A Visit to the Yabanci Subesi

Today was our third annual visit tothe Emniyet for this purpose. We approached it with confidence, giventhat we have a self-promoted reputation as a Bureaucracy Usta.Clearly, our skills have slipped because it took us two separate trips,approximately six hours of waiting and a side excursion to the bankjust to file the correct paperwork. But those details are boring.

What's important about this story is this: Turkey is becoming more civilized before our eyes.

Thefirst year we went, hundreds of foreigners of all nationalitiesscrummed at each of 17 windows, waving documents at sullen clerks whopointedly ignored Russians and Bulgarians. Every window looked the samebut had a different purpose which would only be revealed after youvisited every one at least twice looking for the stamp you needed. Oureffort was inelegant but ultimately successful. Obtaining our residencepermit without speaking one word of Turkish was probably our greatestachievement in 2007.

Last year at renewal time, a feeble numbersystem had been implemented. Our Turkish was advanced enough tounderstand that even though we were given a number, it was little morethan a meaningless gesture toward the concept of chaos reduction(recognizing this scenario requires far more than language skills, bythe way).

This year, the 120 people ahead of us when we arrivedwaited patiently for their number to be called in a room speciallydesigned for this purpose. In a nod to the comfort of childrenaccompanying their parents, a Turkish cartoon looped on a plasmascreen. After approximately 15 viewings over four hours, we knew thedialogue by heart. A policeman ensured that every new arrival receiveda number. His gun deterred potential violence inspired by the sixhour-long wait facing the fools who showed up after 10am.

Whilewe acknowledge that the new system treats everyone the same, the oldsystem rewarded the aggressive, the highly emotional and the clever.And even though the Yabanc? ?übesi was in dire need of Stalinesqueorder imposition, it's sort of sad to realize your skills have becomeanachronistic.

Still, it's reassuring to note that you canstill be sent on a wild goose chase for missing documents, be forced tomake at least two visits, obtain random stamps and spend a metricassload of cash to obtain a permit that, in the end, confers fewmeaningful benefits. That part is still refreshingly Turkish.

Andreally, all this new Yabanc? ?übesi order means is that yabanc?s arecapable of waiting for their number to be called. Nothing suggests thatTurks have developed these skills, so maybe all is not yet lost.

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