How did 9/11 affect the Turkish community in New York?
We may categorize the Turks living in the US into three groups in respect to their identity definitions: Those who define themselves by their Muslim identity, those who define themselves by their Turkish identity and those who define themselves by their professional occupations. For me 9/11 affected most the groups that identified themselves with their Muslim religion. I may give an example from my own close circle: The lady who is working with me wears a headscarf. She told me something that happened to her sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law was working in a big department store. After 9/11 they asked her to take off her scarf. But she didn’t want to take it off. Thus they fired her. We always hear stories that they sue the company and receive compensation. However, this poor woman has little English and has money neither for the court nor for the lawyer. She is all left alone and still looking for a job since 9/11. According to the lady that works with me these days the safest job for
