Job Discussion Forums

[Kirkpatrick]

It's rare that I have to report such bad news. My co-worker/roommate was attacked sunday night outside our apartment building. I don't know if it was racially modivated. He is from Columbia. However, this is not good news. He is in the Issac program. I got fired as a result. The reason was that my boss canceled our housing contract. I have found other employment and left the city immediately.

[spiral78]

http://www.isaacproject.org/

Was the situation linked to religion in some way?


I'm really sorry to hear about your roommate and hope he's OK.
Did you find other employment so quickly?

Good luck!

[cartago]

Could you give us some more information? Was there something that provoked this attack (not suggesting it's justified) such as an argument? Is your former roommate Latino? I know some South Americans are black. If he's Latino it's a bit strange since I wouldn't think he would stick out so much. Do you think it's more likely an attempted mugging?

Really sucks that your boss would cancel your housing contract. That's not fair at all. I knew a Colombian that worked in Bursa but he left a long time ago and wasn't in the Isaac program.

[Kirkpatrick]

My roommate was half Native American /Spanish( Columbian Nationality). Not black in any way but a little dark... I have little or no idea how this attack started. Basically, I gave him a glass of wine then he went out when I stayed home. Then about four hours later he came back drunk and had been beaten to a bloody pulp. I was already looking for another job and had an offer before I was fired.One phone call to accept the new job. I took a couple days to visit old friends in Antep. Then move to my new job out of Bursa. However there is a job I can take there that begins in january.. Don't know if I should move back to the new job or just take the new job in the different city.

[bulgogiboy]

I wouldn't say Colombians would stand out particularly in Turkey, in terms of appearance. I think a racially-motivated attack would be unlikely.

It's more likely he got drunk and caused some kind of argument, or some Islamic zealot took exception to him staggering about drunk? The former seems more likely to me. He doesn't have an eye for the ladies when he has drink, does he? Could have looked at/talked to the wrong girl. Turkish men are intensely jealous, and all too eager to throw fists over women.

[cartago]

That's what I was thinking. If he was extremely drunk then it could have been anything. He could have started an argument with someone or someone misunderstood something.

[scot47]

Colombian or Columbian ?

[CECTPA]

I was walking in Mecidiyekoy on Christmas night and saw a huge street fight -- perhaps as many as 15-20 of the area hoodlums vs. maybe 5 African guys. I was passing by just as the confrontation got physical.

Being of visibly African descent myself, I was not about to stick around.
I figured the least I could do was tell someone else what was happening and asked the guys in a nearby shop to call the cops. They shrugged and said that the African guys were drunk.

From my perspective, it looked like a race riot, but then again this is the first time I have ever seen anything like this around there.

I get a sense that some people here are so offended by public drunkenness that they are moved to violence. Once I saw a man on a public bus get so angry with a drunk who wasn't even bothering anyone that he just got up and shoved him out the back door, and no one intervened. They were both local, but it wouldn't surprise me if the animosity is increased when the drunk is foreign on top of everything else.

You may remember the recent incident in Tophane with the art galleries and the residents of that neighborhood. One version of events has it that the violence was set off by the sight of people drinking wine on the street. I don't know who to believe in any of these stories; it's all very disturbing.

[Kirkpatrick]

Yes, Turks definetely look down on someone that consumes alcohol. I have had the cops ask to see my passport when I was out on the town after a night of drinking.. No trouble came of it. They only wanted to see my visa.. Never got busted for drinking in public .. I do it all the time.. However, I am careful.. I think one must be on alert when drinking in a foreign country.. Some just fail to understand this..

[bulgogiboy]