Istanbul protests

On Saturday I went over to Taksim Square to join in with the protests. I arrived around 6pm and just before I got there the protesters had managed to run the police out of the Square. I was astounded by how many people were there, I cannot estimate the number but it was thousands and thousands, the streets were literally heaving with people. The sense of unity amongst the protesters was overwhelming.

The square stayed peaceful and the police were not able to enter again. The streets were littered with the remains of police cars and vans as trophies of the success of the people against the police. This may have been the case in Taksim square but not in Beskitas, where the police used heavy handed tactics and gassed the protesters and used water canons.

Below is a selection of some of the images that I took on the day.

OCCUPYGEZI

As someone who for several years has been a part of the growing number of UK residents that have activley campaigned and protested for human rights all over the world I wondered if my campaigning days were over when I left the UK for Turkey. Well I have only been here for four months and I have already realised that this is far from the truth. I have began to slowly understand the politics of Turkey and what the ruling AKP party stands for.

So today I write this post as a resident of Istanbul, an outsider watching a series of events unfold. My activist's mind can see where this is all heading and what the end result will be. There seems to be a lot of discontentment with Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP party but recent events at Gezi park have shown how deep rooted this resentment really is.

For those of you that are not aware of the situation let me give you a brief run down on what has been happening over the last few days. Gezi park is one of the last remaining green areas in Istanbul, a city so over developed that not an inch of space is left undisturbed by some sort of development or symbol of capitalism. This small park just off Taksim square is the last remaining oasis of greenery that Taksim has to offer. It is a safe haven for mothers and their children, for office workers on their lunch breaks, for tourists seeking a respite from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets and for your average Istanbulite to find colour and nature in an otherwise overly industrialised area.

Yet Tayyip Erdogan has decided without any consultation to demolish this safe haven and to turn it into a new shopping mall, something that Istanbul clearly does not need or want, as the city is abundantly full of these hugh sprawling malls. He wants to bulldoze down the trees and replace them with designer shops and cafes, to feed into the consumer culture that is already eating away at the history and beauty of Istanbul.

This has become the final nail in the coffin for most people in Turkey fed up with the privatisation of Turkish resources and the totally toliterian  state Turkey has become in recent years. 

On May 27th things took a turn for the worst. People took to Gezi park to protest and occupy the park, to stand up for their human right of freedom of speech. The response by AKP and the police to this peaceful demonstration was a violent one, the protesters showed humility and restraint while the police showed agression and violence. Numerous activists, Journalists and even tourists and children were caught up in the ensuing violence, with one tourist in hospital with a brain hemmorage and a student undergoing surgery on his ears and genitalia after being attacked by the police as well as over 100 people injured.

As I write this I am watching a live stream of Taksim square and the surrounding area and I am totally shocked and disgusted by the extreme force being used by the police. Peaceful protesters are being attacked by over zealous police using tear gas and water canons, it is clear that Tayyip Erdogan does not want the voices of the everyday man and woman to be heard and that he will do all he can in his power to subdue and silence the voice of the people. what started as a protest about a park has become so much more, the park has become the symbol of the people and the freedom of expression.

http://www.dha.com.tr/canli-yayin/

This is the link for the live feed at the events in Taksim. It is reminiscent of scenes in many arab countries during the arab spring and leaves me pondering if this could possibly be the beginning of the end for the Tayyip Erdogan dictatorship. Maybe this is the spark that will unite the country to move away from the currents government's capitalist, pro Zionist, pro American stance and move onto something bigger and better. Inshallah all we can do is pray for the safety of those brave souls fighting for their beliefs and their right to have a voice. I will endevour to keep you up to date with this and ask for your Prayers and supports for my friends heading over there today. I feel whether you are pro government, anti government or just don't understand the situation the important thing to look at is the treatment of the activists at the hands of the police.  I hope once I am back in Istanbul to get over there myself and document what is happening.

I would like to leave you with a message from a friend's facebook wall and ask you to share both this and this blog post so that we can show the people of Turkey that they are not alone in the war against Tyranny and that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them in the fight against Capitalism, Imperialism and oppression. 

