I don’t know whether it’s the hardships or their inability to do business that have brought them to this point, but there’s an interesting “thank-you” syndrome among the merchants in my country…
Let’s start with Dereboyu…
In my conversations with Ms Naime, owner of Cadı Bar and one of the merchants in Dereboyu (a.k.a. Cadı, or “Witch”), some interesting things came to light! Ms Naime “thanks” our very esteemed authorities for making businesses in Dereboyu close early, and points out that this means she gets to go to bed early. The only thing that bothers her is that, when the entertainment venues in Dereboyu close early, young people go over to the Greek side… But Ms Naime is at ease about this too, because she thinks our esteemed leaders know best. And she says, “There must be a reason our young people are having to go to the Greek side, I suppose! May God never take our far-sighted leaders away from us…” Ms Naime also warmly “thanks” our police officers. Interpreting their arrival outside her business as closing time approaches as “excessive interest” in her, Ms Naime says, “I’d like to thank our very esteemed fellow officers for the SPECIAL ATTENTION they have shown me and my business.”
Now let’s turn to Girne, the capital of tourism(!)…
I thought I’d be hearing complaints from the merchants, but the merchants in Girne just kept thanking people too. One of them was Atakan, the operator of 216 La Mevida… Atakan is very happy about the smoking ban! “Cem, this ban has been great… You know that a smoker wants to smoke while drinking alcohol, so perhaps we have fewer customers now, but I feel as if I’m in an EU country, and my business no longer stinks,” he says, adding, “Sure, my business might go under, but at least it’ll go under without stinking. The important thing is not to stink… That matters to me. So I’d like to thank our very esteemed leaders who introduced this ban.” Atakan also says he feels sorry for businesses in the Greek side, an EU country, that operate in the same sector as he does. Saying he knows people there smoke in bars, Atakan says, “I wonder how awful it smells over there now.”
Since I’ve often come across conversations like these, I didn’t dare speak to the disco owners. I’m sure they would have thanked them again and again for the noise limits at outdoor venues.
As I said at the outset, I don’t know if it’s because they’re on the verge of going under, but these policies produce such strange results that our merchants seem to have got used to them. That’s why they thank the government for everything it does, even if it puts them out of business…
In other words, they’ve grown accustomed to it; they no longer find it strange or absurd!
They’re tired of fighting; they’re eagerly awaiting January 2011, when they’ll have to pay taxes(!)…
We’ve worn them out, you’ve worn them out, in this country where tourists don’t come anyway…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful in traffic…