THD: Tuğçe at work

Here we have Tuğçe Iskan, working late at the Ankara Ministry of Culture, right after the Bergama bombing.

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Shortly before midnight, Tuğçe Iskan stares at her computer in the windowless Ankara Ministry of Culture office that she shares with seven others. Despite the horrific news from Bergama, she is the only one still here working. Her colleagues left several hours ago, but she has stayed, culling through the media coverage, the official reports, and scores of files, old and new. Her memory is pretty much photographic, and she is already noticing patterns in the information, some of which she will share with her boss.

Iskan, a large woman, tall and solidly built, sits back and runs her fingers through her short blonde hair, scratching her scalp. At the office, she wears long-sleeved blouses buttoned to the collar partly to discourage her colleagues, all men, who seem obsessed with her figure, and partly to cover her tattoos, which she has chosen not to share with them. Now, though, both sleeves are rolled up. On her left forearm, in bold letters, is Ataturk’s dictum, “My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth, and the teachings of science. Superstition must go.” On her right is, “The greatest war is the war against ignorance.”