Viva La revolucion Comrades

As our friends overseas, we need your help. Send this message to everyone you know.

For the past few days, peaceful Turkish citizens have been protesting the demolition of Taksim Gezi Park, one of the few green areas left in the center of Istanbul. The plan by the Erdogan-run AKP government is to build a large shopping center instead, benefitting his own interests and filling his own pockets. Create awareness internationally about our plight, or matters are going to get much, much worse. We want all international media channels - social and mass - to report this news.

This has become a matter about more than just saving trees. This is an 'I can do whatever I damn well want', fascist mentality that not only supresses but attacks its own people.

To make matters worse, media channels are being censored so as not to display the news.

#direngeziparki is now the 2nd worldwide trending topic on Twitter.

Please help us to share this message and stop Erdogan's ruthless, inhumane acts.

What you can do:
- Forward this message to everyone you know
- Send your support messages through twitter with the #direngeziparki hashtag
- Tag @bbc @cnn @reuters and other large media channels in these posts
- Post this message on facebook
- Let your local and national media channels know

tear gas at Taksim square

Gezi park

Why Alicia why?

http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2013-05-29/open-letter-from-alice-walker-to-alicia-keys/http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2013-05-29/open-letter-from-alice-walker-to-alicia-keys/

http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2013-05-29/open-letter-from-alice-walker-to-alicia-keys/

Just saw this on Facebook and wanted to share this with you guys. I have been an avid fan of Alice Walker since reading the colour purple as a teenager, the book made me cry and my heart bled in sorrow for african americans, so who better to understand the mirror image now found in Israel. I love her open letter to Alicia keys, an artist who I have always loved but recently felt so disappointed in.
Please have a look.

Birthday celebrations.

It's been nearly four months since I moved to Istanbul and I have to say that I am really enjoying the experience. Don't get me wrong I have my off days where I feel so lonely and homesick, that sometimes I feel my eyes well up with tears that threaten to overflow and the lack of language skills make me feel like an Alien that has just landed on another planet that can't seem to communicate with the locals but on the whole I feel like I have made the right decision coming here and am enjoying myself.

To be honest I was kind of dreading my birthday coming up, I thought that it would highlight how much I had left behind and break the illusion that I had created of a wonderful new life. However to be honest it has actually shown me that there is a lot of love for me in Turkey. I started celebrating my birthday three days before the actual date and I still have one more celebration to complete lol.

I was totally stunned and overwhelmed with emotion to see that my students in Cerkezkoy where I teach 2.5 days a week went out of their way to mark my birthday. I was surprised by gifts of flowers and two birthday cakes as well as a birthday breakfast. I do not think my students realised how much their actions meant to me, but they nearly had me in tears. To know that you are loved and appreciated by your students is a beautiful thing, it makes teaching worth while and to celebrate with them was a very bonding experience.  

As well as the warm and heartfelt celebrations with my students I spent sunday visiting the Princes Islands, just a short ferry ride from Kadikoy with a group of friends. It was a relaxed day full of fun and laughter and a little pain as my nose got sunburnt, but hey that's life, you can't have it all. Then that evening I received my third birthday cake from my house mate Demet (I am on cake overload right now and my waist is showing it) 

Monday the actual day of my birthday I went out to dinner with my housemate Demet and my American home  girl Hali.... We absolutely adore a chain restaurant here called Midpoint and decided to check out the Taksim branch after hearing such rave reviews. Needless to say I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The view over the Brospherous was breath taking  and I have to admit if I ever manage to get a romantic date I am going back there with Mr dreamy ( a girl can wish can't she?) 

I managed to over stuff myself on the most mouth watering Fajitas that I have managed to find in Turkey so far and the guacamole was to die for. 

Now you would think after so many celebration that I would have had enough but oh no not me, I don't do anything by halves, I have another celebration on saturday, we are planning to head over to a Pakistani/Indian restaurant in Taksim where I can stuff myself with spices and curry until I am fit to burst. I am so excited about this, I just hope it lives up to the hype that I have created in my head. After, I will take my curry smelling over stuffed self to a nice bar/club to have a boogie if I can manage to move that is. 

