----- Original message ----- From: "guven 
incirlioglu" <gi5690060@isbank.net.tr> 
To: <arttoday@arttoday.org> Sent: 
Tue, 30 May 2000 15:18:19 EEST Subject: end of the story Dear Monika, For the 
last time, I was at the consulate this morning exactly at 10:00. At the visa section, 
I gave the guard my name, and told him that Mr. Gevrenov knows about the situation, 
and that I came for a visa. He told me to wait outside. After waiting for exactly 
an hour, I went to the main gate, rang the bell, and gave the secretary my name 
(once more) over the intercom. And while the gate opened for a car, I slipped 
in, and I directly went to the officials inside the building. I told them my story 
once more (they did not have my name on the list in front of them) and kindly 
asked them to call the counsel, and these were my words: "Please tell him that 
Monika from Plovdiv called him yesterday morning". She went in and came back in 
5 minutes and told me this: "I am sorry, but Mr. Gevrenov cannot help you. You 
must go to the regular visa section"  I went back there, waited for another 
20  minutes, together with other people who were there for hours (and some, 
for days) For the last time I talked to the guard, this time with an inter- preter 
from Turkish to Bulgarian, and he said there is nothing he can do. So that was 
the end of the story. Please note this: I am not necessarily asking for a kind 
of priviledge, and I never mind waiting in line with others, as long as I know 
that I will apply through regular channels. But I may be the only person of Turkish 
origin with a specific purpose, among transport companies, truck driv- ers, people 
from other East European countries, and mainly some go-betweens fluent in Bulgarian 
and Turkish that take care of visa problems for all kinds of commercial applications. 
So I guess, they did not know what to do with me, and just like other few touristic 
attempts, they kept telling me to come back the next day. In the end, after spending 
four mornings at the consulate, there is no way that I will go back there and 
try again. I hope you don't get me wrong, and I do not want to complain. I know 
of exactly the same disinterested attitude within the Turkish official bureaucracy, 
not necessarily with bad intentions, but simply genetic for this part of the world. 
And last, if it is fine with you, I am working on a piece somewhat related with 
this situation, and I would like to send it over there to be exhibited. It will 
be printed on several sheets of A4 paper and it may require for you to find a 
suitable frame and glass to be hung. It appears that I can send it on Thursday 
or Friday, via FedEx or UPS, so that you may receive it as early as possible. 
I hope things will work out in better conditions in the future, and I'll try to 
call you over the phone this afternoon. Take good care, best wishes, Guven.