Straddling Two Continents

ISTANBUL, which recently hosted the United Nations Habitat II conference, popularly known as the City Summit, has to be one of the mostspectacular cities in the world. It is the only city located on two continents—Europe and Asia. The Bosphorus, a 30-km waterway, separates the European and Asian shores of the city and links the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. Istanbul simplyreeks with history, much of it bloody history. It has served as the capital of three great world empires: the Roman, the Byzantine and the Ottoman, reminders of which lie scattered all over the city. It has variously been called New Rome, Byzantium, Constantinople (after the Roman emperor Constantine who shifted the capital of the Roman empire from Rome) and finally, Istanbul. Kemal Mustafa Ataturk, undoubtedly among the greatest figures of this century, dominates the country even though he died six decades ago. His pictures and his sayings can be found everywhere. Virtually single-handedly, he modernised Turkey, making the script Roman and giving women the right to vote. But there is now something of a backlash, with Islamic fundamentalists scoring heavily politically and giving secularists the jitters.