Wow, what evening yesterday! The place was truly legendary, with some memorable pictures hung on the walls, photos of revolutions of '900 in every corner of the planet. People were motivated and affectionate. And couldn't miss in the repertoire of Bandista a version of "O bella ciao" and they surprised me (as usual) asking me to go up on the stage and sing the verses in Italian.
The concert was over around midnight and then we continued up to 3 to dance on a repertoire several times tested, as the dj was Ceyhun. It seems that our favourite group is the Bratsch, right?
The concert was over around midnight and then we continued up to 3 to dance on a repertoire several times tested, as the dj was Ceyhun. It seems that our favourite group is the Bratsch, right?
Around 5 we went to the house of Gökçesu who had preceded us at home. She had offered to host at least 7 people among the group from Istanbul. However, once in front of the house, the phone line seemed hopelessly unavailable (or she was asleep). After nearly half an hour of attempts, passed on the street in the cold (Ankara is at 850 meters over the sea level!), came a guy with a motorbike (at 5.30 am) and said: "You are the Bandista?": a miracle! He was the fellow of Gökçesu and luckily he could open the door. We even slept 3 hours this morning and we took a bus back to Istanbul at 10 am (900 km in 2 days).
Unfortunately I could not see almost nothing in Ankara, but I seemed to find confirmation about what I knew already, that is a very polluted city with a building expansion in recent times starting from 1923 when it became the capital of Turkey (but are only 4 million inhabitants, compared to 14 million of Istanbul). Even now the suburbs construction sites proliferate and devour a countryside deserted and barren. Some neighborhoods there not far from the town, perhaps behind a hill, seem cathedrals in the desert, in the true sense of the words: I have seen a kind of futuristic mosque in the midst of barren hills. And then these new residential buildings have their improbable colors: cyclamen, electric green, yellow canary.
But there are other 2 things (other 2 surprises) I would like to tell. The first is that our dear friend, Muzaffer, is incurred in an incident up to the national limelight. He worked for "The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey", or Tubitak, and was looking to make an article about Charles Darwin in his dedicated year for 200 years since his birth. But there was a kind of national psychodrama, because the vice-director of the magazine, Ömer Cebeci (resigned yesterday after the polemics) removed the article and fired Muzaffer and the magazine's chief editor, Dr. Çiğdem Atakuman. You can read here 2 articles (ARTICLE 1, ARTICLE 2) on-line in English on this issue, but I will also write on it further in the next few days. The sensitivity of the Islamic AKP party (in 2 weeks there will be the local elections in Turkey) was wounded. But I remember an interview a few months ago in Italy where a prelate candidly in front of the cameras said: "I do not feel at all to descend from a monkey! The evolutionary theory is one of the biggest nonsense of history". I think that monkeys as well should criticize the evolutionary theory that put them on the same branch of such a personality!
The last story (the last surprise) that I tell you is what happened to Çağdaş. The band is frantically trying to obtain visas from the Austrian Consulate in order to hold a concert in Linz on March 19. Çağdaş needed a new passport, but to do this had first to renew his identity card. Once renovated, by accident he had thrown it in the trash. So he couldn't find it anymore. But in our district live "Roma" people and in Istanbul they are responsible for the collection of garbage. In fact the kids, rummaging and sorting the trash of the district, have found the identity card of Çağdaş, and since they are our neighbors and know him, they delivered back the identity card at home. Luckily, Çağdaş otherwise would not have done so in time to renew the passport and to obtain a visa for Austria. Here is one of the many benefits of having "Roma" people as neighbors!
But the very last surprise is what I found today on the website of the protest against the ugly new law on education here in Turkey called "50d": a picture of the legendary football team that around 4 am in the night between the 5th and the 6th of March, during the occupation of the Istanbul University, wan the match held in courtyard of the faculty!!! Thanks guys!!!
Unfortunately I could not see almost nothing in Ankara, but I seemed to find confirmation about what I knew already, that is a very polluted city with a building expansion in recent times starting from 1923 when it became the capital of Turkey (but are only 4 million inhabitants, compared to 14 million of Istanbul). Even now the suburbs construction sites proliferate and devour a countryside deserted and barren. Some neighborhoods there not far from the town, perhaps behind a hill, seem cathedrals in the desert, in the true sense of the words: I have seen a kind of futuristic mosque in the midst of barren hills. And then these new residential buildings have their improbable colors: cyclamen, electric green, yellow canary.
But there are other 2 things (other 2 surprises) I would like to tell. The first is that our dear friend, Muzaffer, is incurred in an incident up to the national limelight. He worked for "The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey", or Tubitak, and was looking to make an article about Charles Darwin in his dedicated year for 200 years since his birth. But there was a kind of national psychodrama, because the vice-director of the magazine, Ömer Cebeci (resigned yesterday after the polemics) removed the article and fired Muzaffer and the magazine's chief editor, Dr. Çiğdem Atakuman. You can read here 2 articles (ARTICLE 1, ARTICLE 2) on-line in English on this issue, but I will also write on it further in the next few days. The sensitivity of the Islamic AKP party (in 2 weeks there will be the local elections in Turkey) was wounded. But I remember an interview a few months ago in Italy where a prelate candidly in front of the cameras said: "I do not feel at all to descend from a monkey! The evolutionary theory is one of the biggest nonsense of history". I think that monkeys as well should criticize the evolutionary theory that put them on the same branch of such a personality!
The last story (the last surprise) that I tell you is what happened to Çağdaş. The band is frantically trying to obtain visas from the Austrian Consulate in order to hold a concert in Linz on March 19. Çağdaş needed a new passport, but to do this had first to renew his identity card. Once renovated, by accident he had thrown it in the trash. So he couldn't find it anymore. But in our district live "Roma" people and in Istanbul they are responsible for the collection of garbage. In fact the kids, rummaging and sorting the trash of the district, have found the identity card of Çağdaş, and since they are our neighbors and know him, they delivered back the identity card at home. Luckily, Çağdaş otherwise would not have done so in time to renew the passport and to obtain a visa for Austria. Here is one of the many benefits of having "Roma" people as neighbors!
But the very last surprise is what I found today on the website of the protest against the ugly new law on education here in Turkey called "50d": a picture of the legendary football team that around 4 am in the night between the 5th and the 6th of March, during the occupation of the Istanbul University, wan the match held in courtyard of the faculty!!! Thanks guys!!!
