Tünel, Istanbul

When Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror captured Byzantium in 1453 the Ottoman Empire and its throne, known as the Sublime Porte, became heirs not only to the Byzantine and Eastern Roman Empire, but also a rich Greco-Latin and Judeo-Christian culture in Anatolia and in the tradition of that Empire different religious communities lived side by side, granted in return for their loyalty – rights and privileges going beyond the Koranic requirements to treat the other “Peoples of the Book” (Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians) with special tolerance.



Today on the European side of Istanbul across the Golden Horn lies the district traditionally the home of foreigners in Constantinople / Istanbul known to the Byzantines as Galata and today as the district of Istanbul known as Beyoğlu. Its narrow streets rising to the Galata tower at its crest have resounded to the conversation and trade of Venetians, Genoans, Jews, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians and many more of the myriad peoples who have converged in this unique city which straddles the seaway between Europe and Asia which the Hittite and Greek myths named after the mythical crossing of giant bulls from one continent to another, The Bosporus.


Genoese houses from the 1300's in Galata

This district was not subject to the Great Siege and conquest of Constantinople by Mehmet for it was at the time a separate Genoese trading colony and officially stayed neutral in the Titanic struggle of 1453 which saw the end of the Roman Empire, the ascent of Islam, the ending of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance in Europe fuelled by the Greek scholars who fled the conquered city.


Eugène-Henri Gavand's original design

Today it is a happening, hip and edgy district with a throbbing music scene and is named after the unique transport system which climbs underground from near the water’s edge to the near the Galata Tower on the hill – it is known simply as Tünel.


Sultanahmet from the Galata Tower

The Tünel (and the nostalgic tramway) between them form both a fascinating part of transport history. The Tünel’s place in the metro transport history is secure as it is actually the third oldest underground railway in the world and the second in continental Europe. It was built by French engineers modelled on the ' Ficelle' of Lyon, a similar underground funicular railway which operated from 1862 to 1967 when part of its tunnels were incorporated into the new Lyon Metro. In both cities the design challenge was the same – how do you build a funicular to ascend a hill in a densely built up area – Answer; build it underground. The ' Ficelle' (literally the string, after the traction cable the carriages hooked onto) was also the first underground railway in the world opening in June 1862 thereby predating the London Underground which opened in 1863. So it follows the Tünel dating from 1875 is the oldest extant underground in Continental Europe and the second oldest extant underground in the world. However a funicular is not a metro and the first full subway line with multiple underground stations in continental Europe was Line 1 of the Budapest Metro (1896).


Map of Galata

The Tünel (English: Tunnel) is a short underground railway line in Istanbul, Turkey. It is an underground funicular with two stations, connecting the quarters of Karaköy and Beyoğlu. Located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the underground railway tunnel goes uphill from close to sea level and is about 555 meters long and was inaugurated on January 17, 1875. The Tünel was originally conceived by the French engineer Eugène-Henri Gavand in 1867. Its purpose was to provide an easy ride between the neighbourhoods of Pera (Beyoğlu) and Galata (Karaköy), both of which were in the relatively newer part of Istanbul, on the northern shore of the Golden Horn. Many people used to work in Galata close to sea level, and live uphill in Pera, about 60 metres higher. The only direct street connecting the two, Yüksek Kaldırım, is steep and narrow; at the time of the construction of the Tünel, it was crowded with 40,000 pedestrians a day. Gavand conceived of the Tünel as "a kind of elevator ascending and descending" that would greatly ease the journey.



Two years later, on November 6, 1869, Gavand received permission from the Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz to start the project with a forty-two year concession to operate it. After finding foreign funding, Gavand established a company called the Metropolitan Railway of Constantinople to carry out the project. Construction began on July 30, 1871 but was delayed significantly by conflicts between landowners and the company. The tunnel was not completed until December 1874 and was finally opened for service on January 17, 1875.



The Metropolitan Railway Company gained a fresh 75-year concession in 1904 but the Tünel was nationalised in 1923 when the Turkish Republic was proclaimed. In 1939 it was absorbed into the new IETT (İstanbul Elektrik Tramvay ve Tünel) transportation organization. It was modernised and electrified in 1971. The two parallel tracks were replaced by a single track with central siding. But what characterizes more this new funicular it is that it rolls on tires! Today, the short line is no longer as vital for Istanbul's inner city traffic as it used to be back in the 19th century, but it is still a part of the municipal transport network and integrated tickets are valid.


