A Quick Guide to Istanbul
The only city in the world that’s in both Asia and Europe, Istanbul is Constantinople (and Byzantium, too), ancient and modern, secular and pious, magnificent and mad in equal measure. The ghosts of marauding Crusaders, marching janissaries, and conspiratorial Young Turks haunt Istanbul’s soot-streaked alleyways. The Bosphorus is the world’s most critical maritime artery; pneumatic drills—the sound of economic growth—play a constant counterpoint to the shouts of street hawkers and the call of the muezzin. Istanbul’s thrilling skyline, a glittering ribbon of palaces, mosques and minarets, forms the backdrop to a sybaritic rooftop restaurant and nightclub scene that easily rivals New York’s or London’s. Let's see, what other travel cliches can I insert: East versus West, the old versus the new, the traditional versus the modern; the blowing winds from the seven peaks of Anatolian Olympos merge into each other ... where Amazons cooled their bodies in the waves that break apart from the Black Sea and roll mightily against the shore ... Love is symbolized in the Tower of Leandros ...the rocks of Symplegad that brought nightmares to the Argonauts ... Built on seven hills ... Capital of three empires ... Where romance and traffic jams go hand in hand .. The exquisite Iznik tiles in the diminutive Rüstem Paşa mosque, tucked away on Hasırcılar Sokak, a grimy little alley west of the Spice Bazaar ... Istanbul has everything for the discerning tourist, including (but certainly not limited to) pleasure yachts, Bosphorus views, superclubs for the superrich, Russian assassins and completely wingnut Islamists, albeit three fewer of them these days.
If you're wondering who the wingnuts are, they turned out for the funeral of the three Chechens who were shot in broad daylight here in Istanbul the other day:
The funeral was attended by the families of the victims, Mr. Fetullah Erbas, a former Turkish MP from the Saadet Party, members of the Humanitarian Defense and Fraternity Association (IMKANDER), the Free Thought and Education Rights Association (OZGURDER), the Solidarity Association for Human Rights and Oppressed People (MAZLUMDER), the Human Rights and Freedoms Platform, the Free Jerusalem Platform, HAY-DER, MUSTAZAF-DER, as well as by Turkish citizens and Chechens.
Dozens of journalists covered the event, because another murder of Chechens aroused much public attention in Turkey.
The Istanbul authorities and the police provided full support for funeral arrangements.
After the Janaza prayer, the Muslims hoisted flags and raised posters of Dzhokhar Dudayev and other Chechen leaders, and lot of banners, and directly charged Putin with the murder of the Chechens.They periodically chanted takbirs (Allah-u Akbar: "Allah is almighty") and slogans. The most wide-spread slogans were "The assasins will be punished", "The puppet Kadyrov will be punished", "Our Martyrs are our honor", "Greetings to the Caucasus, continue with the resistance" and "Muslims wake up and support the Caucasus."
It is to be recalled that the three Chechens, Berg-Khazh Musayev, Rustam Altemirov and Zaurbek Amriyev (Martyrs, Insha'Allah), were killed last Friday at 03:30 pm.
All three were killed by a hitman with a silenced pistol after Friday prayers at a time when they wanted to get into their car, parked on the side of the road.
According to eyewitnesses, the killer was alone. He was waiting for them. Seizing the moment, the killer approached the Chechens from behind and fired at Rustam Altemirov and Zaurbek Amriyev.
Berg-Khazh Musayev managed to evade a third shot. The killer missed, but with the second shot he wounded Musayev and with the third, on the head, he killed him.
He then made control shots on the heads of Altemirov and Amriyev. After that, the killer got into a black car (Mercedes), which was waiting for him, and left. After driving for several blocks, he abandoned the car.
As it turned out, the car was rented in the name of a Russian citizen with Russian name and surname. Two more Russians were with him.
All things considered, I don't expect the Turks to start blustering that their relationship with Russia is "finished" until a "just solution" is found in Chechnya. Sorry, folks, it's just the way of the world. There's no point railing about the hypocrisy of it. These are just the facts of life.
Now, one of the enduring mysteries of the Mavi Marmara incident is that the Israelis claim to have been taken by surprise. If that's true, the story Israeli investigative journalists really need to be looking at is why. IMKANDER, OZGURDER, MAZLUMDER, HAY-DER, MUSTAZAF-DER--those may be new names for you, but they're household names here, and when you get a bunch of them on a sailboat to Gaza, you have to assume they mean to make trouble. It's beyond credulity that the Israelis didn't know that.
