Still, DonÃt Give Up on Turkey
The news that terrorist bombs have again caused carnage in Istanbul was, while not entirely unpredicted, immensely saddening. For those of us who know the city intimately, and who could envision exactly the places mentioned in the reports, the news left a sick feeling in the throat.
Terrorist attacks on hotels in the neighborhoods of Laleli and Sultanahmet have been claimed by an alleged al Qaeda affiliate, whereas the Turkish police have also accused Kurdish separatists. News reports have stated a total of two dead and nine injured, including several foreigners.
However, for the second time in nine months , we should stress that it would be a big mistake to let such chaotic incidents scare us away from a country like Turkey. It is an immensely evocative, variegated and rich country, one that lends itself effortlessly to description. This has made it a favorite destination for travelers, artists, photographers, nature lovers and others of all creeds and cultures.
The most unforgettable part of the country, however, must be Turkey’s cultural capital, Istanbul. A singular phenomenon, Istanbul packs more diversity, history, beauty and life into one place than any other city in the world. The same qualities that make it so unforgettable, unfortunately, are also those which make it so difficult to “secure.”
The two sites of bombing were, predictably enough, those catering to tourists. But they couldn’t have been more different. Laleli, and the scruffy quarter of Aksaray nearby, are hubs of sometimes disreputable commerce lined with little shops for clothing, fabric, shoes. Grunting men rush around with huge duct-taped cardboard boxes on their shoulders, or push dollies loaded with mysterious merchandise. Subterranean shopkeepers stir little cups of tea in the typical hourglass cup, dissolving tiny cubes of sugar and observing the usually placid world of contained chaos that is Istanbul. Shoes that may or may not be from Italy, compromised women who are definitely from Russia, mustachioed migrants from eastern Turkey or the ‘Stans- this area has definitely a character all its own.
A few stops down the Tramvay line begins the historic quarter of Sultanahmet, site of today’s other bombing. As all of the media reports have mentioned, this is the area of Istanbul with the most famous attractions, from the Blue Mosque to St. Sophia to the underground Basilica Cistern. Filled with backpackers and the carpet stores that prey on them, the air is filled with foreign voices and the prosaic sounds of touts shouting “my friend, my friend, good prices!” In a statement that now rings of tragic irony, a friend there commented just last week that “…everything is very good- we have too many tourists this summer!”
Indeed, Sultanahmet offers the best-priced hostels and hotels for Western budget travelers, as Laleli does for easterners. Therefore if the attacks were meant to strike a blow against the powerful tyrants of the Western capitalist system, they utterly and viciously failed.
The pernicious acceleration of international terrorism in the aftermath of George W. Bush’s war on Iraq – the gift that keeps on giving – is dismaying. And the latest Istanbul blasts are proof that everyone is susceptible to it. Forget about American suburbia. If you can’t feel safe in Sultanahmet, then you truly can’t feel safe anywhere.
Yet having said that, we should not jump to the conclusions the war party disingenuously sets for us. This is not to say that it’s better to remain in American suburbia, or whatever may pass for it in the reader’s country. Because cowering in fear at home won’t make anyone any safer. Quite the contrary. If we do not take an active role in peacefully combating the policies that have led to the current drastic acceleration of global upheaval, there will be little hope for the future. And if we decide to stop traveling abroad, gripped by fears that are realistically speaking untenable, over time it will become more and more easy for the terrorists and dour Western leaders alike to persuade large masses of people of the veracity of their black-and-white, stick-figure distinctions between peoples – even though such childish oversimplifications only ever applied to their progenitors anyway.
In short, while the latest terrorist attacks in Istanbul are dismaying and very saddening, we should not give up on Turkey or its timeless Western capital on the Bosporus. That would not only be to give the terrorists the victory they want; it would also be to deprive the visitor of what is for many one of the richest and most rewarding travel experiences out there. Istanbul has survived many calamities, invasions, plagues and confrontations in its almost 1,700 year history. The immortal city will weather this one too – though a little help from its friends would no doubt be appreciated right about now.