Istanbul 4: Culture and Religion

Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium... it is a long story. The Russian envoys of ten centuries ago were convinced to take up the orthodox christianity because the rituals and temples were "so beautiful". The city had a short Latin (catholic) period, and later was conquered and converted to Islam. Famous architect Sinan built here the Suleymanie Camii, and Sultan Ahmed had the Blue Mosque built on the foundations of several old palaces in front of the symbolic Hippodrome. You can find nice photos of them in wikipedia and in earlier posts in this blog. Still today a small Jewish community lives here along with some Orthodox and the Muslim majority. However, judging from the excitement in the city after a soccer match, soccer still has the strongest appeal :-D

Turkey, like Indonesia, is one of the few countries where Islam is separated from State. Perhaps eyeing the relations to EU, they have gone as far as banishing the scarf for women in public office. It is maybe an exaggerate imposition, or not, as many women now may discard the scarf and have to make no excuses. I must say I admire Turkey for being able to modernise, instead of blindly keeping the medieval interpretation of the Koran. In the city tram for example, you can see a young chick in a short skirt as well as a full covered lady. However, at the Mosque the women still pray at a small confined division, maybe only 5% of the area used by men. Some things could change, or is it fine to Allah?

On the right a support for the Koran, at the very interesting Turkish museum at the Hippodrome.

I think not many places in the world have such a history of Religion, Culture and Peoples coming together. Besides the religion, in Istanbul Europe and Asia meet, the Mediterranean (by Marmara) sea connects to the Black sea, via the Bosphorus. People from all places were making a living here, perhaps in old times this was the New York of the Old World. And now, it is just another large city, struggling to get by day by day, with all the uncertainties from economics to earthquakes. But vibrant and full of life. And still in touch with older traditions, like the famous carpets below..