It was the September of 2011 when I last visited Istanbul, Turkey, for a Conference. I loved the freedom in the air, the liberal attitude of Muslim families and the warm outgoing character of Turks.
The city is beautiful and the people so different. They did not wear their religion on their sleeve and I saw only 5% of the women wearing Burkhas. The rest were as fair and as modern in outlook as their European counterparts. The Turks were proud of their history and appealed to me as a friendly people. The family of my Turkish friend invited me home, took me out to dinner, and her brother even offered to look for a Turkish life partner for me. We became brothers as he felt so much for me. I even thought for a moment I could settle down in Rumi’s land.
In fact I still carry the photograph of the sunrise over Bosphorus as the mast head of my Facebook account.
The Haiga Sophia, Church for a thousand years, mosque for the following five hundred, is now a national memorial—a truly secular building. What impressed me most was that both the mosaic of Mother Mary with Infant Jesus and the Mihrab & Minbar exist together in the main prayer hall, despite the change in rulers and ideologies. No one community in power had even thought of destroying the images and holy relics of the other religion. They just built around it. This is a real tribute to the Turkish spirit of brotherhood, tolerance and acceptance.
(Image from the Internet)
Similarly, in the museum at Top Kapi, I saw personal belongings of Prophet Mohammad and the Staff of Moses, reverently and proudly displayed. I learned that Mozart had composed the “Abduction from the Seraglio (Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail)” based on the romantic story of captivity, attempted escape and later release of Constanze and Belmonte, by the then Pasha Selim.
Why I am mentioning this is because I want to quote two sentences of Pasha Selim, which reveal the Turkish character— Pasha Selim to Belmonte: “Take your freedom and take Constanze. Sail to your homeland and tell your father that you were in my power, but I granted you freedom so that you could say to him that it was far greater pleasure to requite a suffered injustice with good deed than to repay vice with vice,” and later to Osmin “…those you cannot win by kindness and good deed one must do without.” (Mozart’s the Abduction from the Seraglio by Burton D. Fisher).
The failed coup in Turkey, was a coup when the might of the rebel military was defeated by the sheer spirit of the Turkish people. Images of the “Tank Man”, a Turk standing bare chest before a tank, forcing it to stop its advance, and then lying down before its wheels is a picture of exemplary nationalism, courage of conviction in peace!
The dark night of Friday the 25th July 2016 will long be remembered for being the night of the people. It demonstrated that there is no power stronger than the power of a people who believe in freedom and peace.
(Images of the coup night from Internet)
Did the people of Istanbul hear their Sufi poet Rumi call out to them?
“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you
Don’t go back to sleep!
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep!
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,
The door is round and open
Don’t go back to sleep!”
― Rumi
(Quote courtesy: goodreads.com)
The people of Turkey have stood up in support of their President Recep Erdogan. We hope that the Turkish Government under him shall ensure a peaceful Turkey for the life-loving, peace cherishing people of Turkey!
A travelogue written by me on Istanbul…The Golden Horn in INDIA OUTBOUND Magazine June-August 2012 issue, pages 41-46, can be read on link:
https://issuu.com/manojmediaindia/docs/india_outbound_magazine