After the SIYAD (Turkish Film Critics Association) Awards on Monday night when we came back to Taksim square and finally ate something after six hours of hunger, at midnight, at the famous dinner Bambi, which happens to have the same name as the famous Disney character, we (Seda –love of my life – and me) wanted to go home and crash since both of us had to lecture in the morning. Cenk and his friend who spent the night assuming the imaginary personas of Carlo and Bruno, the foreign producers who came to Istanbul to sniff out some lucrative talent to exploit, wanted to go to the after party at the club Dirty which is owned by Deniz, a (actually I should say ‘the’) fellow member of the governing board of SIYAD.
However being sad people who live on the Asian side of the Bosporus they were not quite sure where the club is. So I started to describe: “You know Yesilcam street? It is the street on which both Emek and Sinepop cinemas are located the one where there is that huge construction sight at the moment? Well on the opposite side of that street, is a street that has the Garanti gallery on one corner and a shop that sells Converses on the other corner. Thats the street you should enter. It’s a very short street with uninviting bars on the left and the Majestic cinema’s entrance on the right. Whenyou reach the end turn right. The new street you have thus entered is a ‘cul de sac’ that ends with the back door of the Atlas cinema it is the door from which you exit the cinema when the films are over. It is also the street where Yeni Melek is situated: surely you must have gone to some concerts there.” I would have gone on, although I am sure they had got the picture by then, just for the fun of it. However Cenk interrupted and said “did you loose your virginity on this street or what?”
This is the question that has motivated me to write this entry. I was not aware that the information I was giving was anything special. I would have thought anyone who did not live on the other side of Bosporus would have as easily given the same amount of detail. But Cenk’s question made me realise that this is not quite true that after all not a lot of people passed that street 3 times already that day like I had. Of course I did not loose my virginity on that street, at least not literally. However I have spent a considerable amount of my life at and around Beyoglu. I know every side street that branches off of Istiklal street like the back of my hand. 20 years ago I used to spent a lot of time drinking in the various bars and pubs and what nots. (I no longer drink) Now that I live around, I do my shopping and meet people at its cafes and of course I go to galleries and cinemas around here. Most importantly, however, I walk from one place to another in the entire vicinity every day withouth exception: Istiklal, Taksim, Galata, Taepebasi, Tarlabasi, cihangir etc. because, Cihangir where I live, is in the Beyoglu municipality and my adily needs and transactions make it necessary for me to walk about. For instance, on the very street that I tried to describe to Cenk, is situated the SIYAD headquarters. In short I know every nook and cranny around Beyoglu since I have had some occasion to know over the years, even if the occasion in question was never the loosing of my virginity.
However this doesn’t strike me as a specific knowledge. Beyoglu after all is the centre of the entire city everyone has occasion to come there. Everyone I know, seems to know Beyoglu as much as I do. But at choice moments I realise this is not so true and Cenk’s comment made one such moment. Yes every one knows Istiklal street but not every one knows the side streets and especially the short cuts and the easiest roots to get from one place to the other. In fact since Istiklal street is a place to promenade nearly everyone takes the longer roots and never learns there are shorter versions of the same journey.
This brings me to the second reason for this entry. On Tuesday night with a group of SIYAD members I had dinner with the Mayor of Beyoglu. Although I am aware that this seems to hold some news value, I am not interested in that side of it. The mayor, although very young for the office, is a typical politician whose urge for rhetoric is mostly boring. There was eight film critics at the table and every one started asking their questions by referring to how long they have known Beyoglu, how well they know it and how much they love it etc. Alin (a dear, dear friend whom I genuinely love and believe is one of the very few journalist left who actually make an adorable job out of it) even had the opportunity to refer to the legendary old times of Beyoglu, the time of her grandmother, since not only her but even her grandmother was born in Istanbul which is a very rare thing in deed. However I soon realised that I was the only person at the table who actually lived at Beyoglu. Consequently I was the only member of the Mayor’s constituency. I barely talked during the dinner and merely listened. But when we were about to go and the Mayor asked if we need to be dropped off anywhere, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to say, “I live within walking distance”. The mayor’s eyes lit up and we had a little chat about Cihangir and the new park that just opened there.
I don’t think I ever say “I love Beyoglu” because I think “well, duh, who doesn’t”. I never say to myself “I know this place” because, again, who doesn’t. And I certainly don’t say “I belong here” or “this is my home” because the whole point of Beyoglu seems to be that it is a place that one visits and only those who ‘don’t belong’ live. It is where you go to entertain, to engage in cultural activates, to find blind dates and one night stands, even to work but after the hub and hustle you go back to your quite homes. As the mayor himself called it, Beyoglu is a free zone, which is in its connotations the very opposite of the concept of home. But after these two incidents got me thinking, I realised I love this place precisely because, only a free zone can I call home.
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