Two Istanbul

The city at the Bosphorus wants to Europe - but chooses Islamists

Before the trip to Istanbul, my ideas about him were quite amateurish. I knew that Istanbul is the largest economic and historical center of the Muslim, but emphasized by a secular country that seeks to join the European Union and promises to follow the principles of European democracy. That this city is a window of fruitful economic cooperation of the East with the West.

On the other hand, I guessed that all this was only one side of the medal and that the Islamic Party of Justice and Development that won the last parliamentary elections in Istanbul received a greater percentage of votes than the national average.

Dialogue of civilizations, the city greeted me with a variegated bright advertising, loud oriental music from machines and azan with a draft scream, distributed from mosque minarets. The sound mishmash was completely in harmony with the visual near the evening Istanbul. Restaurants and bars from which the sounds of loud love suffering of the popular singer Tarkan are coming together with the patriarchal Nargil of the cafe, where solid men slowly play backgammon.

The reverence of the Turks is striking in front of the monuments of the Ottoman Empire. My interested and long examination of the Blue Mosque - one of the largest in Istanbul caused a genuine delight among ministers. “Thank you, thank you very much,” one of them said. "For what?" I asked perplexedly. “For respect for our traditions,” he answered significantly and gloomily at the group of Japanese tourists who completely ignored the ban on photography.

Overcoming the cold wind from the Black Sea, I moved to the former residence of the Ottoman sultans - the Topkapi palace. And here he fully appreciated why the aforementioned minister of the mosque was so gloomy. In one of the pavilions of the palace, where the relics sacred for each Muslim-the tooth and hair of the prophet are exhibited, his first letter, the weapons of the first caliphs and so on, foreign tourists laughed loudly, and young couples even went hugging, causing some evil trembling among traditionally dressed Pakistanis visitors. Here I heard a characteristic conversation. The full English -speaking lady, after listening to the story of her dark -faced guide about the features of Islam and about the blows exhibited, exclaimed with a sweet smile: “God, how much we have in common!” The guide shuddered a little and shrugged perplexedly. That's truly the dialogue of civilizations.

Progressive people avoiding the annoying attention of boys with postcards, badges and other rubbish, I decided to go away from the volume of priority tourist attention and went into the depths of the city. In one of the first mosques, located in the old quarter in a rebuilt Byzantine church, I met people completely friendly. The imam skillfully operating with a dozen English words conducted an excursion for me, unobtrusively avoiding answers to my questions about the Byzantine history of the temple and concentrating on detailed comments on the pedigree of Muhammad. Such a direct manner of silence about the Byzantine past of Istanbul is generally somehow accepted from the Turks. You ask, for example, when a building is built, and you, smiling sweetly, offer you to pay attention to how elegant Arabes are decorating a prayer-michel.

Meanwhile, the hour of prayer came, and the local community - successful cheerful men and Europeanly dressed women - gradually began to tighten to the fountain for washing in the courtyard of the mosque. In front of the entrance, women tied the silk Ite with a slightly flirty gesture on the head of the hijab, Liang's silk shawls were clearly not abused here. It was very interesting to take a closer look at the gathers. The parish of almost every mosque is something like a political circle. In this case, the parishioners were clearly persistent followers of Mr. Ataturk. The propaganda posters of the times of the father of the Turks were full of here and there. The cozy kindergarten of the mosque was hung with cards, on which the good third of the former Soviet from Yuza was painted in pleasant eyes of the eastern man. Taking a closer look, I found out that the “Great Turkic State” included not only Tatarstan with Bashkiria, but even Yakutia. Next to the posters was propaganda literature: and countless surveys about Turkic history, where the arguments of the authors were reduced to the slogan “Turks of all countries, unite into great Turkey!”, And the weighty works that substantiate the need for the annexation of Cyprus, and the countless biographies of the Father of Turkish reforms.