Istanbul Metro system incorporating the Tünel


Nostalgic Tramway

Tünel Square, at the south-western end of Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue) in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, is the upper terminus of Istanbul's little old 19th-century, two-station underground train system, the Tünel l. The "square" is really just a widening of the street. It’s a busy place because of people going to and from the Tünel, getting on and off the nostalgic tramway seeking out the many cafes, restaurants and shops that crowd the historic Tünel Pasaji (opposite the Tünel entrance) and that line the narrow side streets northwest of the square, especially Sofyali Sokak and Asmalimescit Sokak.Some traditional forms of transport are included in Istanbul’s public transport network. In 1990, a historic tram was put in service along Istiklal Avenue between Taksim and Tunel which is 1.6km long. The tram ambles along the main pedestrian street ringing its bell to disperse the crowds of people in its path. And in 2003, another nostalgic tramline was reopened on the Asian side of Istanbul between Kadikoy and Moda. It has 10 stations on a 2.6 km long route. The trip takes 21 minutes.


Karaköy Station

The cars are used today are old cars of MP 55 trains of the subway on tires of the RATP in Paris equipped with tires but also with traditional wheels which can roll on the rails. The wooden carriages were replaced in 1971 with two electrified steel cars running on pneumatic tires. Their cruising speed is roughly 25 km/h. A trip between the two stations takes about 1.5 minutes, with an extra two minutes of waiting between operations to allow passengers to board the train.


The Engine Room

Tünel has always been special for Istanbul and Beyoğlu lovers. It’s difficult to say if this popularity comes from being the world’s second oldest metro or from being the heritage from the 19 century’s Pera era. No matter today Tünel is one of the symbols of Istanbul and this 571 meter long railway station has been tying up Karaköy to Pera since 1875. When it opened Pera was one of most prestigious residential areas and Galata was the popular trade centre of Istanbul. Businessmen living in Pera had to walk everyday to Galata Karaköy. The distance from Karaköy to Pera is not much, but the road is a tough hill. Tünel l is also used by tourists who would like walk to the Sultanahmet area. Then the station on Istiklal Street is also the starting point of the street tram for Istiklal heading to Taxim Square.


Beyoğlu (Pera) Station

Tünel has given its name to the neighbourhood as well. This area is still one of the most Bohemian quarters in Istanbul. It has its own character with a mix of everything. Maybe that’s why this little quarter is loved by locals and tourists. It offers all kind of shops: bookshops next to a doner kebab kiosk or elegantly decorated restaurants next to the cheapest passages, Terkos Passage and Beyoğlu.



Tünel Quarter is also visited frequently by those interested in music. The street, Galip Dede, going down to Galata Tower from Tünel is filled with shops selling musical instruments and other stuff.


The "Nostalgic Tramway" outside Beyoğlu (Pera) Station

It would be unfair not to mention Galata Tower, while talking about Tünel. This 12th Century 77 m high Genoese watch tower is one of Istanbul’s key landmarks. From the top you can see the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia for a thousand years the greatest church in Christendom, Leander’s Tower and the Bosporus connecting Europe and Asia and the Golden Horn at the same time. Galat Mevlevihanesi, located just at the Tünel Square in Divan Edebiyati Museum, is considered as one of the most interesting attractions. The Mehlevi are the Sufi sect commonly known as The Whirling Dervishes. Sufi literally means “wool” from the coarse cloth worn by the followers of this Sunni Muslim tradition who seek to be at one with the divine by abandoning worldly distraction and entering into a trance like ecstasy. The Ceremony can be visited on every Sunday starting at 17:00 by paying about 25 YTL fee.


Nightclub in Tünel

Another charming area of Tünel district is the Asmalimescit. In the streets of Asmali you may find plenty of alternatives for dining. Even in winter people do not mind sitting in the narrow streets and having their lunches in those cosy streets. To mention a few of the good cafes around; The House Café and Peradox serve fine international cuisine. The House Cafe’s freshly made lemonades and ice teas are worth a try. Just opposite of the House Café there is the Helvetia cafe, serving delicious examples of home plates of Turkish cuisine. Asmalimescits’ oldest and best known restaurant and pub (meyhane) is Refik.


Galata Tower

The French street in Galatasaray is an adorable place with charming cafés where you can take pictures with colourful backgrounds. The Tünel, with its grey dirty buildings, has more character. It is just like Istanbul; you have to get in if you really want to taste it. It is somewhat amazing that this interesting bohemian area which celebrates the best of Ottoman cafe society and its music should still be held together by this absolutely unique underground railway which is in fine order and will this year be celebrating its 136th birthday. Istanbul today has an official population of 11 million but the real figure is probably considerably higher. Its transport infrastructure is creaking at the seams and one of the reasons for this is best described as “The Revenge of the Byzantines!” Both the metro extensions and the Bosporus Tunnel have been greatly delayed as every time you dig down in this city you find an archaeological site. Because of the huge pressure of immigration from the Anatolian Plateau into Istanbul the city today is mainly Turkic and not as diverse as it was in the past. However in Tünel you can find both a sense of old Istanbul and a unique working piece of transport history.


