Turkey – Glorious and Surprising

wonderfully warm and enthusiastic recap of what seems to have been a delightfully rich and fun-filled trip. turkey seems to quench our thirst for a loving co-existence of muslim & modern, beauty & bazaars, mosques & music!

thank you for sharing a lovely piece.

Re: # 7

Lets see... your conclusions on Turkish society are derived from a sample of two people you met on an airline AND on the state of the aircraft (?).

And you did not visit Turkey as you find being "surrounded by Islamists on all sides"..."creepy". So pretty much every one who lives in Istanbul and Turkey is an Islamist?

Wow.

Several years ago, I was forced to fly the Turkish Airlines by very compelling circumstances. I had to get to India in a hurry, and Turkish airlines was the only one that had seats available. Although I would NEVER travel in an Airline that lands in an Islamic country, I did not have aq choice. It was a eye-opening experience.

If one wanted to study Islam - why it is such a threat to democracy everywhere, there is no better place to study it in than Turkey. You hear all these theories about how the elites in Turkey are propping up democracy there, while Islam is straining at the leashes - well there is nothing better than to get it from the horse's mouth.

It was a really old and rickety plane. The bathroom looked like nothing I had ever seen on a plane. Everything rattled and shook. Maintenance was definitely very bad. I got talking to one of the stewards. He was a clean-cut, good-looking and friendly young man. Within a few minutes of the conversation, he started telling me about how Christian Europe was trying to put down and eradicate Islam, but he was not going to stand for it. He went on endlessly about the "Islam khaatrey mey hain" theme. Well this guy was definitely not one of the "elites", having come from a working-class background - and it showed. I also happened to have a conversation with a middle-aged lady who had been sitting next to my wife. She was living with her husband in America, and was visiting Turkey for a few days. She was well-educated, and well-spoken. She told me about her fears of the "Islamists" taking over her country, and the females amongst her friends and family having to live under a repressive Islamic regime that would curtail their rights. On the way to India and back, I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul. If you are a US citizen, you can go anywhere in Istanbul - no visa needed. But if you have an Indian passport - sorry, you are not allowed without a visa. In any case, although as a US citizen I could have visited the city, I never did. The very thought of being surrounded by Islamists on all sides was creepy. Which is why I'll never get to see the pyramids (a non-moslem structures), or Mohen-jo-daro (non-Islamic as well).

In any case, Turkey represents a very good test case where Islam and democracy collide within one population. The results should be very informative for people everywhere.

nice write up- would have loved to see pictures of the places- may be a link would have worked?

Abroo,
Very well-written and enjoyable description of my beautiful city.

I am so glad that you had a good time. Did youi get a chance to visit Eyup Cami?

Whoa!!!! Where are the Turks? I mean .... you must have interacted with people? The only encounter was with the Taxi guy? Did he have a name?

Thanks Abroo...oh Istanbul! Reading this has made me pine again for that loveliest of cities...and there is SO much of it I've yet to see.

two countries are getting popular for indian tourists are turkey and egypt...short convinient hawa flight from mumbai takes you to istanbul so its nearby. language is the only issue..but so many of the tourist guides are students from UK LOL

Nice write up Abroo.

I have very fond memories of my trip to Turkey a couple of years back. Turks were kind and hospitable to a fault. The tourism dependent businesses were gracious and not pushy, something I found in stark contrast to their Indian counterparts who tend to be aggressive with tourists.
And I completely empathize with your experiences with the taxi wallah. Something very similar happened to me. Must be the code of the international taxi mafia.

Regards