The first church I visited was the Franciscan Catholic Church of St. Mary Draperis. The church building dates to 1769 and its interior decor to 1874. It is colorfully painted with multiple statues of the Virgin and Jesus. The pink marble altar dominates the relatively small and low interior. Above the altar is an icon of the Virgin said to have miraculous properties. The icon was a donation to the first church of St. Mary, built in 1584. Overall, the statues and icons combined with the dimly lit interior gave the church a very old-school feel.
The second church, St. Anthony of Padua, is also Catholic but in many ways the opposite of St. Mary's. It has a huge Gothic vaulted interior and a sky-blue ceiling. It gives the visitor the impression of being in ancient forest grove.
The next church was built to serve a local Christian population, the Armenians. Now reduced to a small remnant of their former population, the church seems to be largely forgotten. I was let in by an elderly Armenian who seemed to be happy but confused about my visit. Like the exterior, the interior of the church seemed to be an elegant study in black and white, very different from its Catholic counterparts.
The last church also served a formerly large community of local Christians, the Greeks. Anti Greek riots throughout the course of the 20th century have forced all but a few thousand to emigrate. This Greek Orthodox Church, called the Church of the Panaghia, seemed to be undergoing renovation and unfortunately locked.
All of these churches sit in little courtyards away from the street. According to Ottoman laws, minority places of worship could not sit directly on the street. Today, they are calm but lonely oasis from the surrounding crowds and shops.
Yesterday was election day here in Turkey. There was thankfully no more violence and the election was run freely and openly. Unsurprisingly, votes for the currently ruling Justice and Developement (AK) Party far surpassed those for any of its rivals. However, it only took about 50% of the seats in Parliament, far less than the supermajority it was hoping for. With a supermajority, the party would have been able to go through with its plans to create a new constitution without involving other parties. After the election results came in Prime Minister Erdogan did not backtrack on his plans for constitutional revision, but instead acknowledged that he would and could compromise with other parties in order to gain the supporters he needs. Turkey's current constitution certainly needs revision. Created by generals after the last full-on coup in 1983, it is somewhat authoritarian, discriminatory toward minorities and, as I have mentioned previously, restrictive toward free speech. However, it is also probably for the best that the AKP will be forced to make compromises with other parties in order to bring about the needed reform. The AKP may be massively popular, but they still at most only represent the point of view 50% of the population. A new constitution based on a single point of view could and would be just as flawed as the current one.
Political involvement is enthusiastic and wide spread here. 87% of voters cast their ballots yesterday, a number that puts to shame even the most hotly contested American elections. The Kurdish rights party, the BDP, had significant success with the independent candidates they backed. The party had a victory rally here in Kadikoy last night, but unfortunately the darkness and constant movement of the supporters prevented me from getting a clear picture.
Kadikoy seems to be a popular staging point for rallies for political groups across the political spectrum. When I came home from class and touring today I saw this near the ferry dock.
A good old fashioned communist rally complete with banners with pictures of Chairman Mao and another unidentified (possibly Turkish ?) figure.
I haven't had a picture of a sokak kedi here in a few days, so here's a two-for-one. Sokak kedis discover that books can also double as beds.
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