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Istanbul
 There is a Sufi Islamic saying "Freedom is the lack of choice."
If that is true, there is no freedom in Istanbul. For, in a city that has been the capital of three empires, straddles two continents, and is home to over thirteen million people, the choice of places to go, bargains to buy and Turkish Delight to nibble is overwhelming.
In the days of the Ottoman Empire, the most handsome and athletic youths were rounded up from the Balkans and Greece and sent to work on Anatolian farms to develop their muscles. They were then selected forservice in the Sultan's Palace in the Empire's capital.
Many were taken to war - to fight, but also to satisfy the sexual needs of the soldiers. For in Ottoman culture, love between men and boys was common and accepted in society. Various Sultans had famous love affairs with boys. As Jason Goodwin mentions in his history of the Ottoman Empire, "Lords of the Horizons", one Sultan was so enraged when one of his subjects refused to sacrifice his son to the Sultan's lust, that the father "was put to the sword with his entire family."
Modern Turkey has dispensed with power-hungry, flamboyant Sultans and strives to be a progressive and secular society. Istanbul, its largest city, is steeped in ancient and modern; in Asian, European, Middle Eastern and global cultures.
While there are signs of a fundamentalist backlash to Turkey's secular society (there are reports of resorts starting to cater for local fundamentalist Muslims - no alcohol and separate swimming pools for men and women) Istanbul must be the only city in a predominantly Muslim country with a legal and fairly throbbing gay scene?
Contemporary 'gay' culture is a blend of the era and places that form modern Turkey.
There are gay restaurants with live Turkish music and stocky, moustachioed men eating meze, intimate night clubs playing a mix of fasil and garage, cruisy parks where street vendors wheel carts piled high with sesame covered bread rings, and Turkish baths where the attending 'tellaks' offer personal services after a vigorous soapy massage on the warm marble. A long-standing tradition apparently. "There is a book in the Ottoman archives called "Dellakname-i Dilkusa" (The record of tellaks). It tells about the most famous tellaks of Istanbul. The way they serve their customers, their price, how many times they can make you reach orgasm, the rate of their beauty and many more details are mentioned in this book" says a web page on Islam and homosexuality written by an Istanbul gay group. Don't expect such delights in modern-day hamams though.
I went to Istanbul in Spring and, after a few nights of unexpected cold Turkey, things soon warmed up.
It all started with a cruise. On a ship. There I was planning a quiet day out to the Prince's Islands, a couple of hours' gentle chugging down the Bosphorus, away from the crowds and noise of Istanbul, when I discover that every other gay tourist in town has had the same idea.
Before long there was a little party of seven - two dishy Spaniards, three French men an Austrian and me. There was a shaved-head, leather-man on board too, but he seemed to avoid us.
We formed a jolly gang and had true Blytonesque adventures on the island of Buyukadu - where huge, fabulous holiday villas line peaceful streets on which only horse-drawn carriages and bicycles are allowed. We wandered the island, with varying intentions, and were soon lost among gnarled pine-trees with one apple, a packet of cardamom pods ("good for fresh breath" said one of the French) and some seeds of lust between us.
Two elderly Turks came to our rescue and showed us a steep rocky path through flowery olive groves to the sea-shore. The water was mind-numbingly cold but we stripped off, dived in and lay lizard-like on the sun-baked rocks to dry afterwards.
A horse and carriage ride back to the port and a sea-front, sun-set meal of Turkish mezes - stuffed peppers, spicy shrimps, bean pate with dill - followed by grilled sea-bream, all washed down with Raki - an aniseed spirit, sealed our day's friendship.
Making friends is easy in Istanbul. As well as other tourists, Istanbullus are mostly a welcoming lot.
I met Sonbear a member of the Turkish Bears group - an informal group of friends. "Not necessarily hairy, just not feminine", explained bearded
Sonbear, a doctor, and, luckily for me, fluent in English.
The bears caused some controversy in April when it was revealed they intended to have an outing to the 'oil wrestling' - a traditional Turkish sport which has an annual championship in Edirne, near Istanbul, every July. The wrestlers were especially angry about a homoerotic cartoon of oil wrestling on the Bears' website. "What was really funny was that they announced in the papers that a famous transvestite singer is a bear" grinned
Sonbear. The wrestlers told the Bears they were not welcome. Some of the Bears were still intending to go and there was talk of turning it into a small gay rights demonstration.
