Back to Istanbul

Today was another travel day.   We left Kayseri early and arrived in Istanbul by 10:00.  We visited two organizations that are part of the Fetullah Gulen movement.  The Writers and Journalists Foundation is the "mother ship" of the Gulen movement, and has been active since the early 90s.  Their ideology is aimed at creating a religiously pluralistic, democratic Turkey, with transparency in government and freedom of religion.  They themselves are pretty observant Muslims, but they are pushing for an enlightened, moderate form of Islam that welcomes and embraces a pluralistic society and promotes respect and understanding between and among religions.  They are pretty active bringing together intellectuals (college professors and other educators), religious leaders, people who work in various human rights causes, politicians and civil servants to engage in dialogue and understanding.  They have founded schools in Turkey and in other countries, both secondary schools and universities.  They are the ones who largely funded the trip that accompanies this conference.  It was interesting to hear from someone steeped in the Gulen movement opining about the problems in the current Turkish government, particularly Erdogan and the corruption scandals that accompany his regime. 

After those meetings, which included lunch, we stopped at Camlica Hill on the Asian side of the city.  Its a lovely park overlooking the Bosphoros, with a restaurant/coffee shop and park perched up on the banks of the strait.  Lovely vistas out over the water and to the European side.  After we left there we made a stop at Taksim Square, scene of the protests that rocked Turkey last year and finally wound up at the Grand Bazaar by 4:30.  We had two hours to poke about the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar.  Bonnie left us at that point to join her friend Sky who arrived in Istanbul Wednesday.  They are out enjoying themselves this evening and I will meet up with them at the airport tomorrow for our flight to Antalya.  After leaving the bazaars, we went to dinner where we had another feast of multiple courses of delicious food and then came back to the hotel, arriving about 10:15.  

I am totally exhausted at this point.  These past three days have been incredibly long and my allergies have been driving me crazy the past two days, so I am ready to sleep in tomorrow and take it easy until I head to the airport for the flight to Antalya.  Today's pics are Bonnie and me standing on Camlica Hill and a shot of Taksim square.