Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [214]
Europe
In response to seeing what he described as a “gloomy” Turk, British traveler Marmaduke Pickthall commented, “I think it is that you are trying to be something which you never can be, something which nobody with any sense would wish to be—a European.” The road to possible membership in the European Union has been a long one for Turkey, and there are many Turks who would agree with Pickthall. In an interview with Hugh and Nicole Pope, authors of Turkey Unveiled, Orhan Pamuk opined that “Turkey is constantly moving towards Europe, becoming more Westernized. But a union will never be realized. Turkey’s place is in continuous flux. This limbo is what Turkey is and will stay for ever. This is our way of life here.”
It remains to be seen if Turkey will be accepted into the EU, but it’s a subject that will dominate any discussion of Turkey at least for the foreseeable future. In Crescent & Star, Stephen Kinzer observes that for each of the more than a dozen countries that are waiting to join the European Union, the appeal of membership is political, social, and economic. “For Turkey it is also psychological. The central question facing Turks today is whether their country is ready for full democracy, but behind that question lies a more diffuse and puzzling one: who are we? The Ottomans knew they were servants of God and lords of a vast and uniquely diverse empire. The true heart of their empire, however, was not Anatolia but the Balkans.… But by caprice of history the founders of the Turkish Republic found themselves bereft of the Balkans and masters instead of Anatolia. To make matters worse, through a series of twentieth-century tragedies Anatolia lost most of the Armenians, Greeks and Jews who had given it some of the same richness that made the Balkans so uniquely appealing.”
Eyüp
One of my favorite places in Istanbul is the Eyüp Mosque complex and the Pierre Loti Café, farther up the hillside, about halfway up the Golden Horn. The mosque and surrounding neighborhood are so named after Muhammad’s companion and standard-bearer, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Eba Eyüp in Turkish), who also was one of the leaders in the first Arab siege of Constantinople, from 644 to 678. Eyüp was killed; in 1453, during the final Turkish siege of the city, Sultan Mehmet II and seventy attendants searched for seven days for Eyüp’s grave. Though the story may be apocryphal, one of the attendants supposedly found the alleged spot, and to mark it, Mehmet built a külliye there. Thenceforth, John Freely tells us in Istanbul: The Imperial City, whenever a sultan came to the throne he was girded with the sword of Osman Gazi at Eyüp’s tomb, a ceremony equivalent to coronation, which continued to the end of the Ottoman Empire. Ever since, Eyüp has been considered one of the holiest sites in Islam and is definitely the holiest shrine in Istanbul.
I like the mosque because few tourists visit it—perhaps because it takes some time to get here, or perhaps because the neighborhood is quite religiously observant—and because it’s beautiful. The atmosphere is very different from, say, the Blue Mosque, and it’s much more solemn inside. Women are not admitted without their heads covered, and it’s best if men wear long pants. After visiting the mosque and the tomb, walk up the stone walkway to the Pierre Loti Café. The walkway essentially runs right through the middle of a cemetery, so you have the opportunity to see hundreds of unusual tombstones (ones with turbans on top are for men, while floral designs are for women). When you reach the top of the hill, the simple café beckons, with its tables set up both outside and inside. The sweeping view of the Golden Horn is fantastic.
F
Franks
An Ottoman word that initially referred to the French, later it was the word used to refer to all Europeans. The Ottoman Empire sought to emulate France in its last century.
G
Galata Bridge
In Stamboul Sketches, John Freely writes