I am a white French woman and I grew up in the Northeast of France, in a place (the Vosges region) where there was historically significant Turkish immigration in the 20th century. In my small town, many businesses and restaurants are Turkish, I grew up with Turkish neighbors, and at school, many of my classmates and friends were of Turkish origin. When I was very little (between the ages of 3 and 6), I simply thought that “Turkish” was a kind of Vosgian, and that the difference between the “Turks” and my family was simply that my Turkish friends’ moms would bake cakes to bring to school. When I discovered that Turkey was a whole other country, I was astonished.
Categories