We would depart from Türkiye (TEWR-kee-yay, Turkey) several weeks before their general election, but for the time being the country's campaigns were in full swing.

Every town and city we passed through featured hundreds of bright political party flags. I joined other tour members in arbitrarily choosing a party to support and wave at, based on whichever flag design happened to catch our eye.

The big issues of the day included religious secularism, the military's recent political intervention, Kurdish and Armenian minority populations, and EU membership.

Sidar suggested to us that popular support for joining the European Union had waned in recent years.

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