Today we visited the Ayasophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, and Bosphorus Strait as we continued to explore Istanbul :)
Personal
1453: shift from Roman Byzantine Empire to Ottoman Empire
Hippodrome – formerly used for horse races
Hagia Sophia/Ayasofia – no straight lines or round spheres; physics of architecture were guess-and-check
Call to Prayer is sung by a man or woman at the top of the minaret tower surrounding the mosques
Blue Mosque – about 20,000 tiles
Kadir Has Universitesi
T.C. Istanbul Ticaret Universitei (Istanbul Commerce University)
Cruise around Sea of Marmara and Bosphorus Strait; delicious freshly squeezed pomegranate juice
Lemon Tea with Dr. Fogg, one of her friends, and Molly Clancy – discussed religion and politics while he and Dr. Fogg caught up on each other’s lives
Dinner with Molly at a street café – had a “Donor Wrap,” which was like a taco with lamb meat, and sweet-tasting rice
Tried to take Metro to Taksim for some live music, but it was too frustrating with 13 people trying to maneuver the bus/trolley system
Cozy Pub for the rest of the evening (which was where we had lunch earlier in the day, so we were familiar with the staff)
Quotes:
“I can see Asia from my backyard”
“If that’s Asia, why are they flying the Turkish flag?”
Research
Constantine column resembles Washington Monument
Underground tunnel system leads to various sites in Istanbul – were they used for the government? By the public? Privately?
“Ritual Absulsion Place for Women” (?) outside Blue Mosque
Tosun – “everybody defines secularism differently; for Turks, laws are not based on the Koran”
Islam – no clergy class between God and man/women; ok to stay home for worship to be a good Muslim; women worship separately from men in the back of the mosque
Ayasofia – linguistically wisdom, Christ, feminine; incorporates Christian, Greek, and Ottoman roots
Churches face east, mosques face southeast; spot converted church into mosque by the angle of the niche in the dome
Christian crosses removed from walls when converted into mosque
MHP – campaign flags have three crescents
Saadet Partisi – research
AK Parti – blue/orange/white flags
“Polis” – term posted on temporary fences; in Greek it means city, in Turkey it is literally the "police"
Tea with Dr. Fogg’s Friend
AKP wants to make Turkey an Islamic Republic gateway between the West and the East
Islamic majority oppresses religious minorities
10% coalition threshold for the General Election (June 12, 2011)
About 70% of the Turkish people wanted to join the EU in 2009, but now only about 30%
Newspapers to follow: Hurriyet (secular), Turkish Daily News, Zaman (biased, not reliable), Milliyet
Youtube was banned for awhile because it revealed corruption
Fetullah Gulen was self-exiled to Pennsylvania until Islam was removed from politics
Today, corruption is at its peak and Turkey is headed downhill (according to Dr. Fogg's friend)
The University is a zone of science, there should be no religious garb. Now it is not enforced much, so most wear their headscarf and are starting to refuse to go to class on Friday, etc.
It is now encouraged for non-Muslims to wear headscarves in order to get ahead in career (according to Dr. Fogg's friend)
Izmir-Kemesalti
Bosphorus University is like Turkish Ivy League
Koc University
Hi how are you?
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Jesse
Merhaba Rebecca, I love how you are writing your info on Turkey. You make it very interesting. Glad you are having such a great experience and seeing all the historic sites.
ReplyDeleteHosca kal, Mcgram