My own suspicion--and it is just a suspicion, I have no source for this--is that either the Israelis thought they had better intelligence cooperation with the Turks than they did, or that Turkish intelligence thought they had more control over these guys than they did. I'm guessing that prior to the departure of the ship, the Turks and the Israelis cut a deal: Let them sail, let them get it out of their system, they can have their fun. The Turks promised the Israelis they'd divert for Ashdod like the rest of the ships. You don't embarrass us, we don't embarrass you.
Something people need to understand is that the government can't really crack down all that hard on these groups: The AKP is built on a big-tent strategy; if a party to the right of them--a more Islamist party--gets off the ground, they could steal enough votes (or could have, at that point) to end the AKP's monopoly on power. Their strategy toward these groups is to try to co-opt them--we won't lock you up, like the others did, and in exchange you vote for us and keep a lid on the crazy stuff that makes Turkey look bad.
So I suspect the Israelis were promised that these guys knew their marching orders: Go, have a good time, take lots of photos, but don't let it get out of hand. Why did it get out of hand? That's the mystery, and many answers are plausible, but it probably comes down to an intelligence failure on either the Turkish side or the Israeli side. Either the Turks didn't have control over a group they thought they understood, or they did, and the Israelis didn't realize their Turkish contacts weren't trustworthy.
But don't let me leave you with the impression that they're all Islamist nutjobs. I frankly think there are more true nutjobs in London.
It's a story into which a great, fearless Turkish investigative journalist with good contacts could really sink his teeth, isn't it?
That's why this story is so important. No one is going to look into this story too deeply when those who look into this stuff get locked up.
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Aug '11
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
There has been some suggestion in Israel recently that it is the political layer that is the cause of most cock ups. In other words, the military supply all the warnings, and then the PM and Defense Minister either deliberately ignore them for political reasons, or take the wrong actions due to ineptitude. This is a tradition that goes back to the decision (by Moshe Dayan, no less) to ignore the (abundant) warnings of a pending Syrian and Egyptian attack in the lead up to the Yom Kippur War.
Mar '11
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
Claire, you make some very interesting points. I suppose that the answer is a combination of intelligence failures on both sides and some intentional misleading on the Turkish side.
Add to that the by-now typical and well-known bluster and idiocy of Barak in his handling of what Israeli military intel gives him (see jonorose's comment above), and you've got the Mavi Marmara incident. Arming commandos with paint-ball guns is something only Barak could order. This is, after all, the same man who gave us years of targeting empty buildings (with advance warning to the Palestinians, no less) after every terrorist atrocity from Gaza. He simply thinks he's a genius, and everyone else, including the top officers of the IDF, are idiots.
Aug '10
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
Heshmon: Claire, you make some very interesting points. I suppose that the answer is a combination of intelligence failures on both sides and some intentional misleading on the Turkish side.
Add to that the by-now typical and well-known bluster and idiocy of Barak in his handling of what Israeli military intel gives him (see jonorose's comment above), and you've got the Mavi Marmara incident. Arming commandos with paint-ball guns is something only Barak could order. This is, after all, the same man who gave us years of targeting empty buildings (with advance warning to the Palestinians, no less) after every terrorist atrocity from Gaza. He simply thinks he's a genius, and everyone else, including the top officers of the IDF, are idiots. · Sep 20 at 2:49am
So your Barak is as bad as our Barack?
Mar '11
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
Instugator
So your Barak is as bad as our Barack? · Sep 20 at 4:19am
Ooh, that's a tall order. I'd have to say no, it's difficult to be as completely vacuous and wrong-headed as Obama. Not to mention the enormous difference in the amounts of power wielded by the two.
May '10
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
Istanbul sounds very fascinating, with a lot of history. It sounds like it will continue to make history in the future.
Jun '10
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
Location, location, location. If they can't succeed where they're sitting, they're doing something wrong.
Aug '10
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
Heshmon
Ooh, that's a tall order. I'd have to say no, it's difficult to be as completely vacuous and wrong-headed as Obama. Not to mention the enormous difference in the amounts of power wielded by the two. · Sep 20 at 5:15am
LOL - Ours has been catapulted so far beyond his capability that not even the "Peter Principle" can explain it.
Aug '10
Re: A Quick Guide to Istanbul
Nice tourism piece seguing into killings. Istanbul sounds like the new Trieste. Or Baghdad ?
Edited on Sep 20, 2011 at 3:14pm