<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">My friends call me Ayşe Anne. (“Mother Ayşe”)</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">I am a restaurant manager and cook. If I hadn't done that, I would have wanted to take on hotel management, which I am already trained for.&nbsp;</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">According to my friends, my specialty is cooking food. Hospitality, if you ask me.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">I live in Cankurtaran in Istanbul, but in my heart I am from Büyükdere.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">If I'm not at home in the neighborhood, I'm usually&nbsp;in Giritli, my restaurant.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">If I find a beloved neighbor in the community I live in, I feel like I belong there.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the neighborhood, I like walking on the shore the most because&nbsp;the seaside gives me peace with the smell of iodine and the southwester.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the morning, I start my day by drinking mint tea around 7-8 a.m. I don't end the day without a glass of wine.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">When I'm looking for a quick chitchat in the neighborhood, I go out the door.&nbsp;I speak with all the neighbors or the children of the neighborhood.&nbsp;</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Only a true Cankurtaran local, who is fond of their stomach, knows that Giritli is the hood tavern.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">You can find the songs that are currently playing at Giritli in <a fr-original-style="" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3T1XoD2CDksISSM0XoGE80?si=TtHlvZI3T2ysKMyiKBldxQ&nd=1&utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">this playlist</a>. This is mostly the ones I gathered during my travels to Greece.</li></ul>

Spring, 2023. 163 acres of land. In between Topkapı Palace and Sarayburnu. Green as far as the eye can see. But I feel blue. I am in the middle of one of the biggest parks in Istanbul: Gülhane. The witness of Tanzimat Edict, of the Spring and Flower Festival, of the Archeology Museum. Whose is it today?&nbsp;A couple, younger than the cedar trees, looking at the view where the trees sway in the sky like the arteries of the city. Long-bearded old men walking on the back of their shoes are in a hurry. Children calmly pass by. Some of them have bagels in their hands, handed to them by their parents and eaten without appetite. On one side are tourists with bags of Turkish delight and candy walking without knowing where they are going. A child holding a Turkish flag, questioning whether Atatürk spoke to the trees in the park.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/2/5/1678435023630.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">To Cankurtaran<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">"The number of foreign tourists coming to Istanbul in 2022 was 16 million 18 thousand 726, an increase of 77 percent compared to the previous year. Fatih hosted more than 29 million tourists in the first 8 months of last year." These things came to my mind while my eyes followed the hotel signs and my ears followed the hum of the tram and the crowd. Armada, Sumengen, Sultan, Avrasya, Blu. "When the data for 2021 is analyzed, we see that the highest number of overnight stays in Istanbul is Fatih with a number over 4 million." There are 2878 tourism facilities in Fatih. Or was it 278? I found the answer when I stopped in front of the market called "Discount", in English.&nbsp;Today, I passed one stop, a few centuries, and I don't know how many areas are occupied by touristic facilities. From Gülhane to Giritli, where hope and despair stand side by side waiting for tulip bulbs to bloom. I walked towards Ayşe’s (Şensılay) house, the heart of Cankurtaran which is one of 57 neighborhoods of the Fatih district, the furthest point of the Historical Peninsula. To reduce the noise of the madding crowd and listen to the sounds of the neighborhood. Loudly.From Gülhane to Giritli.Istanbul, March 9, 2023Elif

Istanbul based urban culture magazine documenting cities through their neighborhoods and communities. 

A collective and traveling culture magazine uncovering the cities in neighborhoods, with their people. 

Soli

Neighborhood: Cankurtaran. Local: Ayşe Şensılay.

📍 Cankurtaran, Ayşe Şensılay

Seyahat

Kültür hakkında yayımlanan makaleler ve yayınlar

Kültür

A gathering around the dining table in Cankurtaran, present company includes regulars, a few tek (glasses of single rakı) and heart-to- heart conversations. Across the crowd sits Ayşe Anne. She starts talking. 