Credit: Darci Pauser
This interview with Boren Fellow and CLS Scholar Darci Pauser (MPA/IR) is republished from the Fall 2013 Middle East Studies Program Newsletter. Thank you to the MESP program for the republication permission.
Why are you interested in Turkey?
My interest in Turkey is actually somewhat of a coincidence. When I was 17 years old, I was attending community college and studying anthropology, and was working as a babysitter. One woman I worked for asked me to accompany the family on a three-week trip to Turkey to visit relatives. It was the first country I had been to outside the U.S. and I was completely enamored. And as a student of anthropology, I took great interest in the Turkish language and culture. When I transferred to the University of California at Berkeley the next year, I began my study of the Turkish language. Continue Reading