No more Yozgat Blues?

If you really want to know Turkey well, you should know something about Yozgat, the Central Anatolian town just east of Ankara. 

This is not because Yozgat is a big city that produces goods or culture that deeply influences the rest of nation. No, quite the contrary, it is because Yozgat is a small city that produces little and changes little. It is full of good people who want to preserve their traditional way of life, as I know from my own relatives, and have little connection with the outside world. Few people from outside come to Yozgat to visit, let alone settle, whereas the most talented youth often leave the city to find opportunities elsewhere.

That is probably why the 2013 film, "Yozgat Blues," was a hit. The very name of the movie combined two contradictory things, the parochial Yozgat and the all-foreign "Blues," making people wonder what it was all about. It was about an unexpected emotional affair between a barber from the city and a singer who came to work in a small music hall-bar. In an intentionally claustrophobic style, the film showed very little about the city itself, but did grasp the sprit of small-town Anatolia. 

This week, Yozgat became maybe more famous than ever. The reason? The city's governor, who is appointed by Ankara as all governors in Turkey are, took a weird decision. Taking advantage of the state of emergency law, which is supposedly about averting coups and terrorism, he closed down all "alcohol-serving venues," such as bars, music halls and night clubs. The exact kind of places, in other words, where another "Yozgat Blues" could be filmed. 

Naturally, this decision made the national news and received reaction from the more secular side of Turkey. Others, however, cheered the decision. Daily Yeni...