Station tiles

I’m very grateful to Can Dogan, a native son of Istanbul whose family home is in the area for the heads up and background on the Tünel.

Can Dogan | Partner | Pride & Privilege I.T. Consulting | www.prideprivilege.com

For more on the Fall of Byzantium see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/fall-of-byzantium.html

For more on the World’s oldest Metro see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-circle-line-journey.html

Free Gaza, Free Palestine, Free Palestinians

Today 27th December marks the 2nd Anniversary of the massacre of around 1,400 old men, women and children at GAZA in 2008. This war crime was committed by the powerful army of an occupying power equipped with American weapons’ and financed by £1.1 Bn dollars per annum of American military aid.

At 11:30am on December 27, 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of suppressing rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. Israel opened the attack with a surprise air strike against the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008. Israeli forces attacked civilians, police stations, schools, universities, mosques, and governmental buildings. Israeli forces attacked civilians and used white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas.



Israel claims that it was targeting Hamas armed fighters and infrastructure, ostensibly in response to the firing of homemade rockets from Gaza into Israel. However, field investigations by the Gaza-based human rights organization Al Mezan show that United Nations-administered schools, mosques, universities, emergency medical crews, private homes and other civilian objects have all been in Israel's sights.

Among those killed on the first day of bombing, when more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on the tiny coastal enclave, included police officers who were attending a graduation ceremony, school children heading home after a day of study, and other Gazans killed without warning as they were conducting their normal business.



Entire families have been wiped out during the air strikes and shelling, including that of Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan who was extra judicially executed along with his family in their home in a Gaza refugee camp. More than 40 were killed on 6 January when Israeli forces shelled the United Nations-administered Fakhoura School in the Jabalia refugee camp, where families who had been displaced by the bombing were seeking shelter. The UN has demanded an independent investigation and its spokespersons assert that GPS coordinates of all UN locations were given to Israel to prevent such an atrocity. Israel recanted its claim that resistance fighters released fire on Israeli soldiers from the school, which has been categorically denied by UN officials.



The bloody operation in Gaza came after the expiration of a six-month-long ceasefire between Israel and resistance groups in Gaza, including Hamas. Israel had broken the ceasefire on 4 November, when it extra judicially executed six Palestinians in Gaza whom it said was digging tunnels to Israel. During the five previous months of the ceasefire, Hamas had refrained from firing rockets and prevented other groups from doing so. However, Israel failed to ease the nearly two-year-long embargo on the Gaza Strip that has crippled economic life and brought the area to the brink of a humanitarian crisis — one of Israel's obligations under the ceasefire.

On January 18, 2009, the war ended in a ceasefire, Israel completed its withdrawal on January 21. Israel killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and other 5500 were injured while 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers, were killed.



As I have pointed out before the democratically elected Hamas administration in Gaza has had a brilliant master stroke in appointing the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as its recruiting sergeant. Rarely has an organisation had a more effective recruiter in a territory which has been systematically destroyed by Israel (The Airport, Port, Hospitals, Factories, Government offices, power generators, etc ;) in flagrant breach of International Law including the Geneva Conventions on administration of occupied territories, protection of non-combatants and two UN Resolutions.

Let us not forget in our PC world why Gaza exists is two words never used in Israel; Ethnic Cleansing. Gaza exists because the Palestinians who lived in Ashkelon and the fields around it – Askalaan in Arabic – were dispossessed from their lands in 1948 when Israel was created and ended up on the beaches of Gaza. They – or their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren – are among the one and a half million Palestinian refugees crammed into the cesspool of Gaza, 80 per cent of whose families once lived in what is now Israel. This, historically, is the real story: most of the people of Gaza don't come from Gaza.





The Wikileaks cables show the complete lack of concern by American diplomats for the people of Palestine, they confirm that America is acting in this region with no moral purpose when it come to the Palestinian people and that it is utterly uninterested in the so called “Two States Solution” allowing Israel to set 100% of the agenda to stop a Palestinian State being a reality. Better to withdraw its 1.1 Bn Dollar military aid to Israel which is totally contrary to the US’s strategic interests. Better to withdraw its 1. 0 Bn a year aid to Egypt which allows the Pharaoh Murbarak and the military elite to run a repressive farce pretending to be a democracy. Why, America will really be surprised when Egypt implodes and the US loses another great ally? Far better to cut both these payments by America’s hard pressed taxpayer and divert the resources to addressing the results and righting the wrongs of the 1948 ethnic cleansing and making the “Two Nation” solution a reality.





