The question always presented a particular challenge. I knew the Turkish word for yes, “evet.” However, to sum up a country and its people with one coy word demonstrated little personal opinion. At best, it satisfied and signaled a loose agreement on what the word “good” could mean.
In the Turkish tea house, it came to my attention that the same word could get tangled up in assessing what it meant to have a female-free zone. Sure, it was “good” that men could gather together to have male-bonding and male discussions that flowed freely without a female to cast her judgment. But what about the women?
Where was the meeting point for women? Their own one-gender-only source of backgammon-filled play, or whatever folly they yearned for in secrecy.
The easy answer came from a Turkish colleague a week later. Tradition dictates the Turkish tea house is a place of gathering for men; it is a cultural institution. Why would women be there? Turkey is still conservative, he imparted to me, and it has a history so rich, so deep, it can’t be explained with a wave of a hand. The reasoning seemed as lucid as sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and fresh feta-like cheese for breakfast. Each and every day, year after year. Because tradition in Turkey dictates that.
