Imagine Istanbul

Since today is May 15, 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations, I decided that I should show my support in this blog by writing about the Human Rights of the Child. The human rights of children is a subject which is very close to my heart.

Around the world in many countries children experience extreme economic violence and hardship. Forced to take up occupations in order to support their families, children lose the innocence and joy of childhood, lose their opportunity for an education, lose the chance to be nurtured and loved by the family. Children are kidnapped, force to become child soldiers, sold into prostitution, forced to work on the streets of the cities, plying trades. They are the most vulnerable victims, subject to physical, sexual and emotional violence and abuse. They are the victims of war and the victims who are displaced by war. Who is to defend the rights of these children? Who will rescue these children?

My blog, ImagineIstanbul.com is about one little child I encountered who, as a young boy worked as a shoe shine boy in the streets of Istanbul.

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In Galata I saw a man who sat alone while the city of Istanbul hurried madly on around him. The ships sailed, the traffic roared, the pigeons rose up in quick escape and the millions of humanity of the city of Istanbul on their errands of self-importance had left this man alone. I have stolen words from my own poem, am I a thief?

In watching people, I sometimes imagine their existence and create a story around this existence. I think this man takes a moment in solitude to feel the melancholia of his life. He has lost the bright innocent joy and the optimism of childhood which can often be found when we are very young. Life did not give to him all it had promised so richly in the fairy tales of childhood. He had paid and paid and not received. Things were not as they appeared to be and most had been, under closer inspection, an illusion. The possibility of purpose and meaning were not found in work because there was no work to be found. Grownup children and love, if it had ever existed, had disappointed.

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I thought I would post another photograph of the beautiful Ortaköy Mosque so you might see also how lovely the architectural detail is.

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The Ortaköy Mosque in the district of Ortaköy stands gracefully at the edge of the Bosphorus. It is my favorite mosque in Istanbul perhaps because I find it to be the most prettiest and with its white ornate structure, it possesses a kind of feminine loveliness. I always loved walking around Ortaköy, browsing through the market stalls and shops, listening to music, sitting in cafés and people watching.

And Ortaköy is the place where the little boy of Istanbul and I came in a yellow taxi driven by the Turkish Benicio del Toro (well, the taxi driver looked and acted in the cool manner of this actor, so I gave the character the nickname “the Turkish Benicio del Toro”)to buy sunglasses and pretty jewelery together. I like to give the characters in my story nicknames as you can see by the list of characters on the right hand side under the list of Characters. Because every human being has a story, some are of tragedy, some are of joy, and all stories are a journey to knowledge of the self.

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And lastly, I present to you this photograph of a sunset in Istanbul with the Süleymaniye Mosque in the foreground. It was close to the end of the day when I had dashed madly about the city photographing everything I saw. I was standing on the Galata Bridge and I was losing the sun. This might have been one of the last photographs I was able to take that day.

The photograph shows the actual colors of the city and sky just as dusk settled. Again, it was not necessary to make any changes in Photoshop or any other graphics management program – the colors are exactly as shown. The Süleymaniye Mosque, its graceful architecture against the sky gives one a magnificent photograph of the city of Istanbul.

Speaking of magnificent, this mosque was constructed by the famous architect Sinan of the Ottoman

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This is the English translation of the interview I gave for the newspaper Yeni Hayat in their April 15, 2006 issue. The Turkish translation of the interview is located in a posting on my blog dated April 25.

Culture and Art section of Yeni Hayat:

“I saw fear and beauty in his eyes”

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In my last posting, I wrote about the light in the sky, the sunsets and the sunrises in Istanbul. But I could not do that blog posting justice if I just published two photographs. So I have made it my duty to present to you more of these un-retouched photographs of the sunrise and sunset in Istanbul.

When you travel to Istanbul, you also will find your own sunsets and sunrises and you, too, will photograph them as proof of the memories in your head and the visions behind your eyes.

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It is impossible to forget the sunrises and sunsets of Istanbul.

The light of the sky was always pink and gold in Istanbul, so I wrote in the poem “In Search of the Little Boy of Istanbul”. When I traveled to Istanbul, there was always such a beautiful light in the sky which made the city such and excellent location for photography. I have always said it is impossible to take a bad photograph in Istanbul. Perhaps, the light is the reason for this.

Maybe the color of the sky comes from its longitude of 28° 55′ 38″ and latitude of 41° 1′ 15″ positioning. Perhaps the light in the sky comes from the positioning of the sun at this point over the city. But one man, a businessman

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