Both Turkey's achievements and its looming challenges are clearly visible here in Safranbolu, a pleasant town of 20,000 nestled in the rocky Anatolian plateau. Safranbolu is known for its 19th-century Ottoman buildings, and attracts a modest stream of tourists. Some residents till small farms on outlying hills. Others work at a steel mill in nearby Karabuk that offers employment to thousands but also casts a rancid cloud over the town. The streets here are tree-shaded, houses are sturdy and well kept, schools are full and clinics modern.
Shops offer all manner of domestic and imported goods.
This will never be a backward or Middle East-type country again. But I worry about the future. There's hunger in Turkey. I can afford to send my kids to college, but people who work for me can't. That produces resentment, and in 10 or 15 years that resentment could bring trouble.