So happy birthday to me, I won't reveal my age on here as apparently a woman never tells her age but I have to say I have throughly enjoyed myself and have a good feeling that this is going to be a wonderful year for me, maybe it is wishful thinking, maybe it is the truth who knows, part of the excitement is waiting to find out which one it will be. So good night my lovelies and I hope in all this madness I find time to write to you again soon xxx good night and sweet dreams. xxx

Level 2 students surprising me with cake and flowers

Birthday cake number 3

Me and Demet at Midpoint

Me and Hali at Midpoint

Ice cream madness

The Princes Islands

Oh how I love flowers

Level 5' s surprise breakfast

Birthday cake number 1

Birthday cake number 2

I

Response to positive comments

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments. It is such a lovely feeling to get such positive feedback from your readers. In regards to running a blog like this, it doesn't take much IT knowledge as the template are already there for you to choose from and you just add your posts. 

My problem is that I keep promising to update and I never do, I guess life just gets in the way, especially when you have just moved into a new country. My advice, don't try to imitate anyone else just be yourself and write about whatever interests you and what gives you enjoyment. You will always encounter people that are interested in what you have to say. So just be yourself and enjoy the feeling of expressing yourself

Love Anika

When saying goodbye is so hard.

One of the hardest things about teaching English in another country is how temporary everything seems to be. For me the decision to come to Istanbul was a permeant one, before coming here I had decided that I wanted to stay and try to create a new life here, however for many teachers it is either a gap year or part of their travels around the world.

So you have to keep it in your mind that you will get close to people and form a bond and that before you know it you have to say good bye. It hurts but it is one of the realities that you have to get used to. So today was one of those days.

In my last post I talked about my girl Brittany's birthday. Brittany I would say was defiantly a good friend, more like a little sister. I felt so protective over her and working and living together meant that we got pretty close. I always knew that Brit was only staying for 6 months and was leaving in July, however last week things changed. She told me her Father was ill and needed to have a serious operation and that she felt that she needed to go back to the States to be with him. Of course this is completely understandable but it still didn't change thefdact that it was so sudden.

For the next few days it didn't feel real and it only hit home this morning when I had to say goodbye, at the apartment door I gave her a massive hug and felt my eyes well up with tears, knowing I had to teach in a few minutes I tried to hold back the tears and be strong, however as I hugged her goodbye she thanked me for my friendship and began to cry, that was it next thing you know I am crying, I have never been good at goodbyes and this one was pretty emotional for me, I didn't realise until this point how much love I had for her. Walking out of the flat was so hard and hearing her crying as I walked away broke my heart.

Walking into class today was so hard, I didn't want to teach I felt so crappy but I had to pull myself together and get on with it, there is no time for personal emotions when teaching, however my students could see that I wasn't my normal bubbly self and I had to explain why I was so withdrawn, bless them they were so sweet about it. Coming home after class was hard, to see her bed empty and to read the message that she had written to me, made me cry all over again. I have to admit even as I write this I have tears rolling down my face. However I know that we have a friendship that spans land and sea and that she will be back to visit Inshallah one day.

I hope and pray for her that her father recovers and she is happy and successful in everything she does in life. I know that she would want me to be happy and not cry so, I will wipe back these tears and put on a happy face and get on with things. I just have to learn to accept that this is the world of the TEFL teacher, nothing is forever.

Well dear readers I have to admit writing always makes me feel better, as if I am purging my soul and releasing the emotions that I feel inside. I just hope my next post is not tinged with such sadness, I am sure I will be writing about something much happier as really I hate to be sad it is just not in my nature. So good night and we will speak again real soon xxx

Never take a Turk to eat Thai food

So saturday was my girl's Birthday over here in Istanbul. Brittany is from the States and is living with me in the apartment that the school has given us for three months. Now we ummmmed and ahhhed over what to do for her birthday and settled on a Thai restaurant in Taksim. Cok cok Thai. It might not sound like a big thing to you but over here in Istanbul non Turkish food is hard to find. Needless to say a few of us were rather excited to get our chops around some Thai food. In fact I was dreaming of Thai red curry for about 3 days prior to Saturday night's outing.