The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes and possibly, in some respects, crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defense Force (IDF). The mission finds that the conduct of the Israeli armed forces constitute grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons and as such give rise to individual criminal responsibility…

It [the UN mission] also finds that the direct targeting and arbitrary killing of Palestinian civilians is a violation of the right to life.

(source: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, UNO, Sept. 15, 2009)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;

The opening lines of the United States Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776




We must never forget what happened to GAZA two years ago or to the people of Palestine in 1948.

For the background to Nakba - The ethnic cleansing of Palestine see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/05/nakba.html

Free Gaza, Free Palestine, Free the Palestinian People.


See also;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/06/free-gaza.html

Free Gaza

The democratically elected Hamas administration in Gaza has had a brilliant master stroke in appointing the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as its recruiting sergeant. Rarely has an organisation had a more effective recruiter in a territory which has been systematically destroyed by Israel (The Airport, Port, Hospitals, Factories, Government offices, power generators, etc ;) in flagrant breach of International Law including the Geneva Conventions on administration of occupied territories, protection of non-combatants and two UN Resolutions. The United Nations (unlike Israeli Spokesmen engaged in truth distortion) has no doubt what is happening in Gaza stating in the Security Council resolution adopted last Wednesday;

“Stressing that the situation in Gaza was not sustainable, the Council re‑emphasized the importance of the full implementation of resolutions 1850 (2008) and 1860 (2009). In that context, it reiterated its grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed the need for the sustained and regular flow of goods and people to Gaza, as well as unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout the enclave. The Council also expressed support for the proximity talks.”



Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said he was distraught by the incident, which was a grave breach of international law and constituted banditry and piracy — it was “murder” conducted by a State, without justification. A nation that followed that path lost its legitimacy as a respectable member of the international community. The children of Gaza, meanwhile, did not know where their next meal was coming from; they had received no education and had no future. Today, many humanitarian workers returned home in body bags. Israel had “blood on its hands”.
High-seas freedom, he said, freedom of navigation, was one of the oldest forms of international law; no vessel could be stopped or boarded without the consent of the captain or flag State. Any suspected violation of the law did not absolve the intervening State under international law. To treat humanitarian delivery as a hostile act and to treat aid workers as combatants could not be deemed legal or legitimate. Any attempt to legitimize the attack was futile.

The strangely entitled Israeli Defence Forces commandeered the Irish flagged ship Rachel Corrie & Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched! Israel engaged in a fresh act of piracy on the high seas at the weekend taking over an Irish-flagged aid ship bearing desperately needed supplies for the Gaza Strip. The crew of the Rachel Corrie included Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mairead Maguire and former UN assistant secretary-general Dennis Halliday. As planned they put up no resistance when the ship was seized in international waters during an early-morning raid by Israeli soldiers. The ship, named after a US activist killed by Israeli forces, was taken at gunpoint to the Israeli port of Ashdod where its cargo of essential supplies to 1.5 million Palestinians illegally imprisoned in the Gaza Strip was seized and its crew imprisoned pending deportation. Dublin had demanded safe passage for its vessel. Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign reacted angrily to news of this latest breach of international law. "For the second time in less then a week, Israeli forces stormed and hijacked an unarmed aid ship, kidnapping its passengers and forcing the ship toward Ashdod port," it said. Its fury was reflected at a demonstration on the streets of the Irish capital in scenes repeated across the world involving tens of thousands of people.


MV Rachel Corrie

In Palestine protesters marching towards Gaza's border scattered as Israeli forces opened fire with live rounds. And in a show of international solidarity following Israel's deadly assault on a Gaza aid convoy last week Swedish dockworkers will begin a week-long blockade on Saturday of Israeli ships and goods. The Swedish Port Workers Union was among the groups which backed the Ship to Gaza campaign involved in the flotilla. "The reason for the blockade is the unprecedented criminal attack on the peaceful ship convoy," the union said. Elsewhere, veteran alt-rockers The Pixies have become the latest musicians to cancel a planned gig in Israel. The band did not issue a statement but a local promoter linked the pullout with the attack on the Gaza flotilla. Israeli human rights activists from Boycott! urged the band three months ago to cancel the gig, saying: "As much as some of us are huge fans and would love to hear your show, we won't cross the international picket line that is growing in numbers steadily nowadays to come and see you." A flotilla activist who had a gun pointed at her head by Israeli commandos has said that the "horrendous" ordeal made her "more determined to get back out there." At a demonstration against the flotilla raid in Edinburgh, Scottish postal worker Theresa McDermott said to the crowd of 5,000: "If we sit back and don't go, that allows their intimidatory and aggressive tactics to work.”Our governments might not be doing anything but it won't stop the normal people from these countries from going back and trying to get the aid in because we could see the suffering in Gaza. "The people of Palestine need to know that they have not been forgotten by the outside world. We are standing with them and we're going to do our best to get the next flotilla in."



