My name is Ceren Armaghan, and I'm a young Turkish woman living in the City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. I'm an international student at Carleton University right here in the Capital. Whenever I tell people that I come from Turkey, they always assume that I am Muslim. Nothing wrong with being a Muslim, of course, but not everybody in Turkey is Muslim. There are large numbers of Atheists in the Republic of Turkey, along with a growing number of Christians and the majority of the population is secular. Almost as secular as North Americans, I think. I was brought up Christian, and my uncle Boris Armaghan is a Bishop with the Turkish Orthodox Church.
Lately, Turkish Christians have been leaving the country because state secularism is threatened by the rise of Islamic movements in Turkey after the Arab Spring. We don't want to be persecuted like the Coptic Christians of Egypt or the Maronite Christians of Lebanon, who are struggling even though the President of Lebanon is a Christian. When I graduated high school in my hometown of Bursa in northwestern Turkey, my family strongly encouraged me to study outside of Turkey. My older brother Bunyamin is presently studying at Christendom College in the City of Front Royal, Virginia, deep within the southern United States. My older brother is a good Christian who's seriously thinking about becoming a bishop someday. I wish him the best but all that religious stuff isn't for me. Oh, I believe there is a God but I don't want to become a nun or anything. Not my thing, thank you very much.
Anyhow, after growing up in Bursa, one of the liveliest cities in the Republic of Turkey, I found myself bored in Ottawa. Seriously, whoever decided to make the City of Ottawa the Capital of Canada should get smacked upside the head. It's the most boring place I've ever fucking seen! Thankfully, I know how to make my own fun. I'm a business administration major and most of my classes are boring, which doesn't help. There is much fun to be had in campus and in the surrounding metropolis, if you know how. I like to go out, and I do it three nights a week. Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. I really like Mansion, this fun night club located in downtown Ottawa. Last month I visited Maverick Night Club and the gothic scene kind of turned me off. I'm already depressed, I go to the clubs to be entertained, you know? I won't pay to get more depressed. I've already got Family Guy DVDs at home, thank you very much.
Anyhow, I ran into this Somali chick named Nadifa Muhammad in my sociology class and she definitely had an effect on me. I have a thing for Black girls and Nadifa was definitely what the doctor ordered. The first time I laid eyes on her, I knew what she was. You see, if you're a person who's gay or bisexual, you can kind of spot your own kind. It doesn't matter how straight they look or act. It's kind of like a sixth sense, I can't explain it any further. I looked Nadifa Muhammad right in the eyes and knew that this five-foot-ten, chubby-but-sexy, big-bottomed Somali chick clad in a long dark brown robe and silver hijab was definitely not heterosexual. Whether she was bisexual or a full-on dyke, I couldn't tell you. It was the first day of classes and I smiled at her, for she had come late and most seats were taken since our class was kind of small. Nadifa smiled shyly at me after I wished her welcome.