Scotland torn between 'Yes' and 'No'

By Inci Gundag

EDINBURGH

Driving from the countryside to the city the week before the Scots vote on independence, you're greeted by what feels like two different Scotlands.

As you travel through the fields towards Edinburgh's suburbs, red billboards shouting "No Thanks" stand in lush pastures dotted with very hairy cows. Elsewhere, purple and white banners hang from barns declaring loyalty to the United Kingdom.

But travel through Edinburgh, and blue and white posters leap at you from windows and shopfronts, from stickers on people's jackets - all proclaiming "Yes" to Scotland pulling away.

In the city center - on the historic Princes Street, where traders have flogged their wares for hundreds of years - "Yes Scotland" campaigners dart from shopper to shopper, handing out stickers, flyers and button badges. They are young, many could be students, and all seem deeply keen.

The "No’s" are almost nonexistent here, bar the occasional fleeting blur of red from a moving car's window.

Marie Bell is 24. She works in hospitality, and tells the Anadolu Agency that the referendum is "a good chance and opportunity for Scotland to finally be able to have direction of its own affairs."

"Scotland has very different political ways compared to the rest of the UK," she continues, adding that a "Yes" vote would give the country a chance to move away from London's control and explore different options.

"If Scotland becomes independent, there should be more investment in industries, [and] the government should help young people as they are having difficulty finding jobs at the moment."

Inside a Turkish restaurant is 17-year-old high school student Danielle Dempsey - with the voting age lowered to 16 for the referendum, one of many who will be voting for the first time.

"It matters for everybody," she says, glancing nervously around, having now been dragged outside for an interview. She says she will be voting "yes" as she thinks it "will be the best for Scotland, so it can have control of its own."

"I expect from the Salmond [Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond] government more job opportunities for younger people, more money in the country and better education."

But not all are in favor. Walk around the chilly cobbled streets surrounding Edinburgh's castle and you can feel the tension in the air.

The "Yes" answer is just too risky," Solicitor Susan Harris tells AA, the blue and white Scottish flag on the castle high behind her fluttering in the breeze. "To me there are just so many uncertainties... Mostly economic but also [to do with] social care."

"I would be worried that big companies would pull out of Scotland and the cost of borrowing would increase quite a lot. There's a risk that everyone in Scotland would be worse off," she says.

"My husband’s job could be affected... my job could be affected... So I am voting 'No.'"

The Turkish Embassy in Britain says around 2,500 Turks will be among the 3.5 million people voting September 18 - Scotland has a population of around 5 million, while London is close to 6.

British citizen Levent Cetinkaya - who has been working as a manager in Edinburgh for eight years - says that he has already said "No" by postal vote.

"I said 'No' because the economic situation of the country is doing well currently. So why bother fiddling about and ruining it? Many of my friends think 'oh we should give it a try,' however you can't try something, and then say 'we failed'... There is no going back."

He underlined that even though Salmond had promised more jobs if Scotland becomes independent, "the big companies" have said that if the vote goes in his favor, "they may shut down their Scotland offices and move them to England."

"Think logically," he stated, adding that "thousands of people may end up being jobless."

Duncan Niven, a 51-year-old cab driver with a thick rambling Scottish accent, told the AA that uncertainties around independence had played an important role in his decision.

His accent and lack of pauses strings all words into one, and you have to lean towards him and really concentrate to keep track of what he says.

"I am going to vote 'No' because they [the politicians] haven't told us actually what benefits the independence will bring; they haven't told us what we are going to get. So I am just going to stay with the UK."

He added that he hopes that if independence is to be achieved, "we won't have to go crawling back to Westminster in three years time."

Asked if he has a message for the British government, he pauses, winks and nods his head.

"My message to London is 'You need Scotland'," he says.

Since the "Yes" vote took the lead in polls, politicians have been scrambling to appeal to the 20 percent of voters who are still undecided, party leaders jetting up to Scotland on Wednesday to try and sway those who are still to make up their minds.

Kilted bagpiper John MacDonald is one of the great undecided whom politicians are desperate to impress. He stands on the mound, which connects the old town to the new.

It's a chilly day, and as MacDonald - who has a fine red goatee beard - plays the instrument, the squeals that emanate from within sound like someone is strangling a cat.

"The most logical thinkers tend to vote 'No,' but then the logic that they put forward I don't necessarily agree with," he says. "And the people that I know that are saying 'Yes' just don't have much logic, they are just kind of like... 'why not... we should give it a try'."

Criticizing both London and Salmond's government, he lets his bagpipes hang to one side and says politicians need to be aware of the needs of others.

"They get too focused on what they want rather than necessarily what's good for everybody, or at least the majority," he says.

And then grabbing his pipes and pursing his lips, he pauses, glances around and says: "I still need to make up my mind, but I think I am leaning towards 'Yes.'"

The referendum threatens a union that has lasted for 305 years. If the "yes" vote is successful, Scotland is not expected to entirely leave the UK until 2016, the Scottish government proposing March 26, 2016 as its Independence Day.

It may still not get one.

www.aa.com.tr/en