After prayer, I was awarded the invitation to drink a seagull and smoke a hookah with local old -timers. Hoam had a slow conversation. They started from the weather, and soon smoothly moved to Hajj, who soon gathered to perform some of those present. Having found out that the meaning of pilgrimage to Mecca I understand, the interlocutors, softenedly savoring smoke, began to scold the Saudi royal family: they say, they themselves first warmed the snake of world terrorism on their chests, and now they are trying to impose their own rules to others: “They believe that they are sitting on oil, it means that they have a monopoly on the truth. Not so long ago we already had a problem because of them. Several imams, including here, in Istanbul, received money from the Saudis, and then they ask us: why are there so many radicals in the country? And we do not need their Islam. We are not Arabs, we are Turks. The same thing with Iran. Everyone is trying to teach us something, and we ourselves we will teach. We have our own Islam and our ideas, let them clean the shaitan and leave us alone, ”the gray -haired gentleman was burning in an expensive suit with an ataturk icon on the lapel of the jacket. Sitting nearby nodded through the smoke of the hookah.

"But what about jihad?" - I asked and stumbled ... Lovely smiles disappeared from the faces of others. Further conversation did not work out immediately. Later I realized that the nationalist interpretation of Islam, which my interlocutors adhered to, implies a silence in this matter. Not that this concept is not there, but it is not recommended to remember it. “Now in the country there are many hot in battle. Here are these elections with us ... unsuccessful, - one of the parishioners explained to me. “But we are progressive people.” At these words, for some reason, he looked at the portrait of Ataturk and Yakutia painted green and continued: “If it weren’t for Iraq, maybe everything would have turned out differently. How can we convince ordinary people, what do we need to Europe if our allies are going to bomb the faithful? They don’t understand anything there at all? Yes, if it goes so, even the army will not save the country from Erdogans. ”

Later, talking in Istanbul with different people, sometimes listening to the statements sharply contradicting each other on political and religious topics, I was convinced that all the one converge in one thing: the war against Iraq is a war against the brothers by faith. The concept of Ummah (the unified world Musk of the mansky community) here is still vividly and sacred to many. Numerous demonstrations that swept in December in the country, where American and British flags were burned, is a very disturbing fact: the West could not imagine a war as a directed exclusively against the dictatorship of Saddam, and this is obvious to almost everyone with whom I had a chance to communicate.

Hearing about the beauty of the mosque, which, according to the plan of the conqueror of Constantinople Sultan Mehmed, was supposed to surpass the temple of St. Sophia, I went to Fatih - one of the most orthodox regions of the city. It was such city quarters as Fatikh that ensured the emergency party of justice and development a brilliant result in the parliamentary elections. Wandering along the streets of this area, you fully realize that Istanbul for many centuries was the capital of the Caliphate - the World Muslim Spiritual Empire. Women on the streets are almost everything in hijabs or under the veil. The number of bearded men in white hats for prayer is much higher than the average in the city. A couple of Italian tourists who walked ahead of me in frivolous tight leather pants, under fire of unfriendly glances, was quickly retreated.

On the street, you involuntarily draw attention to the fact that the variegated flickering of posters with the faces of politicians is replaced by a non -alternative mustachioed Erdogan, which is clearly here in Favor. Finally, the number of people who can explain, at least with signs, how to go in the direction I needed, was catastrophically few. However, I still found the mosque. The first thing that struck, unusual for a weekday, many people both in the mosque and around it. Against the background of the half -desert streets of Fatikha, it looked especially strange.

I did not have time to look around, as he had already become an object of universal attention. Some active old woman began to narrow circles around me, persistently offering me religious literature, as well as for some reason money for food. After my attempt to explain that I was Russian, the old woman began to attack me with such a heat that the most importantly attracted noise began to gather. I shook-Pozdorov hastened away from the courtyard of the mosque, but at the exit I ran into a young man who turned out to be a compatriot from Dagestan. "What are you doing here?" he asked not too kindly. “Inte

Resno, ”I answered. “If interested, go to another place. You have nothing to do here. ” Leaving the unfriendly mosque, I thought that I was difficult to imagine a picture of a joint smoking of a hookah with local parishioners.

