Just after I left Konda last night (or rather this morning), I got stopped at a police checkpoint for a DUI check. After I handed out my driver's license and registration, the cop told me, "Please get your money back".
I thought they guy was on drugs, until I remembered that I had put a couple of hundred dollars inside the registration a few days ago: My sister had got some stuff for me in NYC, and I decided to put the money in her registration, as I thought it'd be safe there. Well, then I went to Marmaris with my car and flew back, leaving my car behind, and when my sister postponed her return, her car became available for me during my stay in Istanbul.
I still can't decide which looked more awkward- appearing to have bribed a cop or telling this weird story in my defense, which, when you think about it, is almost as bad as my dog put it there. Anyway, luckily, the cop didn't do anything for me trying to bribe him, but he was sure that I was trying to buy my way out of the alcohol test, so he showed me the test results, knowing that I would object to being over the legal limit. Imagine his surprise when I got a perfect score (0.0), which wasn't actually surprising, given the last time I had consumed alcohol was almost a week ago:) But I should be grateful to him nevertheless: If he got the "bribe" and let me go, I would not have figured out what was going on...
As an economist, this incident brought to my mind Turkey's poor rankings in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. I know that one good apple doesn't mean that the rest of the case is not rotten (uppps, two negatives in one sentence), so maybe I should get a hold of some fake dollars and try the registration trick every time I get stopped. But then I could get arrested for counterfeiting as well as bribery...
Posts
4 comments:
you are boring
thnx for the comment, but that is not of much use unless you spill the beans (rather than the oil) on why I am boring so that I strive to be less boring...
cmooon emre why so sensitive homie?
¨As an economist, this incident brought to my mind Turkey's poor rankings in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. I know that one good apple doesn't mean that the rest of the case is not rotten¨ theft, bribery and corruption is not instutionalized in Turkey anymore as they used to be back in the days. worse is you know that and still shamelessly posted it. why r u hatin on ur country?? or were just trying to be funny and more personal w the readers?
anyways im on vacation and busy with eating lotsa half bloody half burnt meat so will save my longer blog critique for another time. but very briefly id get rid of non-turkish linkfest, all of it. Content on TR econ is ok. My guess is most of the readers r already subscribed to the popular american stuff you link to in the blog.
Anyways gotto jump now more to come later as I read..
@oil_spill: This is more like it:)- thanks for the comments; I really appreciate you taking the time to do it.
Nope, I wasn't being sensitive at all; all I was saying that that saying that I am boring would not do me much good. And now that you have given me your feedback, I have no reason to complain.
Anyway, I answered your corruption comments in the blog: http://emredeliveli.blogspot.com/2010/07/addendum-to-corruption-post.html
As for your blog comments: I agree with your point on the non-Turkish stuff, but I think I will have to keep it because that really serves as an archive for myself (stuff that I read and like- I guess someone should teach me how to use browser bookmarks)- joking aside, part of this stems from my unrealistic desire to have multiple objectives for the blog, which I have summarized here:
http://emredeliveli.blogspot.com/2010/06/appreciating-readers-ii-what-is-this.html
Anyway, thnx again for the suggestion- and if you have time for more comments for the blog in the future, they will be extremely appreciated:)
Best,
Emre
Post a Comment