Gazoz is an old-school, hyper-local soda that's been ubiquitous in Turkey since it was invented more than a century ago. Every town has a signature brand, often incorporating local flavors like pine, lavender, or sweet almond. The World's Durrie Bouscaren reports from southern Turkey on why this beloved drink is having a moment.
Zafer Yenal, assistant professor of sociology at the Bogazici University in Istanbul, explains the important connection between political processes and the cuisine – and why the term "Turkish cuisine" is a new development only since the 1980s.
The sidewalks of the street that leads to the Bosphorus University are fenced. The subway entrance, guarded. In each of the surrounding cafeterias, policemen in plain clothes or with the bib that identifies them sit. Sheltered in the crossbeams are several trucks with pressurized water cannons.
Pairs of officers patrol up and down, some with automatic weapons on their shoulders. The doors of the University are protected by an anti-riot line: entering is prohibited except for teachers and students with a center card. And that there have been no face-to-face classes for months.
Since January 4, successive demonstrations have been played every day: at noon, dozens of teachers, wearing their robes, stand in front of the rectory and turn their backs on it.