For Istanbullus do not like to take no for an answer.
Shoeshine boys will pursue you half a mile down the road offering to shine trainers. I'm sure they'd even offer to shine flip-flops. The place is buzzing with street commerce - men pushing carts of 'simit' - sesame covered bread rings, or sacks of nuts, others roasting corn on the cob, boys touting packs of tissues, others carrying trays of black tea in small glasses.
Street vending provides some surreal scenes at times: the boy pushing a cart with generator, photocopier and laminating machine or the fortune-telling rabbits.
For a small donation to its owner, a rabbit plucked a fortune from a tray. With a little stroke under the chin from its dark-eyed, stubbly owner, the bunny lazily nibbled the nearest tightly-rolled fortune. I wasn't convinced by its soothsaying skills. But I was pleased "Your love is waiting for you" translated
Sonbear, "he wants you tonight, he will never let you down." Convenient that Turkish language has no genders.
And with that, I thought I'd go and visit the rest of my pan-European tourist troupe - especially the two dishy Spanish men, and suggest a night on the town.
The Turkish gay scene, as in most places, has its many niches - wealthy, educated and classy 'A gays' in tight white t-shirts and DKNY jeans go to clubs with names like Prive, Barbahce and Neo - they are small and intimate and a few bottles of Bud later you will forget which country you're in.
Most of the clubs, and the gay early evening hang-out of Borsa cafe, are around the Taksim Square area, but there is one very Turkish restaurant and bar that is a taxi ride away: Degirmen is where older, mostly macho, men in sombre colours sit listening to live traditional Turkish music. At first, when I was taken there by my gay tour guide, Bedri Adnan Koc, I found it hard to believe it was a gay bar. Everyone looked so straight, and indeed, Bedri told me that most of
the men were probably married. But after a while I noticed a few tell-tale signs. A pinch on the bottom being one. The belly dancing men being the other.
Back around Taksim, clubs such as 'Clup 99' and 'Sahra' are a fun blend of traditional and modern in music and clientele with enough shell-suits, arylic and polyester to keep the atmosphere highly charged. Sometimes in more ways than one. "Oooh, we're not going zere, eet is orrible, zere was a fight when we went" said one of the French. But I liked Sahra especially and there was no fighting the two nights I went. Just fun and diversity. "They're not lesbians" Bedri advised me "they're travesty." As in Borsa cafe, there were several professional sex workers, unashamed in coming forward about how much sex would cost (US$50). In a country where a day's menial work would earn about £5 but a beer costs £1 it's an option many consider. Hans Bar is a good compromise between the extremes: occasional bursts of 'fasol' music but mostly global dance. UV lights and lots of white t-shirts and a distinctly spicy flavour.
Despite being Eurovision night, our ensemble shimmied its way through the various venues and a good time was had by all.
As well as a fun commercial scene, Istanbul has an active gay organisation promoting gay rights (and writing interesting web pages): Istanbul Lambda has about three hundred followers.
"Technically homosexuality isn't illegal but police pick on transexuals and transvestites and 'collect' them from the streets. They end up in cells for up to five days and are then released" said Lambda spokesman Bora. Lambda send out press releases to spread the news about such abuses and hope that one day they will be able to organise a public 'gay pride' event. One was planned in 1993 but due to pressure from Islamic fundamentalists the authorities cancelled it, forcibly deported 28 foreign delegates and put one of the organisers in prison.
"On 30 June this year we're hoping to host the first Istanbul Pride since '93. We want to organise a party in all the 12 gay bars in town" said Bora "but definitely sometime in the future we want to try and have another march."
If you don't make it to the 30 June festivities, in September or October this year Lambda are organizing the annual event of 'Guztanbul' - a season of gay boat trips, picnics and dinners.
The autumn's a good time to visit Istanbul - the weather is pleasant rather than summer's sometimes overbearing heat. Carrying your bags of bargains - leather jackets, copies of Prada bags, carpets, honey and spices sold as 'Turkish viagra' -won't be quite so tiring. That's if you've even had time to spend your hard-earned cash. Perhaps, like me, you will have met so many people and had such an interesting and sociable time, that you will self-righteously appreciate another Sufi saying:
"Knowledge is better than wealth. You have to look after wealth; knowledge looks after you."
Paul Miles
Gay Times, August 2000
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