Demonstrators marched through the city centre to the US consulate and ended outside Bute House, First Minister Alex Salmond's official residence. Ms McDermott was on board the Challenger when it was taken over during the fatal attack on the flotilla by Israeli soldiers last Monday. She told a Scottish tabloid after returning to the Scottish capital following her release from Israeli prison: "It was needless brutality. "We were telling them they had an obligation to the people of Gaza to let us in. But they wouldn't listen and I even had a cocked gun pointed at my head." Scottish activists who were on the flotilla will hold a press conference on Monday about the raid of the three different ships they were on. They will also speak about their own experience of beatings, torture and detention in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through cities around the world on Saturday over the Israeli killing of nine Turkish activists last week aboard an aid ship bound for Gaza. Rallies took place in London, Sheffield, Edinburgh and other British cities as part of an international day of action which also saw demonstrations in Turkey, Lebanon, Spain, Ireland and Gaza itself.



In London, 20,000 protesters marched from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy to express outrage at the killings on the Mavi Marmara aid vessel and the seizure of the MV Rachel Corrie, another aid ship trying to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, by Israeli forces on Saturday morning. As demonstrators left Downing Street they waved Palestinian flags and placards saying: "End The Siege" and "For Freedom We Sail." Others chanted: "Stop Israeli piracy." Among the protesters was Sarah Colborne of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was aboard the Mavi Marmara and was in Israeli custody for almost two days before being deported to Britain. "Israel cannot be allowed to continue to commit these crimes without being brought to justice," said Ms Colborne. "It cannot board boats in international waters which have nothing but humanitarian aid and peace activists, to murder nine people and to hold us hostage, to kidnap us effectively. "What we need to happen is for humanitarian aid to freely go into Gaza, for the siege to be lifted, for an independent investigation to take place into the events of the last few days and for Israel to end its violation of international laws." Green MP Caroline Lucas, who joined the demonstration, also called for an independent inquiry into Israel's "murder and piracy."

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said the event showed that victims' "deaths have not been in vain - what it has done is bring the world's attention to the terrible crime of the blockade of Gaza." Protester Ali Seylan, who said his brother had been aboard the flotilla, told the rally: "Israel made a big mistake. Israel's government managed to make all Turkish people the enemy of Israel." Former Respect MP George Galloway told the London rally that new Viva Palestina land and sea convoys to break the siege of Gaze would soon set off. He said after "extensive discussions in Istanbul I can announce that a land convoy will leave Britain in September.”At exactly the same time a flotilla of boats will be leaving to tour the countries of the Mediterranean before heading for Gaza." Around 5,000 Scottish protesters marched through central Edinburgh, ending in a rally where SNP MSP Sandra White read out a message on behalf of the Scottish government. She declared: "We have added Scotland's voice to that of the wider international community in condemning" the Israeli attack. The statement also demanded "the immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza." International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced on Sunday that Britain would award £19 million in aid for refugees in Gaza to be spent on health care, education and other services.

This is Rachel Corrie a 23 year old peace activist who was killed on March 16, 2003 when she was crushed by a bulldozer on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Army, while trying to prevent the demolition of the house of a Palestinian doctor. This is her 5th grade speech at school. The Irish ship intercepted trying to break the illegal Gaza Blockade (UN Resolution and Geneva Conventions) was named after her.



Malnourished children, restrictions on Gaza-fisherman, lacklustre sewage and water systems, and the confiscation of $4.5 billion in international aid will not improve Israel’s security in the long run. It will only increase the popularity of the Hamas Movement, decrease the effects of counterterrorism throughout the globe, and create the next generation of dangerous faith-based ideologues. As Cynthia McKinney, Mairead Maguire, and Betty Williams argue, it may be time for the state of Israel to start abiding by the concept of universal human rights. Not only would such activities have the symbolic effect of furthering international unity towards tolerance and respect (despite religion, ethnicity, or background), but may strengthen Israel’s right to exist by severely diminishing Arab hostility towards the Jewish people.

The solution is rather straightforward: allowing food and medicine into the Strip will help the PEOPLE escape the poverty that has dominated their lives thus far. Who knows, perhaps lifting the embargo and easing the life of the Palestinian people will save the world from the next wave of suicide bombers. Over to you recruiting Sergeant Benjamin Netanyahu? O one more point, during the past week has anybody anywhere heard a single word from the Special Middle East Peace Envoy, Tony Blair? Obviously nothing too much was happening to interest him?

