Ankara's always been described to me as a European city stuck in the middle of Anatolia. I guess maybe that's true, but it really depends on how you define a European city. New Ankara was built European, that's certainly true. There are wide boulevards and grand hotels, and everything there looks very fresh. If that's your definition of a European city, then sure, Ankara is Western and Istanbul is Eastern. Yet from what I've seen in a day, the Ankarans seem more Eastern and the Istanbullus seem more Western. There are more heads covered in Ankara, more tank tops in Istanbul. Istanbul, for all its Eastern-influenced buildings and organic, winding, chaotic streets, seems more like a Western city just based on the people who live there. For all the Kemalists' work to make Ankara the beacon that brings Turkey into modernity, contact creates Westernization, not city planning, and contact is at its height in Istanbul.
We visited Koca Tepe Mosque, which was built in the 1980s to resemble the Blue Mosque in Istanbul (Clayton later pointed out how interesting it was that they chose to imitate a mosque built in the heyday of the religious autocracy from which the Republic is so desperate to distance itself). Mosques in the Ottoman Empire were typically built with a bazaar either beside or underneath that would provide revenue for the mosque's operation. Koca Tepe has a similar system, though it's been adapted to the modern age.
We checked - the supermarket doesn't sell alcohol.
I went for a walk during halftime of the Spain-Germany match this evening and watched a guy get hit by a car. I stood on the sidewalk and took pictures while the Turks to either side of me stood and ate popcorn.
The whole thing was deliciously reminiscent of Pamuk's recollections of taking a picnic to watch the old Ottoman houses burning down along the Bosporus. See? I can be an Istanbullu too. But I'm in Ankara.
2 comments:
I have to ask: did ANYONE help the guy who got hit?
1) I guess eating popcorn could be more important than helping the poor soul who has just been hit by the car. I assume you expressed a little more concern than the natives? I have seen some mad and frantic dashes of reckless abandon at our house for the popcorn - especially if it is buttered.
2) So do all mosques have the market/bazaar/convenience store underneath or nearby - or is this just a recent Waltonian innovation? Are the bazaars/markets/convenience stores operated by religious hierarchy from the mosques or is it sort of mafioso operated? Are there just religious stuff or some derivative of in the stores or an assortment of items for daily living? We saw a little of this in Prague last year as many of the old and famous churches/cathedrals had their gift shop at the exit. Perhaps this is why many convenience stores in the US seem to be operated by Asians today? It's a commercial and cultural invasion.
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