Turkey at a Crossroads

PrizeHonorable Mention in Photography
ArtistXimena Echague
CategoryProfessional

Turkey at a crossroads:
Turkey, and Istanbul in particular, has always been a bridge straddling Europe and Asia, mixing Western modernity and Asian traditions.
Both Muslim, like the overwhelming majority of the population, and yet intensively secular since Ataturk days.
Nevertheless, there is a growing presence of Islamic religious symbols in the streets since the current administration, a party of Islamic leanings, took power more than a decade ago and started to reverse strictly secular Kemalists principles against such symbols.
The coming years will be crucial to decide whether the new generations will still live in the same country their grandparents built after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Would they keep moving East towards the Middle East and Islamic values?
Would the jump back into European waters?
Or, maybe, they will simply remain stranded and more isolated?