LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 97, 7 April 1934, Page 10

LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE

NEW ZEALANDER'S IMPRESSIONS INTERESTING INTERVIEW. An interesting visitor to Havelock North is an acconijilished and much travelled lady. In an interview with “Stella” this week she spoke about the past eight yearn which she spent in the city of Constantinople. Previously, in 1920, she had gone to Constantinople as a nurse when the British Army of occupation left Salonika and took over the various Turkish hospitals. It is for reasons of discretion (the Turks dislike comment on their ways) that the visitor's name is not given. “The Turkish people are hospitable and courteous to those who make friends with them, and they are very likeable,” said the visitor.. “When first I went to Constantinople, the trams were divided, the women being shut off by ugly red cloth curtains in a reserved compartment in front. Now the women sit anywhere, though some of the older ones are shy and reserved still. In 1923 a Republic was proclaimed with Mustafa Kemal at the head, and then women became more or less emancipated and freed from the restrictions of the harem. “The women as a rule are wonderfully healthy, especially as in the past babies have not been specially cared for. Now there are clinics and more is being done in every way for babies and their mothers. The children in Turkey are rather puny, as they are kept up late and have to take their chance of survival without modern care and thought, though gradually conditions are improving, in spite of a battle with public opinion. “Most girls now, as a matter of course, go to the university after school. The schools are attaining a higher standard and the difficulty of finding good teachers is being overcome as education becomes universal. English is the language spoken at the colleges, as the teachers are English, with the exception of history, geography and social economics, which are taught in Turkish by Turkish teachers. “The climate of Turkey is cold in winter, but there are beautifully sunny days, though the Black Sea sends cool breezes into Constantinople at all times of the year. A great deal of fishing is done there, especially in the Bosphorus. A small fish of the sardine variety is caught in quantities and hung to dry, and I’ve been up in the upper Bosphorus and there have seen these fish in masses everywhere. The babies are hung up in shawls in the shade of the trestles which support the shelves of drying fish. “Rich homes are absolutely European, but many belonging to the poorer folk are very rough aud primitive, as Constantinople is in a state of transition. A Turkish girl who married an American built a modern home on the Bosphorus, but there are many oldfashioned Turks who are rather shocked by the modern women. Old and modern homes are seen side by side in striking contrast. , “On the tombstones of the graves of the older Turkish men were their turbans as they wore them when alive. This old custom is not kept up now that modern Turks wear new hate, and even hard hitters I”

A typical old-fashioned house was described by the traveller. In this there is little furniture and most of the seats are “sedirs” or divans, with a mattress. The bed is rolled up during the day aud put in a cupboard. “If you visit one of these old houses the first thing you are offered is a cup of Turkish coffee. This is very thick and syrupy, being made from finelyground coffee, with much sugar. This is always accompanied by a glass of water—to rinse the grounds out. It is rather disconcerting to have a jar of preserves brought in next. The proper thing to do is to take a spoonful of preserve, eat it, and then leave the spoon in the glass of water. One favourite jam is rose-leaf jam, made from the petals of the red roses (as for ‘attar of roses’) preserved in syrup. J. like this, but many people find it too sweet and oily. Their strawberry jam is always beautifully cooked. “The strawberries grow on the banks of the Bosphorus and are to be bought very cheaply. The real ‘Turkish delight’ or ‘Rabat Lokotn’ is delicious. This is made with cornstarch and sugar (not with gelatine), with nuts and perhaps a flavouring of rose-water. Nowadays there are many salads eaten, and the Turks are veny fond of vegetables stuffed, cooked in oil, and eaten cold. The stuffing is often rice and wheat with spices. Not many joints are cooked for meat is generally eaten in stews with vegetables. Pilaf—a dish of rice cooked in butler—is sometimes eaten plain or mixed with tomato, or with chicken livers, or currants, or stone-pine nuts. A stone-pine has cones with a small white nut inside, and these are freely used. “Marriage as a rule takes place when the women are from 18 to 20 years old,” continued the visitor. “It is against the law to have more than one wife. The lack of money has made the keeping of more than one wife impossible, besides it being against the law. The family life is often communal. Aunts or others who have no means are all supported and often in an old Turkish house there are several families living in various parts of it. “If you live in Constantinople you can change your continent in 10 or 15 minutes, for in that time you can row across the Bosphorus to Asia. You can recognise at once that the nationality is different there, for at once you get into an Anadolian village with low huts and roofs of red tiles and the atmosphere is altered. There are all sorts of little out-door cafes round about the Bosphorus where the people sit on little chairs drinking tea, with lemon and sugar served in a pretty little fanev coloured glass with a little saucer and no teaspoon ; and there the men have reading rooms and go to i smoke and talk. Many still smoke a ; Narghile, or water pipe. A long tube with wool and tassels goes thrnip’h a glass vessel ("Inch stands on the floor) to their mouth, and the smoke passes through the water. Women used to smoke greatly as our Maoris do. hut they do not do that now. nor do they stain their hands and hair with henna. “It is tremendous'y interesting tn note the change of custom in modern Constantinople. Mustafa Kemal’s forbidding the fez. cap had some comical results for on the day that the law altered old men. beggars, and Turks of all kinds who had lived all their lives wearing a fez (for the fez does not come off even for indoor wear or in mosques) bad to find ether head-gear. It was ridiiu’ous to see some in silk iats aud some in ladies' hats—one ivas

black velvet with a white feather—and all worn at most awkward angles as a novelty.” There was much more to hear and some very fine photographs were seen of the beautiful mosques, including the famous architectural structure of the Byzantine period, the mosque of St. Sofia, ‘‘At the time of the Festival of Ramazin,” said the visitor, ‘‘which lusts for one month, comes the Night of Power. Then visitors are allowed to go to the great gallery high up inside the mosque and to see the people, each with a praying mat, at their devotions. To see and hear the hundreds of Turks prostrating themselves in prayer is a never-to-be-forgotten sight.”