istanbullites

ISTANBULLITES

A Novel by BUKET UZUNER The summer of 2005. The city of loneliness and impossible romances. The Ataturk Airport. Belgin, Ayhan and all the others... A four-hour adventure that will leave none of them unchanged. The novel Istanbullites tells the story of how 15 people, who, whether they like it or not, are all connected to Istanbul by their heart, their work, the bread they win, their home and/or their identity, face life, themselves, a major unexpected threat and Istanbul itself at the International Terminal of the Ataturk Airport. Staged on the edge of modernity and the city, the novel where Istanbul itself is one of the narrator-characters presents a cross-section of the Istanbul of our century expanded by migration, and thereby of Turkey, in an environment where the lives of 15 Istanbullites, from a geneticist to a guest worker, from a taxi driver to a prominent sculptor, and from a toilet cleaner to the former Chairman of the Chamber of Architects, intersect. And naturally enough, the indispensable must of an Istanbul novel, love is at the heart of everything! Scientist and academic Belgin Gümüş (41) of Bebek, who had left Istanbul as she identified the city with a tragic event that changed her life 13 years ago and moved to New York City, falls in love with the famous Turkish sculptor Ayhan Pozaner (38) whom she meets there at the opening of an exhibition. Belgin, who is returning to Istanbul to start a new life with Ayhan, is pregnant and not sure she wants to bear the baby. Her love for Istanbul and Ayhan scares her as someone who has had her share of betrayals of all kinds. Born as the seventh child into a family making their living from cotton farming in Adana, the sculptor Ayhan Pozaner is known for repairing his sculptures at the Macka Park again and again because his work is found too obscene by some and is smashed frequently. He is one of the rare “Istanbullites” who have succeeded in making their “Istanbul dream” come true. A graduate of the Darüşafaka High School and the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, and a “self-educated” person in all aspects, Ayhan is head over heels in love with Belgin, who is older than him, and is a bourgeois girl culturally/class-wise different from him. However, he fears this love just like he fearfully admires Istanbul. Waiting on either sides of the customs control line under the roof of the same airport, Ayhan and Belgin are thinking of running away from Istanbul and from each other any moment – scared of love and Istanbul, uncertain, uneasy – their hearts on fire with yearning and guilt. In the meantime, at the international terminal it is ANNOUNCED that all flights are cancelled due to a digital problem. Everybody suspects that this ANNOUNCEMENT is related to a bomb warning and, triggered by the fear of death, starts to question their life. Toilet cleaner from the suburbs Hasret Sefertaş; chauvinist pass control officer Üzeyir Seferihisar; Istanbullite Kurd taxi driver Hamo Türk; Istanbullite secularist Jewish Duty Free Manager Jak Sarfati; liberal businessman returning from Moscow Mehmet Emin Entek; his young lover and assistant Tijen Derya; covered Aleynâ Gülsefer, leaving for a college in the United States because of the ban on headscarves at schools in Turkey; Istanbullite Levantine famous movie critic Anna Maria Vernier, going to a festival in Cannes; Istanbullite Armenian French teacher Ayda Seferyan, returning from visiting her daughter who is studying in France; Kemalist retired history teacher Ulviye Yeniçağ, coming back to Büyükada where she lives from visiting her daughter and grandchild living abroad; prominent architect and Istanbullite activist Erol Argunsoy, returning from Barcelona where he represented Turkey at a conference on architecture; his young partner airport bartender I. Baturcan Uzunçay; Istanbullite Greek ecologist at Bogazici University Prof. Yannis Seferis, leaving to visit his relatives that have moved to Athens; Istanbullite tourism professional Susan Constance, departing to visit her family in San Francisco; Alawite worker Sabriye Bektaş, coming for her holidays from Berlin; and former handmaid Istanbullite Kete, Belgin’s nurse and confidant who comes to meet her at the airport… And the one that watches all and recounts it to us is the city of empires, molded by Pagan, Christian and Moslem cultures, toughened and noble; the only female that has fended off menopause for 2700 years; a ravishing beauty, the queen of all cities – Istanbul in the flesh. Translated by: Bahar Yıldırım Çotur