However, this small adventure did not spoil the general pleasant impression from the city. Immediately, in Fatikha, having fun, I went to the cafe. It was tasty and cheap, and the owner of the institution was quite tolerable in English. For my very streamlined review about visiting the quarter and mosque, he penetratively said: “You see, Türkiye, Inlal, finally began to return to its traditions. And Fatih is just the place where they have never forgotten. ”

Haram and the EU are tired of conservative quarters, I decided to get acquainted with the joys of the night life of Istanbul. The latest Western music sounded from the columns of a fashionable cafe. Young Turkish couples, boldly hugging behind the waist, flanified the truth of the city’s very European Street. True, there were quite strange people in this landscape. Two young girls from the province in hijabs, but with slightly painted lips, looked fascinated around the sides of their eyes that were slightly clouding from the sinful spectacle.

Seduced by the poster who promised the right music, I went into one of the nearby technical clubs. The difference from Moscow fashion places only in the vast majority of brunettes among the public. However, it turned out that there are other differences. Looking around, I sat down to the noisy table of the "advanced" Turkish youth. Local beauties in fashionable sneakers and only slightly covering the knees of skirts looked extremely attractive. After acquaintance, already tuned in in a romantic way, he offered a cocktail to a neighbor. “I can’t,” she answered, wrinkling her lobby. - I'm a Muslim. And what will they think of me: he drinks with some foreigner .... Here are my friends. ” A repeated attempt on another local BA of the Ringer was suppressed with similar determination.

Such a state of affairs is quite typical even in the circle of fashionable, quite “European” youth. The student at the university bar was quite frank. “You see,” she whispered confidentially, “so I came from Ephesus.” The bartender of this institution will tell someone that you and I, for example, left the bar together. They will learn about this at the university. And there it will reach relatives. And this is "haram", sin. Understand?" “Do not be upset,” a strangled young man named Murat consoled me (I must say that, unlike girls, local young people come off in the full program. European and American tourists used frantic popularity in the club). - You thought that since we will join the European Union soon, so, then, they themselves have already become Europeans? No - I want to play in Amsterdam on the street on the street on the street, and the rest from Europe are expected only money. And no one is going to redo yourself here. ”

One Moscow colleague asked me to convey a chocolate set to the Turkish friend, warning that he was “somewhat religious”. I was able to see the bearded native of Fatiha with the Qur'an under his arm, but in the lobby of the hotel a smiling young man of about 30 years old in a fashionable sports jacket and Italian moccasins, as befits a graduate student of the Economy of the University of Istanbul.

However, literally after a couple of ALIA on -duty greetings, suddenly enclosed me with a question: "Do you believe in God?" I hesitated. And he, chopping air with his hands, began: “Türkiye is changing for the better. People have become closer to Allah. Not so long ago, the mosques even on Friday were half empty. Now is another matter. " There was nothing to object, so I was silent. Ali continued to broadcast: “There are laws that Allah gave us, the laws of Sharia, but there is (here he lowered his voice a little, realizing the courage of the following words) the laws that Ataturk gave us. The question is, what is more important? For myself, I solved this question 10 years ago. Since then I have not been drinking alcohol, I go to the mosque and vote for the right people. ” What kind of right people, I did not need to explain to me - and so everything is clear.

"Well, what about the European Union?" I asked. “I don’t need him, cut off a graduate student, but if it turns out, we will explode the EU from the inside. It must be clearly divided: there is in the world of the country where they believe in God, and there is a field of war ”(literally Dar al-Harb, so called non-Muslim countries.-“ magazine ”). I dumbfounded: "Ali, what are you calling for war?" Ali was not embarrassed: "No, why war, you can do everything in the world .... -“It's a quiet way?”> “(“ You will see, ”he answered, and somehow smiled very unkindly. However, having received a gift chocolate set, Ali shone and hugged me with gratitude. He loved sweets very much.