Muslim Kos

Defeterdar Mosque



Kos and Rhodes were the two islands which experienced Muslim immigration under the 400 years of Ottoman rule and being under Italian control were not affected by the “population transfers” (or ethnic cleansing in modern language) after the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The Knights of St. John



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/knights-of-malta.html



surrendered Kos and the mainland fortress of St. Petrium (now days Turkish Bodrum and 10 miles from Kos) , which between them controlled the sea straits, to the forces of Suleiman the Magnificent (known in Islam as Suleiman the Lawgiver) in 1523 and this began a 390 year Turkish domination. The Turks renamed the island “Stanköy” and whilst the Greeks refer to Turkish rule as barbaric and refer to it as an “occupation” the truth is that under the Ottomans Kos was for the most part benignly neglected with a toleration towards other religions and a mix of Greek, Turkish, Armenian and Jewish population.



There were flare ups in that 390 year history. In 1603 the Knights of St. John unsuccessfully tried to retake the island and Kos was looted by the Ottoman mercenaries who retook the island. It was hit by a terrible epidemic of the plague in 1810/11 and it took part in the Greek Revolt of 1821. The retribution was savage by the Ottomans with a massacre on the island of Chios in the Sporades and the Orthodox Patriarch in Constantinople (Istanbul) being executed and his body thrown in the Bosporus. On Kos more than 90 Greek rebels were hanged around the Plane Tree of Hippocrates. The Turkish rule came to an end in 1912 in the Italian / Turkish war where Italy invaded Ottoman North Africa and to Italy were ceded to Italy to “ensure the due performance of the Treaty of Cyrenia.” Well the Ottomans did “perform” by leaving the area of North Africa known as Libya (and Italy embarked on a shameful and vicious colonial enterprise in Africa) but the Italians stayed in the Dodecanese. However despite the repression at times of rebellion, trade flourished under the Ottomans, religious freedoms were respected and the rule was generally even handed but the infrastructure was neglected.



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/08/kos-town.html







The indigenous Muslim population in Greece is not homogeneous since it consists of different ethnic, linguistic and social backgrounds which often overlap. The Muslim faith is the creed of several autochthonous ethnic groups living in the present territory of Greece, namely the Pomaks, ethnic Turks, certain Roma groups, and Greek Muslims, who embraced the Muslim faith mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The country's Muslim population decreased significantly as a result of the 1923 population exchange agreement between Greece and the new Turkish Republic, which also uprooted approximately 1.5 million Greeks from Asia Minor.





Turkish Cemetery, Platani



In 1923, under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne, the Muslims living in Greece were required to immigrate to Turkey; whereas, the Christians living in Turkey were required to immigrate to Greece in an "Exchange of Populations" – nowadays this process is called “Ethnic Cleansing” and prosecuted as a war crime. The Muslims of Thrace and the Christians of Istanbul and the islands of Gökçeada and Bozcaada (Imvros and Tenedos) were the only populations not exchanged.







There is also a small Muslim community in some of the Dodecanese islands which, as part of Italy between 1912 and 1947 were not subjected to the exchange of the population between Turkey and Greece in 1923. They number about 4,000 most of whom espouse a Turkish identity and speak Turkish. The community is strongest on the island of Kos, and in particular the village of Platanos.



Kos at one time had a large Turkish minority but with the tensions over Cyprus, many have left the island. About 50 Muslim families remain on Kos and they mostly reside in Platani along with a Greek minority. Everyone seems to get along just fine but the good news is the Turkish restaurants that await visitors.



Colonised by the Italians after the Ottoman administration in 1912, 12 Aegean islands were occupied by the Germans in 1942 and then by the English after World War II. The problems of Turkish islanders - or Greek Muslim citizens, according to the terminology used in Greece - who were handed over to Greece with the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1947, still affects the local political agenda. Local politicians are also sensitive about the problems of Turks and other Muslims living on the islands. Alderman Nikos Milonas, who prepared a report titled "Problems of Muslim Society on Kos Island" in the first year of New Democracy party (ND) rule, began his report saying, "We generally avoid mentioning the problems of the small Muslim society living on Kos Island. Falsely-internalised nationalistic feelings keep us silent about this issue. However, such issues should come to the agenda and be discussed within the framework of efforts to reconstruct an open democracy in our country, just like other European Union countries."







Another significant problem is language and religious education. Turkish has not been taught at schools on Rhodes and Kos since 1972. There were no problems with native-language instruction from 1912 until 1947, when the islands were passed to Greece. Turkish schools also survived from 1947 on, but the lessons were taught both in Greek and Turkish. However, after Turkey banned Greek at schools on Gökçeada and Bozcada in 1972, Turkish teaching was totally excluded from the curriculum. Children must learn Turkish at home from their families now. They learn reading and writing in their native language only after they learn the Latin alphabet in high school to learn English. Nineteen-year-old Emine, who recently graduated from high school, will study tourism in Rhodes. Emine, who currently works in sales, says: "I attended English courses after school. I could improve my Turkish after I learned the Latin alphabet thanks to English. I took private Turkish courses. I improve my Turkish by reading Turkish novels."



