by Büşra Tosun Durmuş, Marmara University
When I first learned about the MOCCA project through the introduction of Prof. Dr. Erhan Doğan from the Faculty of Political Science at Marmara University, I was immediately excited by its content and the opportunities it offered. Seeing Zurich among the cities that could be visited within the scope of the project, I told myself, “I must join this project.” Having lived in Konstanz, Germany—right on the Swiss border—between 2000 and 2006, I had established more connections with Switzerland than with Germany and had the opportunity to get to know the country closely. Over time, my academic adventure began as an Assistant Professor at the Marmara University Faculty of Communication, and my academic interest shifted specifically towards East-West relations in the context of discourse studies. With the excitement of contributing to the MOCCA project from this perspective, I determined my topic by starting my initial research in the summer of 2025. I submitted my proposal and participation request to Prof. Dr. Peter Finke from the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies at the University of Zurich (UZH), a stakeholder of the project. With his approval and guidance, I initiated the process and made my initial preparations. Through mutual consultation, we decided that November was the most suitable timefor my one-month visit to Zurich.
I arrived in Zurich on November 1, 2025, and once again encountered the city’s transportation system, which I have always admired. For those interested, I would like to share a tip: the GA travelcard, which is valid on all public transport in Switzerland, is also available for a short period of one month. With my SwissPass card, which I created by choosing this option, my commute between the city center where I stayed and Oerlikon, where the Anthropology Department is located, was very comfortable for a month. Additionally, it provided me with unlimited travel opportunities to socialize on weekends and discover Switzerland’s breathtaking nature and culture.
I settled into the apartment I rented for a month in a very central location in Zurich, arriving over the weekend, and made my first visit to the University on Monday, November 3rd. After being welcomed by Prof. Finke, exchanging ideas, and chatting about the project, I settled into the office allocated to me and contacted the relevant people to handle the priority administrative details. Since my study focuses on how a corruption case involving Central Asia and Europe—where the legal process is ongoing—was reported and handled in Switzerland and neighboring countries (analyzing three selected examples from German- language newspapers), I needed to access archives through important databases to which the university subscribes. For this purpose, a “uzh.ch” email and system login were defined for me. I would like to reiterate my thanks here to Manuel Lamora, who was very helpful at this point.
Once the necessary procedures were completed and I accessed the archives, I first created a pilot search group. Before collecting the version of the data I had planned, I completed the codebook for content analysis, which is one of my data processing methods. Since the results of my pilot search turned out to be quite different from what I had predicted, I had to change the range from which I would collect data. During this process, I encountered a serious problem in one of the databases, and the system constantly blocked me from entering these centers. In this period, the help, patience, friendliness, and problem-solving efforts of Jörg Schlatter, with whom I shared the office and who works in the library in the department, made my work much easier. I am grateful to him.
The most productive part of the process in an academic sense was experiencing a different academic environment that I had not experienced before. Although my original field is communication, I had the chance to consult with professors in the department due to the content of the project I am conducting related to Central Asia via the MOCCA connection. Every Wednesday, I had the chance to chat with Prof. Dr. Heinz Käufeler before his class and exchange information about the content of the project. I am also very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet students at events held in the department that fall within my area of interest. I held a small-scale seminar where I exchanged information about the content of the project with doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers from various Central Asian countries in the department. On the other hand, I also visited the Department of Communication located on the same campus, finding the opportunity to establish connections, exchange ideas, and talk about the content and methodology of the project. After a short meeting with Prof. Dr. Frank Esser, the Deputy Head of Department & Study Program Director, I had the opportunity to receive details and evaluations of the project with Assistant Professor of Political Communication, Anne Schulz. Although not directly connected to MOCCA, my visit was quite productive in terms of finding the opportunity to establish a connection with the communication department. I also contacted Hülya Türkmen, the administrative officer of the communication department, and we exchanged contact information for future connections.
During this one-month period in Zurich, I completed an intense research and analysis process by being at the university on all weekdays. I completed the process quite efficiently by exchanging knowledge and experience and creating togetherness for the promotion of the project. In addition to the benefits of this academic experience, I found the opportunity to travel around Switzerland for different cities and experiences whenever I found the opportunity on weekends, in order to take advantage of the services offered by my long-term stay and the GA SwissPass I purchased. I even had the chance to cross into Italy by combining my Lugano trip with Como. On another weekend, using the panoramic GoldenPass Express, I experienced a magnificent train journey lasting about three and a half hours between Interlaken and Montreux on a sunny day after the first snowfall in the Alps. Afterward, I toured the city of Lausanne and explored St. Gallen on another day. Witnessing the change of language, culture, and people in these three different regions of Switzerland was truly an invaluable experience. I also visited Konstanz, where I had lived for 6 years before, and reminisced about the past. During my stay in Zurich, as of November 20, it was also very enjoyable to visit the Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmärkte) set up all over the city every evening and to witness this magical atmosphere so closely.
Thus, after this fruitful and rapidly passing academic experience in Zurich, I returned to Istanbul with the comfort of having moved on to the writing phase of my project. I quickly took action for a comprehensive seminar where I will convey the details of the project and share the project experience I planned in order to share what I have accumulated in my saddlebag with my colleagues and students. I would like to express my gratitude again to everyone who supported me in the process. I am already excited for the next ones.