The City and ITS People
Istanbul is one of the world’s most venerable cities. Part
of the city’s allure is its setting, where Europe faces Asia across
the winding turquoise waters of the Bosphorus, making it the only city
in the world to bridge two continents.
Here, where the waters of the Black Sea blend into the
Aegean, East and West mingle and merge in the cultural melting-pot of
Turkey’s largest metropolis. Busy Oriental bazaars co-exist with
European shops; kebab-shops and coffee-houses sit alongside
international restaurants; modern office buildings and hotels alternate
with Ottoman minarets along the city’s skyline; traditional music and
Western pop, belly-dancing and ballet, Turkish wrestling and football
all compete for the attention of the Istanbullu audience.
This is the only city in the world to have been the capital
of both an Islamic and a Christian empire. As Constantinople, jewel of
the Byzantine Empire, it was for more than 1,000 years the most
important city in Christendom. As Istanbul it was the seat of the
Ottoman sultans, rulers of a 500-year Islamic empire that stretched
from the Black Sea and the Balkans to Arabia and Algeria.
Istanbul owes its long-held historical significance to a
strategic location at the mouth of the Bosphorus. From this vantage
point the city could control not only the ships that passed through the
strait on the important trade route between the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean, but also the overland traffic travelling from Europe
into Asia Minor, which used the narrow strait as a crossing point. In
the words of the 16th-century French traveller Pierre Gilles: “The
Bosphorus with one key opens and closes two worlds, two seas. ”
That strategic advantage is no less important today than it
was 2,500 years ago, when a band of Greeks first founded the city of
Byzantium on this very spot. Ankara may be the official capital of
modern Turkey, but Istanbul remains the country’s largest city, most
important commercial centre, and busiest port, producing more than
one-third of Turkey’s manufacturing output. The Bosphorus is one
of the world’s most active shipping lanes, and the overland traffic is
now carried by two of the world’s longest suspension bridges.
The thriving city has long since spread beyond the
fifth-century Byzantine walls built by the Emperor Theodosius II, and
now sprawls for miles along the shores of the Sea of Marmara on both
the European and Asian sides. Back in 1507 this was the world’s largest
city, with a population of 1.2 million. That figure has now passed 10
million and is still growing, swollen by a steady influx of people from
rural areas looking for work (more than half the population was born in
the provinces). These new arrivals have created a series of
shanty-towns around the perimeter of the city. Their makeshift homes,
known in Turkish as gecekondu (“built by night”), take advantage of an
old Ottoman law that protects a house whose roof has been built during
the hours of darkness. The slums are eventually knock-ed down to make
way for new tower-blocks — a new suburb is created, yet another
shanty-town springs up beyond it, and Istanbul spreads out a little
farther.
At the other end of the social spectrum are the wealthy
Istanbullus, who live in the upmarket districts of Taksim, Harbiye, and
Ni«anta«ı, where the streets are lined with fashion boutiques,
expensive apartments, and stylish cafés. Those belonging to this set
are the lucky few who frequent the city’s more expensive restaurants
and casinos, and retire at the weekends to their restored wooden
mansions (yalı) along the Bosphorus. But most of Istanbul’s inhabitants
fall between these two extremes, living in modest flats and earning an
average wage in the offices, shops, banks, and factories that provide
most of the city’s employment.
Although small Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, and
Catholic communities survive, the majority of Istanbullus are Muslim,
and adhere to the principles known as the “Five Pillars of Islam” — to
believe with all one’s heart that “There is no God but God, and
Mohammed is his Prophet”; to pray five times a day, at dawn, midday,
afternoon, sunset, and after dark; to give alms to the poor, and
towards the upkeep of the mosques; to fast between sunrise and sunset
during the month of Ramadan; and to try to make the pilgrimage to Mecca
at least once in one’s lifetime. Those who have made the pilgrimage can
add the respected title haci before their names, an honour proudly
displayed on shop-owner’s signs.
Just as the Bosphorus separates Asia from Europe, so the
inlet called the Golden Horn separates the old Istanbul from the new.
The main attractions for the visitor are concentrated in the historic
heart of old Istanbul. Three great civilizations have shaped this part
of the city — Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. Though little remains from
Roman times, the city’s Byzantine legacy boasts Haghia Sophia, the
Church of the Divine Wisdom and one of the world’s greatest buildings;
the magnificent mosaics of St. Saviour in Chora; and the impressive
Theodosian Walls. The Ottomans built countless mosques in their
capital, the finest of which is the Süleymaniye, inspired by the form
of the Haghia Sophia. But the most popular tourist sight is Topkapı
Palace, the home of the Ottoman sultans, where the riches of the
Imperial Treasury and the intrigue of the Harem draw many thousands of
visitors each year.
From the belvedere in the treasury of the palace, where the
Sultan used to gaze down upon his fleet, you can look across the mouth
of the Golden Horn to the modern district of Beyo‘lu, where
multi-storey hotels rise beyond the turret of the Galata Tower. Down by
the shore of the Bosphorus is the glittering façade of the
19th-century Dolmabahçe Palace, while beyond stretches the graceful
span of the Bosphorus Bridge, a concrete symbol of the city, linking
Europe with Asia.
Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul — down the centuries
the city has been open to influences from both East and West, and this
cross-fertilization of ideas has created one of the world’s liveliest,
most engaging, and most hospitable cultures. It is neither European nor
Oriental, but an unparalleled and intoxicating blend; it is, quite
simply, unique.
