Her name is Yildem Oltu and she is Turkish. When she wasn't extolling the virtues of ancient Ephesus she would sometimes talk of current events.

Yildem, like the other tour guides we had met in Istanbul, was young, well educated, and proud of the fact that Turkey was not like other Muslim countries. It bothered her to think that the present government of Turkey was pandering to the Muslim fundamentalists. Troubled by the fact that more and more Turkish women could be seen in public with their hair covered, she longed for the return of a more secular government.

Like our other guides, she revers Ataturk and all he did to modernize Turkey. The present government, she said, had only been elected because the one before had been tainted by corruption and hoped the upcoming elections would see them defeated.

Somewhere in the conversation my wife's suspicion was confirmed as she shared the fact that she was 5 months pregnant and both she and her husband were very excited.

The election did not turn out as our guides had hoped and the current government remained in power.

05/22/07