Istanbul Diary

An Ottoman ornament

Each city in the world is unique, but some are more unique than others—if the definition of uniqueness can be so extended by bringing in wider parameters of history, geography, beauty, contemporary reality and future possibility. Istanbul is where Asia and Europe—moreover, Islam and Christianity—shake hands, across the strait of Bosphorus. It is where they also crossed swords, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 being a major turning point in world history. The capital of four empires in the past (Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman), Istanbul is certainly a city once again on the rise. It’s my first visit to Turkey, where I have been invited to give talks on Mahatma Gandhi. Unable to find the right words to capture my impressions of this enchanting city, I tell my hosts that I have to borrow the words of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey: “On the meeting point of two worlds, the ornament of Turkish homeland, the treasure of Turkish history, the city cherished by the Turkish nation, Istanbul, has its place in the hearts of all citizens.”

Turkey’s own ‘Chunnel’

In a city that takes pride in its magnificent mosques, churches, bazaars and baths, Istanbul’s latest marvel is Marmaray, the under-sea tunnel creating the first rail link between Asia and Europe. Turkey’s own answer to the ‘Chunnel’ between London and Paris, and first conceived by Sultan Abdul Medjid of the Ottoman empire in 1860 as a rail version of the storied Silk Route connecting the two continents, it was inaugurated last October. “This is not the project of the century, but the project of centuries,” PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan exclaimed on the occasion.

What struck me most when I travelled by this gleaming train link was how the Turkish people have transformed their newly built railway station into a museum to display the many precious artefacts that were found during the construction of the tunnel. My friend Bulent Acikgoz of the Association of Social and Economic Solidarity with Pacific Countries, or PASIAD, said to me: “These artefacts have helped archaeologists trace Istanbul’s history back 8,500 years.” Turning back to the future, Turkey is the fifth fastest emerging economy in the world now. With a population of 75 million, it attracts 36 million foreign tourists, as against 7 million coming to India.

Two 9/11s

In my three talks at PASIAD, Marmara University and Istanbul University, there is both astonishment and appreciation when I tell my audiences about Gandhi’s praise for Islam (how the concept of ‘Greater Jehad’ influenced his conception of Satyagraha) and his strong support for Turkey during World War I. At Istanbul University’s Institute of Eurasian Studies, there is much interest mixed with scepticism when I refer to Gandhi’s landmark speech at the Inter-Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi in April 1947, when he appealed to the newly liberated countries of Asia not to imitate the militarism of the West, but to remain true to the “prophetic traditions” of the East as represented by the prophets of all the great religions that were born in Asia.

At the Centre of Religious Studies at Marmara University, I also refer to Swami Vivekananda’s stirring speech at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago on 9/11, 1893. Very few in the audience have heard of Vivekananda, still there is loud applause when I draw a contrast between the lofty humanism in the message of the original 9/11 and the savagery wrought by Osama bin Laden’s 9/11. Most of the girl students in the packed hall are wearing a hijab, a clear indication that the ultra-secularism of the previous Kemalist era, when women in universities and public offices were barred from wearing headscarves, is on retreat in today’s Turkey. Many foreigners, conjuring images from the recent protests at Istanbul’s Taksim Square, mistakenly infer from this that secularism itself is on retreat. In my view, Turkey seems to want to remain secular, while at the same time is determined to revive its rich, suppressed Islamic culture.

Gandhi and Gulen

The best proof of this is the immense popularity of Fethullah Gulen, a revered scholar of Islam who now lives in the US. Gulen, whose followers run thousands of schools and institutions in Turkey and abroad, is a severe critic of terrorism and bigotry in the name of jehad. He extols the positive virtues of all religions. One Turkish businessman attending my talk commented: “Fethullah Gulen hocaefendi (‘master’) has spoken highly about Gandhi in dozens of his lectures, but rarely has he mentioned Jinnah.” This, in a country that is 98 per cent Muslim.

Orhan Pamuk’s lament in

Istanbul: Memories and the City bored me. The Nobel laureate depicts his native city in dark and melancholic colours, afflicted with a profound ident­ity crisis. The Istanbullus I met were far more optimistic.

Kulkarni is the author of Music of the Spinning Wheel: Mahatma Gandhi’s Manifesto for the Internet Age; E-mail your diarist: sudheenkulkarni AT gmail.com