife want to move to Germany to find a better life.

They are among a growing number of young and educated people who say they want to leave Turkey. They say their rights and freedoms there are being taken away, and inflation is high under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

After Erdogan secured a third term in office in May elections, things are unlikely to change, Buyukdag said.

"Even if I don't want this, even if I hate this, I will...leave this beautiful country," the 27-year-old English teacher told The Associated Press (AP).

Turkey is a country of over 84 million people. Several crises have affected² Turkey in recent years. The official yearly inflation rate was 61 percent last month. Some economists³ believe the real number is double that.

For many, the way out is through education visas to study in other countries or work permits. TurkStat is the government's agency for official numbers, or statistics. It said 139,531 Turkish citizens left the country in 2022, compared to 103,613 in 2021. Those aged⁴ 25 to 29 formed the biggest group.

The numbers are a big increase from 77,810 Turks who left in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was at its highest.

Besim Dellaloglu is a sociologist⁵. He believes people are leaving because of the disappearance⁶ of normal things in a democracy. Some are calling the movement of people to foreign countries "brain drain."

Brain drain happens when highly trained or educated people leave a country for a better life somewhere else.

Dellaloglu does not believe the brain drain will go away without "decreasing polarization in Turkey."

He said the most likely to leave are medical workers and those that work with technology. Highly trained individuals from all fields are also leaving.

Many other Turks prefer to stay, even with the problems.

"I can understand the people who are leaving, some things really need to change," said Fatma Zehra Eksi. She is a 22-year-old student from Istanbul. She noted⁷, "But if we...leave because we are not comfortable here, then there will be no one left here to change things."

The growing lack of happiness comes as Turkey marks the 100th anniversary of Ataturk's establishment of the country as a secular⁸ republic. Ataturk was the first president of Turkey after the collapse⁹ of the Ottoman Empire.

Some Turks hoping to leave Turkey say that even getting a tourist visa, seen as a step to immigration, has become difficult.

AP spoke¹⁰ to many people considering emigration from Turkey. They said European countries have increased visa restrictions¹¹ for Turkish travelers. These people and reports in Turkish media say the rate of visa rejections¹² has increased and the process has become more complex.

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut is a European Union diplomat¹³ for Turkey. He said rejections in Turkey were below the worldwide average. He told the Hurriyet newspaper in June that the EU has no policy of blocking visas for Turkish citizens.

Erdogan's government considers the reported visa rejections an effort to hurt support for his government by making Turks feel they cannot travel freely to Europe.

His government has promised to bring people home and turn back the brain drain. Erdogan has offered money in the form of grants, and jobs to Turks teaching in other countries. He said 6,000 people had returned under the plan.

However, Buyukdag, the teacher, said he and his wife have stepped up their efforts to leave a country where, he said, he could lose his job for saying the "wrong things."

"In Germany or in any Western country, you are a valuable person," he said. "In Turkey, you are not a valuable person because you can be called a traitor¹⁴ any time."

Words in This Story

sociologist –n. a person who studies society, social organizations and social behaviors

polarize – v. to cause (people or opinions) to separate into opposing groups

comfortable – adj. allowing you to be relaxed: causing no worries, difficulty, or uncertainty¹⁵

secular – adj. not related to religious things

tourist – n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure

emigration – n. the process of leaving a country to live in another one

traitor – n. a person who betrays a country or group of people by helping or supporting an enemy

1 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

5 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

6 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

12 rejections   

拒绝( rejection的名词复数 )； 摒弃； 剔除物； 排斥

参考例句：

• Most writers endure a number of rejections before being published. 大部分作家经历无数次的退稿才守得云开，作品得到发表。
• Supervise workers and monitors production quality to minimize rejections. 管理工人，监控生产质量，减少退货。

13 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

14 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

15 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。