Cigarettes In Istanbul

13 hours stuck in a plane will get you just about anywhere, it got me to Istanbul. So many images rush through ones head when they hear the name of “the city.” Thinking of men in fezzes, covered women, old buildings, men with eye patches, and greasy street vendors peddling their trinkets claiming to be from some era that time forgot. The Istanbul I find now is so much different than those exotic far away places that we were told existed in old black and white films of Hollywood's golden age. The sun rises over the Bosphorus as I wait at the Besiktas ferry landing, and I realize that not even the weather is like you would think of a middle eastern city near the Mediterranean. It's cold, plain and simple, but it allows for a certain beauty. The sunlight pierces the clouds and I can see a streak of golden sunshine jet across the water onto the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, buildings carrying the burdens of a long and sorrowful history. Basking in the sunlight, motionlessly surveying the city, bearing witness to a turbulent nation, feverishly trying to hold on to traditions and nationhood while being mercilessly pulled into the undertow of a globalizing world which seems bent on attaching it's marionette strings from far away invisible hands. A city that has always existed in the margins between east and west, is now being forced to take sides in a world of stark absolutes.

A place where... everyone smokes. If the people of Istanbul quit cold turkey, then RJ Reynolds would go bankrupt. It seems smoking has a different stigma her than it does in America. In the U.S anti smoking ads have reduced cigarettes to something that only low class trailer park residents do. As if cigarette ash was only worthy of falling on some fat slobs greasy shirt while he devours a TV dinner and pounds a tall boy. Istanbul is a land where smoking is still cool, yes I said it, smoking is cool. In this way it reminds me of a European city, complete with cafes, shops and cobble stone walkways. However underneath this very vibrant and modern city lies a steady uneasiness. The calls to prayer 5 times a day over the loudspeakers do just enough to remind you that you are, however, in a very middle eastern metropolis. Where people are restricted from doing some of the basic things afforded to Americans living in the U.S. I can't offend Turkey or anything Turkish with my speech in fear of retaliation from the government. If the wrong person hears me, I could face jail time or deportation. Freedom of speech is the hallmark of American democracy, and I feel, without it a system of government cannot be called such.

All of this is however hidden by her beauty, and the sounds of her streets. Listening to the sounds of men shouting to sell fish, gypsies holding babies asking for alms, and the sounds of the flying seagulls who have just followed a ferry begging for some scraps of bread, one can forget the past by living in the ancient city. Much like one trades forgiveness for a lover's smile.