The problem of religion and language education forces Turkish families to send their children to Turkey for secondary and high school education. This results in the separation of the children from their families at a tender age. The integration of these children into the island community also becomes difficult when they come back to their homeland. Another way of learning Turkish is Turkish lessons from the Mediterranean studies department at the university in Rhodes. Students have the opportunity to learn their native language as a foreign language at undergraduate level in the department, which has few students.





Turkish Gravestones, Kos Town



The first immigrants of Islamic faith arrived in the early 1970s from the Middle East, mostly from Palestine, and are concentrated in the country's two main urban centres, Athens and Thessalonica. Since 1990, there has been an increase in the numbers of immigrant Muslims, fifty percent of whom come from Albania. The remainder are from various countries of the Middle East, as well as from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The immigrant Muslim community numbers around 150,000 people.



During the last decades, as part of a Europe-wide trend of populations moving from rural areas to urban areas, many Greek Muslims, along with other Greek citizens, have left their birthplaces to move to bigger cities, most notably Athens and Istanbul. In the past, a considerable number of them were deprived of their citizenship after leaving Greece (especially for Turkey) and their properties were subsequently confiscated by the state under Article 19 of the Citizenship Law, which was repealed non-retroactively in June 1998.



Today on Kos the evidence of Ottoman rule is still highly visible and the small Turkish community struggles to maintain its identity and culture. In the main square of Kos Town, Eleftheria (Freedom) Square, one side is taken up by the Defeterdar Mosque (Defeterdar Mahmut Efendi Mosque). This was constructed in the 18th Century and is well preserved although it could do with some TLC. The Defeterdar was the Treasury minister of the Ottoman Empire. It is characterised by the minaret and the octagonal ablution fountain with its domed roof next to it. Behind it is the so called Forum Gate which leads into the remains of the walled Crusader Town of Kos. Little remains of this as it was built on the site of the impressive Roman Agora which was excavated following the earthquake of 1933.





Hippocrates Plane Tree Square



At the end of the walk (today known as “Bar Street”) you come to Kos’s most famous public spaces, Hippocrates Plane Tree Square. Under the huge and gnarled plane tree the Father of Medicine is meant to have lectured 2,500 years ago. It is huge and impressive and possibly the oldest tree in Europe but it can not be the one Hippocrates lectured under as plane trees generally live about 600 years. It none the less is a lovely space with the bridge to the Knights Castle of Neratzia, the Italian modernist court buildings and the Loggia Mosque framing it. As well as Hippocrates, the Apostle Paul is meant to have preached Christianity here in Roman times. There is a beautiful Ottoman fountain to the north of the plane tree, one of the many to be seen around Kos Town, which incorporates an ancient sarcophagus and it contains an inscription in Arabic characterising the water as “the water of Hippocrates” and giving the date of construction as 1786. Like all the Ottoman fountains in Kos this was an ablution fountain to clean the hands of the faithful before prayer and to wash their feet before entering the mosque. All the fountains, mosques and Mederessa in Kos are inscribed with the Shahaadah, the Muslim declaration of Faith “"There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah."









Hassan Pasha Mosque



1786 was also the foundation year of the Lotzia (Loggia) Mosque also known as the Hassan Pasha Mosque which was founded by the Turkish admiral Gazi Irli Hassan. Ancient architectural elements from Roman remains have been incorporated into the fabric of the mosque and its minarets. The three story building is locked and unused and still bears the marks of wartime bombardment, especially in the tracery of the upper windows. The ground floor – like that of its near contemporary the Defeterdar Mosque – is taken up by several shops. The building looks sad and forlorn and is of such quality and presence that it cries out to be used better, ideally as a museum of Muslim Kos. At the east side of the square there is the more satisfying sight of an original 18th Century Hamman which has been restored with the help of EU funds. However if you leave the square to walk down to the harbour through a small park you notice on your left the site of two ancient Muslim gravestones which have been vandalised and covered with graffiti. Ahead the go ahead Mayor of Kos replaced a taxi rank with a fine fountain and public space which provides a handsome approach from the harbour to the plane tree but there is the sight of a large Hamman which has been converted to a nightclub with extract vents crudely cut into the ancient domes.





