Five days in Istanbul - A colourful adventure with a taste
After travelling through Roumania and staying in Bucharest for a while, the plan was to take a little "holiday" at the Black Sea and make a slow crossing through southern Bulgaria, northern Greece and on to Macedonia and Albania. The Black Sea and Bulgaria, however, did not offer the opportunities I was looking for, and on the map the distance to the Turkish border was very short and Istanbul, well, not more than a day trip away.
Both the latest news from Turkey and, in particular, the books of authors such as Orphan Pamuk (Black Book) and Elif Shafak (The Bastard of Istanbul) were on my mind blending with an old dream of visiting this famous city, the gateway between Europe and Asia, so full of mystery and history. With this blend of adventurous and gloomy thoughts filling my head, an early morning in mid-October I cross the Bulgarian-Turkish border south-west of Malko Tarnovo in Bulgaria and into Turkey, with a course for Istanbul. The border crossing goes surprisingly well. Travel information from the Norwegian foreign office emphasised that a visa must be sought and arranged before entering, and given the strained relationship with the country's western allies at the moment, I fear the worst. On the border there is minimal queue and with a few Euro less in my pocket I have crossed the border with a fresh visa and I am well on my way to Istanbul.
(Click on the Images to see larger versions and click again on the images to scroll)
Recent events, attacks against Kurdish
villages, warfare in Iraq and Syria, as well as the imprisonment of political
activists, journalists and others after the failed military coup in July 2016,
gives a gloomy backdrop and makes it hard if not impossible to have a romantic tourist
experience in Istanbul for anyone with a political mind like mine. However during this short visit opportunities to dig deep inside the
political landscape will be rather limited.
Before I neither get the a chance to be overwhelmed nor feeling provoked, I spend more than half a day fighting through a traffic
labyrinth, which, in addition to confusing everything called GPS, is generous
with traffic jams and chaos in claustrophobic, exhausted tunnels. I have spent the night just some 20 miles north of the city to enter early to get the most time possible for city
walking this first day. It will prove to be challenging. I have set the course
on the GPS towards a part of the city where it´s supposed to be lots of cheap hotels.
I´m headed along highways, onto the smaller roads, into narrow alleys and then
stop! Three times I have to turn around when I think I'm approaching my goal.
Then I finally see a sign for the district I'm heading to, but first I am guided into a tunnel (f..GPS) under the city centre. Traffic stagnates, the queue is
slowing down and then it`s a full stop. Whistling, shouting and cars pushing on the road-cage,
mopeds and motorcycles on all sides, the car horns that increase into
an eardeafening crescendo. It takes half an hour, an hour and so ... slowly we
move forward and thank God out of the tunnel. On the next attempt, I decide to
attack the city from another direction and follow the Bosporus Strait northwards,
which proves to be a smart move. Finally in the city centre and not too far from the old
town, I stop outside the first hotel where I can find parking space for my camper. The hotel, by name "Lasagrada" turns out to be way above my budget, however, available parking and friendly service removes any desire to resume my Istanbul traffic nightmare.
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| Hagia Sofia Mosque |
It`s already dark when I have
unpacked and getting ready to enter the city streets. I follow Istikal road through Taksim
in the direction of the old town. At Besiktas stadium and home arena, I meet
two young men who are curious about who I am and where I am going. We walk together towards the sea while we chatter. Reaching at the Bosphorus Strait and
Tophane Fountain we have become friends. Oner (24) and Murat (34) belong
to the Turkish minority Alevi. They invite me for a coffee and we find a table at the
seafront at one of the many restaurants along the Bosphorus. Oner and Murat
have strong opinions about many things. They tell me that discrimination and racism are a
part of everyday life and the Turkish majority's treatment of minorities like the Alevis.
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| Oner and Murat |
From Oner and Murat and information on
the internet (Minority rights group international - http://minorityrights.org/minorities/alevis/
) I learn that: Alevis are the largest religious minority in Turkey. «Technically" they are Shia, yet they follow a
fundamentally different interpretation of Islam than the Shi’a. They also differ
considerably from the Sunni Muslim majority in their practise and interpretation
of Islam. Some estimates says that Alevis are around 11.4 per cent of the
population others says as much as 33 per cent. People of Turkish and Kurdish ethnic
origin are the largest Alevi groups. Alevis claim the Koran has both an open
and a hidden meaning. There are progressive levels of understanding from
obedience to shari’a Islam through tarika (brotherhood) to ma’rifa (mystical
understanding of God) and ultimately to hakkika (immanent experience of divine
reality). Tension between the Sunni rightists and Alevi leftists grew from the
1970s. Alevis moved from mountainous or unproductive land to seek work in
predominantly Sunni towns which was a major catalyst in Sunni–Alevi tensions.
Alevis harassed by Sunnis have seldom sought redress either from the police or
the law courts since they believe the latter to be deeply prejudiced against
them. In 1978 well over 100 Alevis were massacred in Maras by members of the
extreme right National Action Party. In July 1993, 67 Alevis were killed in
Sivas at the climax to the eight – hour siege of a hotel by Sunnis, while the
police stood by. In March 1995 more than 20 Alevis were killed by vigilantes
and police in Istanbul. Alevis continue to suffer discrimination on a number of
levels. Alevi cemevis (places of gathering) have no legal status as places of
worship. In 2008, 200,000 Alevis rallied on the streets of Istanbul to protest
against government policies and demand equal rights. In 2009 the government
launched a series of workshops with Alevi groups to try and address their
concerns. But these dialogue meetings did not lead to anything specific.
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| Restaurant with some stylish interior. |
During the
next five days I share several cops of coffee, glasses of green tea and even
some beers with mostly people from minority and immigrant origin. Kurds,
Palestinians, some Africans. And even though people don´t speak freely in a meeting
with a foreigner they do not know, stories about discrimination and a society
where tension between ethnic minorities and the Turkish majority are not
uncommon and in fact increasing. For some reason my limited attempts to start a conversation with
native Turks doesn't`t not feel easy. Answers are short if any. Turning away and looking in another direction is answer clear enough.
For five
days I walk the streets of Istanbul. The number of western tourists are rather limited. Bomb blasts and other alarming news from around the country has not been to the tourist
industries advantage. My own visit is too short to reach the hidden secrets
and get under the surface of this fascinating city, which in many ways feels just like any other big bustling metropolis. An adventure it`s become never the less, though with a taste. I think I will be back some day.
And a P.S.:
At the time of writing this lines (January 2018) I have also read NRK journalist Sissel Wolds
latest correspondent letter from Turkey, published January 6th 2018
here:
Even though
it`s just only a short letter, what SW writes give some perspectives for a better
understanding of how Turks may see themselves in relation to the world.… And thankfully, I went to Istanbul before the catastrophic military exercise in Norway where the
Turks were pointed out as the enemy…
Enjoy the
images (and remember click to view larger versions) and you will see some of the the many nice places I visited during my stay, though without the all the tastes, the sounds, and the
warm breeze from the Bosporus Strait...
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| View from the old city towards Golden Horn and Bosporus |
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| Friendly smiles at the metro line |
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| Fishing from piers and bridges is a popular activity for the men in Istanbul, especially on Sundays |
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| Style and dress code isn´t that much different from any other big European city, but "Istanbul is not the true face of Turkey" according to some of the people i talked to. |
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| The old market is just amazing and on of the largest of its kind in the world |
