Hillary in Ankara

I looked at the news tonight and saw that Hillary was visiting Turkey. Not only that, I learned that the President (that’s what she called him, but we all know she means Obama) was going to visit there in the next month. Later on Newsnet we saw her tell the young Turkish interviewer that he would visit in the next month or so. Maybe not April but still soon and a significant move in the large picture of the new administration in the US.

It reminded me of a visit Bush made when we were living in Istanbul. I remember up at Taksim Square and along Istiklal Caddesi the posters that consisted of a head shot (not one that George W. or his handlers might have chosen, I’d guess) with the words “Bush gelme” plastered across it. My Turkish has never been great, but I did understand the imperative form with negative suffix of the verb gelmek, which means to come (when the guy is helping you park your car there, he shouts “Gel, gel!” as you are backing in); the Turkish protesters had neatly pre-empted the old “Yanqui go home” by telling Mr. Bush to not even bother coming.

He didn't heed their admonition and most Istanbulers, if they could, simply got out of town when Bush came – it was a NATO heads of state meeting, I think – and you certainly can’t blame them for it, because so much of the city had to be shut down for security. Some people suggested that they (the Americans, that is) were going to bring one of their huge carriers into the Bosphorus and moor it just off Cirağan Palace, and we tried, from our vantage point just along the shore at Ortakŏy, to imagine how that floating arsenal town would look there. However, that plan, if it was ever a plan, didn’t float (you might say) and Bush came in by helicopter from Ankara. At any rate, in advance of his visit – and, of course, the visits of all the other NATO heads – all of the Bosphorus ferries were tied up for the duration and essential streets all over the city (two hundred or more, we heard) were closed, so you can imagine the vibrancy of a city like Istanbul being stifled and shut down for a visit no one seemed to want. We also got out of town, but we wished, like so many others, that Bush could have read that simple message and stayed home so we could have done the same!

I will be interested, next time we go to Istanbul, to see how the new President is viewed there. I don’t know whether there was the same sense of jubilation that we felt here on election night, but I can guess that there was a large sigh of relief in Turkey, just as there was all the way around the world, and I would wonder if the Turks, who are, like the Bedouin and the people of Newfoundland, the most welcoming people I know, might be putting up posters, even knowing what kind of security shutdown their lives would face, with one of those now iconic portraits of Barack and the message “Obama hoşgeldiniz”.

As is always the case, we will see. Until then, don't forget to celebrate International Women's Day on Sunday for the hope that women consistently bring to our world, in spite of the odds.

FOOTNOTE: At a fundraiser tonight for LiveArt a young man who admires Elton John sang these words: How wonderful life is while you're in the world. It made me want to pay tribute here to one of the many people for whom this is true in my world; you can get an idea here.