Over time, the Turkish town of Pomegranate developed into a major tourist attraction. At first, the town was strict and traditional. However, as time passed, the town became more invested in modern (Western) culture. I found it interesting that, in the “Westernizing years of the 1930s”, it was decreed that all Turkish citizens were to be counted as part of a census. This is interesting to me because of it’s initial failure. The original census attempt was not successful, because of the confusion surrounding the Turks’ patronymics. Before the next census was attempted, it was required of all Turks to assign themselves a surname. These surnames would serve to aid the completion of the census. It’s especially interesting to note that this was one of the first times that a census was attempted for Turkish citizens, and it demonstrates a step towards economic and societal development.
As Pomegranate developed into a popular tourist destination, the citizens were forced to relinquish many aspects of their culture in place of more modern attractions. It’s said that “on the main street, the incursions of English and German had rendered Turkish a minority language.” The text even goes on to state that Turkish food was replaced with other cuisines such as hamburgers. “Turkish food could only hold it’s own by being touted as a gastronomic heritage experience.” Additionally, the original music that was played in the village was replaced with European popular music and the previously unwanted bikini-wearing tourists were now the center of attention. This passage illustrates that the economics of tourism forced these Turkish villagers to focus more on the culture of their visitors instead of their own. Since the culture of the tourists was more economically profitable than the traditional pomegranate culture, the Turks were forced to give up their traditions and cater to the European tourists.
Beyond this specific example of this Turkish town, it’s obvious that tourism can have a positive effect on economics while remaining detrimental to the traditional culture of the village. I believe that in this example of the Turkish village, the people were forced to give up their own culture in order to profit from the tourism. This is both a connection and a conflict, as relinquishing ones’ own culture for economic purposes is not positive.
