Istanbul is a storied city, its ancient history waiting to be uncovered under its patina of modernity. If you have any doubts about its ancient cred, just remember that the fabled city of Troy is its neighbor. Founded as Byzantium (some of us also know it as the former Constantinople, the seat of the eastern half of the Roman Empire). Emperor Constantine, he of the deathbed conversion to Christianity, made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. While the western half of the Roman Empire disintegrated, his half lasted until 1453, when the Ottomans arrived. It was then that the Muslims took over. Despite this pedigree, after a week’s time in Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul, if you told me that this city was founded 100 years ago, I would have believed you.
I was in Istanbul for only seven days. This is not long enough to give it any justice in this post. So I decided to offer a photo essay instead. I will have to wait for another visit to offer some deeper thoughts about Istanbul and what makes it tick. But I do want to share my first impressions. Istanbul is certainly cosmopolitan and bustling. A city of 20 million by some estimates, I was delighted to run into people from Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, Syria, Turkmenistan, and other places, both familiar and exotic.
My first day in Istanbul was on a stay over from Porto, PT to Dubai, UAE. (See my post about Dubai Expo 2020). I was lucky to have a very confident and educated tour guide for my inaugural day. He took me to Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Roman Hippodrome, and the Suleymaniye Mosque my favorite). We took a ferry across the Bosporus to have Turkish delight and Turkish coffee in the Golden Horn. We went to the Grand Bazaar I learned enough to better appreciate the Ottoman Empire, which frankly I never understood until this visit.
A good place to learn about the Ottoman Dynasty is the Topkapi Palace. I visited on a cold and snowy afternoon in March, on my way back from Dubai Expo 2020. The Ottoman Empire was formed by Turkish tribes led by Prince Osman in the 14th century. Their greatest leader was Sultan (king) Süleyman the Magnificent, also called the Law Giver. He commissioned the building of a mosque dedicated to his father but whose name honors him. The Suleymaniye Mosque is a cosmic space, its vast inferior feels like heaven could fit inside. And that is exactly the feeling that its architect, Sinan, wanted to achieve.
It is easy to eat well in Istanbul. I think it may be fair to say that there are no people have done more with dessert and candies than the Turks. (No offense to the French). The variety of Turkish delight and the rainbow colors of mounds of spices in the market were visual as well as culinary treats.
Turkish delights
The Republic of Turkey dates only to the 1920s. The National Assembly declared Turkey to be a republic and declared Mustafa Kemal as president in 1923. Neither the Caliphate nor its Ottoman dynasty rulers could survive the end of the First World War. The constitution of this new republic of Turkey was adopted on April 20, 1924. Something old and new was created from the ashes of World War I.
The defeat of the Ottomans had been a long-time coming. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Great Britain, and Russia, among others had decades earlier started to take territory from Europe’s “Sick Man.” The Ottomans’ alliance with Germany proved their final undoing. After WWI, several new nations emerge or re-emerged— most under British dominance — from the dying empire. These nations included Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. While these nations became officially Islamic, Turkey followed a more nationalistic and secular path. (For more on religion in Turkey, see this [link].)
This also meant, a modernizing path. According to The Encyclopaedia Britannica, religious courts were closed, the Latin alphabet was adopted along with the Gregorian calendar. Turkey also adapted the Western weekend, required surnames (which had been uncommon), and prohibited the wearing of the traditional headgear, the fez. Turkey seemed insistent on becoming European.
Atatürk (“Father of Turks,” as Mustafa Kemal came to be known) significantly shaped the city of Istanbul physically as much as he had the entire nation culturally and socially. He and the Republicans were eager to modernize Istanbul, even though they moved the capital to Ankara (where it remains). The new secular government brought in some two hundred urban planners, professors, and engineers as part of the determined effort to make a modern city out of the former imperial capital. Chief among these foreign experts was the French urban planner, Henri Prost. With Prost in the lead, Istanbul left behind its imperial past. Now renamed Istanbul, the premiere city of Turkey, the city spanning two continents and astride two seas, expresses in its built environment the ideals of Ataturk’s new republic. It was this “Republican” cityscape that struck me: wide, European-style boulevards, numerous squares, and concentrated centers for entertainment and shopping.
Istanbul is by design both European and Asian. While most of Turkey is in Asia (Minor), the majority of its (former) capital is in Europe. This is another dimension of Istanbul’s duality and its complicated geography. It is the literal crossroads of continents. Just look at the list of countries with whom Turkey share borders: Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. If you add sea borders, put Ukraine and Russia on the list. Istanbul not only spans two continents, it lies between two seas, The Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. These are connected by the Bosporous, named after a Greek God, and a defining feature of the City. You might also say that Istanbul spans two worlds twice, Asia and Europe, the ancient and the modern. I can’t wait to return.