Crossing Continents- Istanbul and the new world order. Or the old?

Fun and games in the near east. Istanbul and its people.

During my stay in Istanbul, Russia cut off transit gas through Ukraine and Ukraine’s gas. The Russians are ostensibly having a spat with the Ukraine, but I think that are also taking the opportunity to punish Europe. Their former satellites are freezing. Turkey’s gas has also been cut, but the Russians and Iranians increased Turkey’s supply through the Caucasus. “Its only a matter of geography,” said a journalist friend of mine. But she was wrong. Nothing in the middle east is merely a matter of geography. Everything is a complex game that our leaders play at the expense of their people. And so while I was watching the news of Bulgaria freezing, the gas man came and installed my mother’s new gas connection. After a few pressure tests, and many checks, she was in the lucky position of needing to buy a gas cooker.

“If these Russians ever affect us, I will move back to Antalya” she said “My flat there is still heated by coal, and luckily we have plenty of coal” She almost said “Cheeky Russians.” Leaving my mother to her gas, my brother and I escaped the house to take photographs. On our first day, we decided to have a look at Asia. No where in the world are Asia and Europe so easily visible than in Istanbul. Our journey to Karakoy involved a walk, the metro, a funicular down to sea level and then a tram. At Karakoy we boarded one of the ubiquitous maritime lines ferries and steamed across the busy Bosphorus. The currents were visible, churning up the water off Akinti Burun. My bother threw bread to the seagulls that followed the vessel.

“Isn’t that illegal?” I asked.

“This is Turkey, not Europe,” he replied “ You can live here, there are less rules” I looked up saw that many off the passengers were feeding the gulls.

I took the opportunity to shoot some images of the gulls following the ferry, or was it my brother’s bread.

Only once, did the Captain order slow ahead to allow a tanker to steam sedately past us. The bridge telegraph clanged again and we were off, getting up to our top speed of 15 knots which we kept up while well inside the breakwater. The ferry finally slowed, manoeuvred and docked. We got off with the throng and ambled off to find a bookstore. While the world economic crisis has not yet overly affected Turkey, I did notice that the docks were empty, and the restaurants were not full. Exporters were unable to sell to a dying European market and people were watching over their spending.

The sun died while we were in a café and we returned in the bitter cold of night. Tankers and cargo vessels sailed past, quickly or slowly, depending upon which level of current they were in.

We came back to watch more news of the bombing of Gaza. Gaza is a burning issue for most Turks. My friend Sinan explained it to me:
“The right-wingers are up in arms because Muslims are being killed, the leftists are up in arms because human beings are being killed”

The degree to which the Turkish public seemed to be affected by Gaza was surprising. The Turkish Government made all the right noises, but Tizi Lipni’s visit to Turkey just before the attack had the press speculating that the government knew about Israel’s plans. The Turks have historically never had any ill will towards Jews or the state of Israel. Indeed the 26,000 Jews in Turkey have lived in peace and harmony for 470 years. One can only speculate that was the gratuitous death of children and civilians that turned the Turks stomachs. Every apartment building had banners protesting the attack, and showing solidarity with the Palestinians. I must say, that I was grateful that no one, however, mooted the idea that the Turks should use force to stop the Israelis. They were all adamant that force would not solve the Israel-Palestine issue.


My brother and I made a couple more photographic expeditions, both of which opened new doors of interest to us. One of them was particularly enlightening. On a whim, I said “lets dive into Topkapi Palace.” We hiked up a hill, and walked up to the semi deserted but magnificent gate. Here the two Jandarma were standing guard with slung submachineguns and multiple magazines. While they were totally un-aggressive in their stance, they looked remarkably business like; So rather than waltz in through the grand portal, I stopped and asked the sentry for permission to enter.

“er is the palace open?” I asked politely in the early afternoon sun.

“of course sir, the ticket office is open until 1600 hours.” He smiled at me, while shifting his smg slightly, “Gec Bey Effendi” (Pass (command) Sir).

My brother and I walked into through the door, in much the same way, that people had for four hundred years. We talked our way through some of the history of the palace, who was kept where, which sultan was murdered, by who and so on. Palaces were not good for your health it seemed! Finally, we came to a room where some artefacts were stored. We passed through the armed private security and found ourselves staring at the Prophet Mohammad’s banner. When a Jihad was declared, the Caliph of Islam would unfurl this banner and make the pronouncement of holy war. I had once looked into this issue and quizzed a Islamic Historian on the subject.

”Its quite clear, All jihad’s since the end of the Caliphate have been illegitimate” the historian told me. “Once the Caliph was relived of his duties, there could be no more Jihads declared”

“Was the Caliphate disbanded” I asked?

“No not really, the Turkish Republic assumed the duties of the Caliphate- so its all a bit of a grey are really. The only truth is that when some jumped up chap in Lebanon starts screaming about Jihad this and Jihad that, he’s got no legal, religious, or moral standing upon which to say so” The historian continued.

“So when was the last Jihad” I asked.

“1915, and it was rescinded with the ceasefire of 1919”

“you mean the treaty of Versailles?”

“No the Turks never signed that, they actually did not surrender at the end of the first world war, they kept fighting in what is now Azerbaijan, the Caucasus, and of course inside Turkey. For the Turks, the end of the Jihad was important, but their war only really ended in 1923 when they had their war of independence and freed themselves of the allied occupiers”

Finally, standing here in the depths of Topkapi Palace, staring at the sword of David, the staff of the Prophet Abraham and the banner of the Prophet Mohammad I realised something. While the Israelis were blowing up Gaza, the world was in economic Turmoil, the war on terror is in full swing, that the Turks, hold the key to future of peaceful Islam. The Turks are Muslims, and yet democratic. Their governments change at the whim of the people, and yet here in front of me, was the Prophets banner. The Turks have the power, and yet choose wisely not to use it.

I wonder if anyone else has realised?

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