Bits and bytes of Turkish delight

She has a talent for building bridges between people, cultures, and company employees. Arzu Yucekaya-Bat takes time out from writing her master’s thesis to share her accomplishments and future goals.

Yucekaya-Bat is not one to sit around waiting for things to happen. In 2007, she left her native Turkey and joined her husband Dr. Erhan Bat who was then a PhD candidate at the UT in the Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Group. ‘Right away I started to look for a possibility to obtain my Master in Science. But I also needed to find a scholarship. Meanwhile, to avoid staying at home and going mad, I found a job working at a call center.’

After 18 months, Yucekaya-Bat achieved both her goals. Not only was she accepted as a master’s student in the Information Technology and Management program, but she also received a grant through the Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO), a Dutch governmental organization that supports foreigners who plan to study in the Netherlands. 

Naturally, the 29-year-old didn’t stop there. Soon after starting her studies, she was elected President of the Turkish Student Association at Twente (TUSAT), well-known on campus for its annual Turkish Cultural Night. ‘That was a great experience,’ Yucekaya-Bat said, ‘because I learned how to delegate tasks and manage conflicts. Historically, Turkey has always been at the crossroads. We are 70 million people, and the country has been a melting pot of different cultures since ancient times. TUSAT reflected this by welcoming everyone as a member, not just Turks.’

Since April, she has been working as an intern at Océ Technologies N.V. Her task was to develop a set of recommendations to help employees adopt social bookmarking in the R&D department. ‘Recently, there has been tremendous growth in social bookmarking applications,’ she explained. ‘The younger employees are really into this trend which companies have started to implement. In 2008, IBM reported a $ 4.6 million cost savings and productivity gain due to bookmarking and Enterprise tagging services.’

Social bookmarking allows users to bookmark and share web links, resources, and knowledge. Most of us are familiar with bookmarking favorite websites, but social bookmarking allows you to share them publically and provides an opportunity to meet new people with the same interest. ‘This new paradigm of accessing shared web resources on demand over the internet is called “cloud” computing,’ explained Yucekaya-Bat.

When graduating in December, Yucekaya-Bat’s goal is to find a job in the Netherlands. She hopes, once again, to use her talent building bridges, this time between business needs and IT requirements. Her husband is currently working as a post-doc in the UT’s Molecular Nanofabrication group, and they are happy living here.

When asked about the possibility of Turkey entering the EU, Yucekaya-Bat reflected, ‘It would be good for Turkey, because it would remove the trade hurdles. The EU knows Turkey’s potential strengths like its young educated workforce and large dynamic market. But I think both sides are pretending that things are moving forward when things are really stuck.’

As a young woman who comes from a country where the majority of the population is Muslim, Yucekaya-Bat occasionally encounters some prejudices. ‘People see me drinking a glass of wine and are shocked. I then ask them, “Do you go to church every Sunday?” The wearing of headscarves is a tough issue,’ she continued. ‘It is the woman’s freedom and right. Her choice. But it should not interfere with my life. It becomes a problem when it is manipulated for political reasons.’

In between everything, Yucekaya-Bat puts on her running shoes. ‘Running is a metaphor for life. I love the saying by George Sheehan: ‘It's hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.’

For more information about social bookmarking, watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeBmvDpVbWc. For more information about DUO study and work grants for foreigners in the Netherlands, see www.ib-groep.nl/International_visitors

‘I like the openness of the Dutch,’ said Yucekaya-Bat, ‘but I also miss the passion of the Turkish people. In Turkey, sometimes we just seize the day and say, “Okay! Let’s go!”’ (Photo: Gijs van Ouwerkerk)