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Istanbul from the Inside
Iva Zimova

Istanbul from the Inside

I have never been to Turkey—well, this is not true—I have. But it doesn’t count because I just went from an Asian airport to Ataturk International Airport on the European side. That was in 2001 when I was coming “home” from Afghanistan. Twelve years later, when I was coming “home” from Syria in the beginning of January, I stopped in Istanbul for the first time. I stayed three weeks before I had to leave for Jordan to photograph Syrian refugees for Caritas, a Czech NGO. I returned to Istanbul again in March, and stayed until beginning of April. Three times I changed my plane ticket to stay a little longer, and it was worth it. Istanbul deserves it because it is a great and interesting city. I didn’t have any themes to document, so I wandered the streets, away from typical tourist routes, with my analog camera, trying to capture the daily life of “Istanbullus”. I walked everyday from the Czech Embassy where I was staying to different parts of Istanbul. I went to Fatih where immigrants from the region have settled, immigrants who practice a very conservative Islam faith. Here bearded men in baggy shalwar and women in long black dresses are very common. I enjoyed picnics on weekends on long strips of green lawn along the Halic, (Golden Horn) shore. Traditional Turkish hospitality was felt at every corner, countless time I was offered a bite of something off of one of those grills and a cup of freshly brewed tea. One day I was strolling on Tarlabasi Boulevard and I noticed on one side abandoned houses with crumbling walls, broken doors and windows. Not far from the boulevard on the other side is Istiklal Caddesi, one of the most famous avenues in Istanbul, full of shops, restaurants, bars and night clubs. Such a big contrast between these two streets so close to each other. I decided to go and see what is behind these empty houses, in this part of Istanbul called Tarlabasi. I walked through the narrow streets where I met Kurds who moved from eastern Turkey into Tarlabasi in the 1990s. I sat outside with Roma women and watched the world go by. I spoke with migrants from neighbouring countries and from Africa. I fell in love with this place. I fell in love with Istanbul, with its people, and with a city where religious history remains multicultural.

Photos
42
Status
Public
Created
Sep 26, 2013
Updated
Feb 09, 2022
Categories
Urban & Street Photography Documentary
Tags
#Europe #Urban #B&W #Street Photography #City

Photos (42)

A man jumps from a small fishing boat onto the shore of Golden Horn.
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A group of Kurdish men drink tea and play cards in a tea shop.
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A boy struggles with his hand cart that is full of cardboard and plastic for recycling.
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A man feeds a stray dog in a park. No reliable count exists, but according to estimates, the dogs number about one hundred thousand.
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A man plays with a stray cat outside a mosque.
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A boy chases pigeons, causing them to fly into the air, in front of Yeni Cami (New Mosque).
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A young girl standing in a children's playground in a park in Fener.
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A street vendor, walks among the rush hour traffic selling sokak simit (crisp, ring-shaped rolls covered with sesame seeds) that he carries on a board on his head.
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A Roma woman walks on the street of Tarlabasi.
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A man, standing beside boats moored on the Golden Horn shore, takes a drink from a bottle of Efes beer.
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A couple, sitting on a bench, cuddle each other.
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A banana vendor eats one of his bananas as he waits to make a sale.
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Men sit on a bench next to Yeni Cami (New Mosque).
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Wicker chairs on a veranda overlooking the Bosphorus.
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An elderly man walks with the aid of a stick past the Yeni Cami (New Mosque).
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A couple sit together on a bench next to the bows of a moored ship. On the opposite bank of the Bosphorus is the Kuleli Military School.
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Women seen through a restaurant window, make Gozleme, thin layers of dough filled with cheese, meat or vegetables and toasted on a convex grill.
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A newly-wed couple pose for photographs while sitting on a child's see-saw in the partially built Macka Park.
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A woman dressed in a chador exhales smoke from a hookah (narghile, sheesha) as she sits in a park in Fener.
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A man selling candy floss walks along a street.
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A shopkeeper sits in front of his shop.
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A man tests his shooting ability by firing an air rifle at glass bottles, cigarettes and cans.
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A boy looks in the water while his mother and brother stand nearby in a waterside park.
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A man pulls cart holding a big sack for collecting cardboard and plastic for recycling.
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People enjoying a sunny day in a park near Fener Dock, beside the Golden Horn.
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A child, her arms outstretched, runs to her mother in a park near Fener Docks.
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People relax in a park near Kabatas Ferry Dock.
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A woman shelters from the rain beneath an umbrella as she walks along a narrow street.
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Laundry hangs out to dry on lines strung between two houses on opposite sides of a narrow street.
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A young woman, dressed in white, stands on the shore of the Golden Horn (Halic in Turkish).
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A shopkeeper drinks a glass of tea in while standing in front of his shop.
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Cover
People sit on plastic chairs and drink tea near the Kabatas Ferry Docks on the Sea of Marmara.
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A man and a woman leaving Yeni Cami (New Mosque).
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A lottery ticket vendor counts his takings.
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Pedestrians walk up a flight of stairs that leads to the Galata Bridge
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A boy plays hopscotch on a crumbling back street in Tarlabasi.
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A man, sitting on a bench, watches a cruise liner leaving the Port of Istanbul (Istanbul Limani).
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Two women, dressed in Chadors, laugh as they pose for a photo on the shore of the Golden Horn.
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A young man pulls a trolley loaded with cardboard for recycling along on of the city's cobbled streets.
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People relax in a park in Fener.
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Two women use the exercise machines in a park in the Fener district.
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A man stands outside a tea shop and smokes while watching a group playing cards inside.
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