Photos

A photo with a story, and not so optimistic but I'd like to tell it nonetheless : I met Birol’s wife (let’s call her Gönül, a common name for women of that age there) at Sulukule. She did not allow me to take her in photos (forbidden by the men of her family she told me) but wanted me to photography the tatoo on her chest…

She is a woman in her early 30s with hair died in blond and both her forearms have plenty of scars strangely neatly alligned, apparently self-inflicted wounds made the same day like sorts of wierd decorations, this shows a lot of suffering in her life. She has 2 young children, about 4 and 2 years old : could not ask how Birol could possibly have fathered the kids as he is serving a jail sentence far away, in çanakkale, with 5 more years to go…

(Other women too in that neighbourhood have their husbands in jail and some sell souvenirs made in glass beads, something that is done in other areas in Turkish jails as well...)
She is a neighbour of the family who (being evicted like all the others), had chosen to move that day ; she too will have to leave within one year and the whole Roma population will eventually be scattered in various parts of Istanbul (NB : it is interesting to note that this was the first Roma settlement in the world : they had settled there since almost 1000 years during the Byzantine era and before the Turks moved in Constantinople).
WS : colour version and
another photo from the house removal showing much sorrow.

... As I am not disciplined enough to make a proper "travelogue" with photos in neat succession but as I still have a lot to tell about my experience there, I'll type a text telling about my impressions as it could be useful to other travellers :
First, I entered into a small café in poor condition - the place where only tea is served and where only men are spending long hours : all, very friendly and respectful, happy to talk to a foreigner and offering quantities of free teas for the pleasure of the conversation and of being taken in photos ;

Then, I spotted some children and tried to take decent photos of them in the ruins and with the ancient walls in the BG ;

A nearby family was busy with house removal and it was not easy to understand who was related with who, many neighbours, friends, "akrabas" = family were around there too.

But in the same time, when I was taking photos of mostly young children, I was challenged by older ones (not more than 12 or 13 years old, though), 2 of them hit me repeatedly on my back precisely when I was pressing the shutter, to test me, see my reaction (even, collecting stones probably meant to be thrown at me = I sensed that the situation could become dangerous) : first, I laughed but they definitely wanted to upset me, carried on the same way so in the end, and in the presence of a passing man, I said that it was a shame to treat foreign visitors that way, that in Turkey in general everyone was welcoming and that they'd better leave me alone or I'd deal with them and give them some severe "ceza" (correction) - ... well, this was said very loud but not too seriously - I did not think of it any more as the man chased the eldest of the 2 boys...

But about 10 minutes later, in front of the family busy with transporting furniture with whom I was talking, the same man reappeared with one of the screaming offending boy and the way he beated him in public was absolutely disgusting - an adult (and not the father) throwing the child on the ground and hitting him repeatedly with his foot : I succeeded in reasoning him but not before the child was badly beaten and humiliated : that's how young adults grow angry IMO...

Apart from that unpleasant experience, nothing dangerous happened to me ; still, one has to be weary of thieves (leaving the area, I suddenly became aware of a youngster who was following me, moved backward and he was doing the same, then entered in a shop and talked a bit to the shop keeper : he was still waiting for me, so I stayed longer inside another shop and was helped by every one)...

Saw drug trafficking happening in front of me in the open but pretended not to see it (and this, I dared not photographying although the dealers did not seem very threatening to me) ;

Saw also other kinds of misery, - but also, plenty of children enjoying the holidays and other women seeming happy with their lives and ready to joke with me, even sing for me !...