So off we went with our organised group of friends from all over the world. We had Brits, Americans, A French girl, A Syrian girl, a Kurd, a Brazilian and several Turks with us. The restaurant was beautifully decorated and the food was nice. Well actually it wasn't a patch on the Thai food you get in the UK but it was still good. However nothing had prepared us for our Turkish friend's reaction to Thai food, it was comical to say the least. They were not impressed one little bit and spent most of the night letting us know that Thai food isn't anything compared to Turkish food. Now don't get me wrong I love Turkish food but after Pakistani food south east Asian is my fave nibble and growing up in the Uk with it's vast array of foreign restaurants has trained my taste buds to be diverse and open minded.

I guess the lesson for me is that when I celebrate my birthday I better pick a Turkish restaurant or there may actually be a riot on my hands. Regardless of the malay over the food it was a good night and it is so important when you are away from home to celebrate one's birthday. It takes the edge off the homesickness a little. So here's to cok chok Thai. Oh and an added bonus I did manage to find out from the waiter where I could find Thai ingredients and the ever elusive Kish nish - Corriander...yaaaaaah now just to figure out where this address is lol

you can kinda see everyone lol

me and the bday girl xxx

Hey did you miss me?

So, it seems that I have been very neglectful of late. I have completely ignored my blog and my dear readers. Well I do kind of have a good excuse. I have been living and teaching in Istanbul for the last two months. This city has a habit of eating up your time and you just don't seem to get a minute to yourself. I hope that you can forgive me and to make it up to you I will be keeping you all updated with my adventures from now on. 

So what do I think of Istanbul so far? Well this is one crazy, mad busy city. I thought living in London was hectic, well I tell you now, you haven't seen anything....come to Istanbul then tell me that London is crazy. I swear this city never sleeps, it doesn't matter what time of night it is people are always around, the shops stay open until the early hours and rush hour traffic lasts all day and night. The city is one big, living, breathing organism, it is a place where time never stops. 

So far I have really enjoyed my time here. I feel like Turkey has embraced who I am and sometimes I feel that Turkey is a mirror of who I am, a little bit of East and a little bit of West. I actually feel at home here - apart from the fact that I am constantly acting like a mime artist as I can only speak a few words of badly pronounced Turkish. However I am getting there slowly and Inshallah one day may even be able to speak the lingo. Sometimes being of Pakistani origin can be a problem as most western countries view us as terrorist or Islamic militants and the constant references to Osama Bin Laden have gotten a little old, but Turkey is a country that opens it's arms to Pakistanis...as many people have said our countries are brothers ( I have always found it strange that some countries are seen as feminine and some as masculine - who decides this lol) Being here I feel at home and welcomed, as if my religion and my culture is not only accepted but loved. It makes up for always getting lost and struggling to communicate lol.

I have been fortunate to have met some amazing people and seen a lot of Istanbul's gems, however there is so much more to see. Knowing that I have only touched the tip of the iceberg of Istanbul and its beauties is a comforting thought. Knowing that I have so many adventures yet to have makes me excited and brightens up my days. 

I am not going to lie, on some days the homesickness really creeps in, like those horrible nightmares that keep you awake at night, I miss my friends and family so much and even miss the rain and miserable faces on the tube, but I console myself with the fact that I am having an adventure I am experiencing something new and that Love can carry itself across Oceans, I know that I have not been forgotten and that many people are out there routing for me to have a great time.

So on that note tonight my readers I am going to love you and leave you, but before I go I will post you up some Iphone pictures that I have taken of Istanbul for your delight and I will be back real soon with tales of my Turkish delights.

Goodnight and sweet dreams

The sea at Bekistas

Sunny day in Florya

Istanbul's traffic

Kadikoy

chilling in Izmit

Me and Hailie in Bekistas

Kadikoy- The tower in the sea