Heads of Network Meeting Istanbul December 2023 - an Irish perspective by grassroots member Peadar King
Peadar King is a long-standing member of the Irish ALF Network. He is a journalist, documentary maker and is the producer and presenter of the RTÉ global affairs series, ‘What In The World’.
Peadar travelled to Istanbul last month on behalf of the Irish ALF Network. He has a pending report on his time in Istanbul for RTÉ global affairs series, ‘What In The World’ next month.
Read an excerpt from Peadar's experience:
Fanning out from Taksim Square in the European quarter of Istanbul, a city that straddles many worlds, is a dense network of side streets and the 1.5-kilometre Istiklal Caddes also known as “independence caddesi or avenue, its signature pedestrian boulevard. Here, the garish lighting from shopping chains that mark contemporary cities across the western world mask the beauty of 19th century buildings. Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, Starbucks. They're all here. Off the boulevard, the more alluring side streets are filled with bars, antique shops and rooftop restaurants with views over the Bosporus. The square itself encapsulates centuries of Turkish history. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and the Turkish war of independence in 1923 construction began of The Republic Monument to commemorate the foundation of the Turkish Republic, the end of the Ottoman monarchy and the Islamic caliphate.
At least that is how it seemed at 7.30 in the evening as we made our way to one of the many restaurants off Istikal Caddesi. People strolling along. All ages of people. People at their leisure. Working people too. Coming and going.
Inside the restaurant, men served tables. This was an all-male domain. Conversation verged as is often the case from the ridiculous to the sublime. The most recognised name of any given country. For Ireland, James Joyce was the outright winner with Oscar Wilde a distant second. He is Irish, one person queried. Regrettably, I could not name one person from Estonia. Latvia, another blank. Lithuania, likewise. Sibelius from Finland I ventured. We may share common membership of the European Union but of these people and their countries, I know very little, I thought.
After dinner and back onto Istikal Caddes. It’s just after 10 and the tenor of the street has changed. So too has the demographics. Mostly but not exclusively young people. The alcohol free café bars are teeming. We gather around glasses of Turkish tea. This time I’m in the company of a Luxembourger and a woman from Kazakhstan, now living in Rome and representing Italy at the conference. He has hiked in the Almaty mountains. In the snow. She is impressed. Talk turns to politics, relations with Russia and the collapse of the Soviet Union. To this day she tells us, her grandmother yearns for the safety and security of the old Soviet Union.
We roam from one café to another to a bar meeting up with some of the thirty plus delegates that make up our conference. Suddenly, it's 3am. Time to head for our temporary home. Istikal Caddes has been transformed. Now the street belongs to the poor of Istanbul, Children hawking coffee and single roses. Well wrapped babies held close to their mothers’ chests. Adults hawking other goods too. It’s as if the street has been given a new life. A very different life.
