Estambul

Istanbul was the center of Western Civilization for hundreds of years, the center of the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, and is today a beautiful waterside city of nearly 15 million energetic people.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, "religion in Istanbul" would have covered a diverse spectrum of belief systems. Christianity, for example, was as popular as any other creed, albeit subject to official discrimination. In building modern Turkey, the government went to extraordinary lengths to "Turkify" the country. The Greeks, Armenians, and Jews who were once common on the streets of Istanbul have been replaced with a flood of immigrants from other parts of Turkey. For the tourist, the practical effect of this change is that photographing religion in Istanbul means photographing Islam.

Turkey is home to over 2.75 million Syrian refugees, around 3.5 per cent of the population. When the influx began in 2011, Ankara assumed a smaller number and shorter timeframe, but with the war showing no signs of abating and Europe’s migration policies in disarray, it is a reality that looks set to stay or expand. Emergency responses have meant fitful policies and convoluted rhetoric. For the refugees, challenges include learning the language, finding meaningful jobs, housing and education, vulnerability to exploitation and navigating an unfamiliar, complicated bureaucracy. This is so far...

The low numbers the European Union (EU) is willing to accept make Turkish authorities unwilling to engage on refugee rights and give Ankara a sense of occupying the moral high ground in face of EU requests on issues such as the rule of law agenda. It is a dynamic from which all stand to lose.In the meantime, despite the usual chaos in a city like Istanbul with  15 M habitants and the important influence from the  refugees,  life still goes on...

The Turkish Bath. "The local concept"

Most of the Turks with whom you speak will probably react with horror when you express interest in going to a Turkish Bath (hamam): "You'll come out dirtier than when you went in"; "They are for poor travelers to the city"; "A Turkish guy will scrub you raw"; "Anyone with money who wants a Turkish bath has one built in his house." None had been to a public hamam at any time during their lives (ranging from 40 to 80 years old). Be aware...