GENIUS FORUMS

Ah, Istanbul. Good memories from 1999, although the city might not share them (earthquake, Clinton). Greatest shock: soccer celebrations. I thought the city was rioting for a moment but they were actually celebrating the outcome of a match with not that much significance. The city never sleeps like all of the largest metropoles but it felt reasonable safe on the streets even in the middle of the night. So unlike NYC that way, but similar in others.

Did you take the pictures? Are the protests something about the prison system?

For ambience

:) You know where the locals take their girlfriends for a night out, don't you? That's right. The soccer.

I was warned many times not to go out at night, especially in the Taksim area (where I rented an apartment). 4.50 a.m. and I was walking down Istiklal without incident. Though, there was nothing inviting about me, I have to say. Luckily, I still have fairly decent biceps....

These are a sample from the 1,500 or so pictures I took, yes.

Protests occur on a weekly basis on Istiklal from Taksim Square down to Galatasaray organised by the People's Front for the release of ill prisoners (which is what those pictures are about). The old days of the Midnight Express torture chambers have been replaced by F-type prisons with finger-wriggle room only cells--psychological torture--and the deliberate delay and refusal of treatment for political prisoners with terminal and other illnesses. Pretty bright, promising future to face over there for my commie mates. You don't want to be hard left in Turkey. Every week the riot police are there waiting, fully armed. Not so many people turn out after the May Day massacre in 1977 when there were absolutely thousands of them. So, they proceed without incident for the most part, nowadays.

Real life...

Some info on the F-type prisons here: Death Fasters

Leyla Shen wrote:I was warned many times not to go out at night, especially in the Taksim area (where I rented an apartment). 4.50 a.m. and I was walking down Istiklal without incident. Though, there was nothing inviting about me, I have to say. Luckily, I still have fairly decent biceps....

Somehow I doubt that is the reason :-) I remember seeing the patrolling cops around Taksim and their impressive looking batons often ready in their hands (saw it one time in action). They seemed quick to anger, although I remember a short chat with one as well but they liked mostly to tell proud stories of how they'd use their gear if provoked. It made me wonder if it could work as well in Amsterdam. Certainly walking around at 4 there was much more relaxing - such cities seems at those times the most 'itself', showing it's hidden charms and chasms.

Alright, alright. I confess. It was the unfamiliar and deliberately gruff expression on my female face....

LOL Baton? I saw a policeman walking the Istiklal beat swinging his gun in circles in his hand, and this was in broad daylight. I thought to myself, "Man, I hope that fucking thing isn't loaded!"

Can you imagine that here, or there?

Can't believe it so much that now, in hindsight, I'm beginning to think maybe I suffered some sort of optical delusion....

I would have taken a photo (and I do have a couple of other much more dull ones just because I hate being told not to do something, but this particular shot would have been much too obvious for my own good, I think! :)), except that it's illegal to photograph state personnel. I even got called to task by security for photographing that [censored] store window, believe it or not.

Just curious - that is a hookah, correct? The bowl is enormous.

Yes, AKA nargile. That huge thing you see there is a wind breaker, not the bowl itself.... :)