Hamman nightclub



Kos heavily touts its “Old Town” without actually telling you this was the Ottoman Old Town of Haluvazia. You enter the Old town from behind the covered Merkato on Platia Eleftherias and continue on a pedestrianised street which begins as Ifestou and then becomes Appelou before ending at Platia Dhiagoras overlooking the Western Archaeological Zone further on. It is a satisfying walk through Haluvazia; off the pedestrianised narrow main street you can see the sturdy Ottoman homes and courtyards which survived the 1933 earthquake. This was long considered an undesirable area, but while all the rickety townhouses nearby collapsed in the 1933 earthquake, the sturdy stone built houses and shops here survived. Today the area is crammed with tourist shops and cafes but if you look upwards you can see Turkish and Arabic inscriptions on the stones. There is a dry Turkish fountain where the walkway crosses Venizelou and another one juts out from the wall at the barber shop at the corner of Hristodoulou and Passanikolaki beside the minaret-less but still functioning Atik Mosque.





Ottoman Old Town of Haluvazia



Continuing in the same direction you can make a detour west of Platia Dhiagoras to Nikita Nissiriou to the Anatolian Hamman. During the Ottoman Period this was the residence of a local pasha whose descendants emigrated to Izmir in 1950; The small Turkish bath inside (the Hamman of the name) functioned as the neighbourhood spa until 1970 or so after which the premises operated as a brothel (legal in Greece) before falling into complete disrepair. It has now been restored (since 1992) with the original cedar floors and painted ceilings and has a lovely Arabic style garden at the back and is a stylish restaurant. I complimented the waitress that the excellent Arabic style hummus – the Chef came out and it turned out he was Coptic from Alexandria hence the authentic feel to the food.













Anatolian Hamman



For an insight into what it means to be Turkish in Kos these days head 2Km south of Kos Town on the road to the Asklepion to the Greek – Turkish village of Platani. Until 1964 it was most commonly known as Kermetes (Germe in Turkish) and the Turkish community had its own primary school. But in the wake of the Cyprus crises of that year the village was given a Greek name and education provided in Greek only. Subsequent emigration to Anatolia caused Turkish numbers on Kos to drop from three thousand to less than a thousand today. Only those Turks owning real estate and businesses have stayed put but, as on Rhodes, the long term outlook is bleak.



Platani’s older domestic architecture is similar to styles in Crete from where some of the village’s inhabitants came between 1898 and 1913. There is a working Ottoman fountain near the crossroads and several excellent Turkish tavernas; Arap, Asklipios, Sherif and Gin’s Palace. They all offer Anatolian-style mezedhes and kebabs and enjoy a reputation, including among the Greeks, as the best eateries on the island. We dined at Arap where all the vegetables are grown on the owners land and the meats sourced on the island. We enjoyed an excellent meal with our Greek friends who are regulars here. I expressed my surprise to Mr. Arap that the menu included a pork chop but he said there was not necessarily a strict interpretation on this before saying he had to earn a living. Well for myself I thought Al Qur’aan was clear;



“He has forbidden you only the Maytah (dead animals), and blood, and the flesh of swine…”

[al-Baqarah 2:173]





Arap









Platani



The truth is that Kos, the Dodecanese and the Turkish mainland (Asia Minor) have since time immemorial been diverse lands which have hosted many religions and races, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Armenians, Turks, Crusaders, Italians and many more professing Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrian, Alevis, and the Gods of the Ancient World. Kos has gained its unique identity from this diversity and the sectarianism and mono-cultures are very much a product of these modern times. We need grown up discussions amongst grown up people and does a culture as strong as that of Greece really need to be so defensive? Does it have so little confidence in itself? So let us see in the 21st Century a new engagement where diversity is celebrated and embraced, where Turkish schools are reopened and Kos Town celebrates its unique patrimony with a heritage trail embracing the people’s who have made it unique in various museums; Greek, Roman, (Casa Romana), Jewish (The Old Synagogue;



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/06/jewish-kos.html



Muslim (Loggia Mosque), Crusader (Neratzia Castle)and so on.



It is time to move on from the sterile nationalism of the past and the poisonous delusion of Megali Idea (Modern Greek: Μεγάλη Ιδέα, "Great Idea"), that irredentist delusion which has only ever brought disaster to Greece and suffering to Greeks from the farcical “invasion” of Asia Minor in 1923 to the disaster in Cyprus in 1974. It is time to recognise after 586 years that Byzantium had its day in the sun of history



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/fall-of-byzantium.html



and instead of blaming everybody else recognise that an Empire where 26 out of 92 Emperors were murdered or had “unexplained” deaths and where the word “Byzantine” entered the English language for all the wrong reasons may not have been the most competent outfit and contributed to its own demise. Most of all Greece needs to look forward not to the past and decide what sort of society it wants to be. By embracing Muslim communities, many of whose people go back several generations on Kos,and being proud and confident in its diversity the special isle of Kos, which has always been a crossroads of humanity, can lead the way for a New Greece.