Select a Florist |
|
|
[EXPAT VOICE]
‘Out of this nettle, danger, we pick this flower, safety’ |
Many of Shakespeare’s plays are based
on historical facts, and although embellished for dramatic
purposes, they do give us a glimpse of the way life was lived
prior to the 15th century.
In “King Henry IV (Part 1),” the ageing King Henry IV is faced
with rebellion from both the Welsh and the Scots. Before even successfully taking
the kingdom from Henry, the Welsh and Scot rebels start dividing the spoil. Talk
about counting your chickens before they are hatched! The royalists win in the
end and all “the bad guys” are killed. Shakespeare was writing Hollywood
scripts when LA was just a hillside brooding over a desert landscape.
News broadcasts and much of today’s cinema and television are filled with
violent scenes that depict just how dangerous the mean streets of Todaysville
really are. While we have come to accept the fact that downtown Baghdad, Beirut
or even Boston are in their own ways, dangerous places to live, we may be less
aware of the perils lurking around the corners of our own familiar streets.
I have been asked by this newspaper to comment on whether İstanbul is a
safe city, in comparison to others in which I have lived, mainly in Europe. The
short answer is, “Yes.” According to an article in Today’s
Zaman on Friday Oct. 12, crime in İstanbul is down by 25 percent. Much of
this is ascribed to new technology and the strengthening of the metropolitan
police force. Certainly, the fact that the police and security services have
been given wider powers of stop and search must have contributed to a safer environment,
even if we may think it is something of a limitation on civil liberties.
Apart from acts of terrorism, which have unfortunately escalated again in recent
weeks, there is remarkably little violent armed crime considering just how populated İstanbul
has become these days, (realistically about 20 million today). On the other hand,
domestic violence and deaths caused by the random shooting of guns as a means
of celebration [sic] continue to be a problem here. Unlike the United States,
which has an ingrained gun culture, only the police, gendarmerie, licensed security
guards and the military are authorized to carry weapons in this country, which
means that there is much less risk of being gunned down in the street than in
New York or anywhere else in the States for that matter. Another killing spree
in an American college last week highlights, once again, the hazards of living
in such a violent culture.
That is not to say that there is no crime in İstanbul, as many of you must
be aware, (57,123 incidents reported this year down from 76,285 last year, according
to statistics, as reported in Today’s Zaman Oct. 12-13, page 3). That being
said, I have only been burglarized once in 10 years. I have been pick-pocketed
twice and our car, along with others then without alarm systems in our parking
lot, was broken into late last year. Other than these events, I have to say that
living in İstanbul causes me less worry than say Glasgow, London or Paris.
And don’t even talk to me about American cities!
However, it is not just in North America where we might justifiably walk in fear
of our lives. Gun crime in English cities is on the increase. A recent article
in The Guardian began as follows: “Hundreds of Polish migrants have decided
to leave Britain, blaming high crime levels and racism for their premature return
to Eastern Europe.
“As Scotland Yard detectives continued to investigate last night the shooting
of Magda Pniewska, 26, from Brzeg, southern Poland, representatives of Britain’s
600,000-strong Polish community cited Britain’s inner-city violence for
encouraging people to leave.
“The Polish care worker was shot dead on her way home from work last week
after being caught in the crossfire of a gun battle in south London.” And
this is only the latest in a number of recent gun-related deaths in British cities,
even though carrying arms is also illegal under British law.
In general then, I would say that living in İstanbul does not cause me too
much worry. Indeed, İstanbul has been declared the safest major city in
the world, according to an EU study carried out in March of this year. I can
quite believe it. Nevertheless, certain precautions should be taken, as crowds
of people living together, along with huge disparities in conspicuous wealth
remain tempting circumstances for often unpremeditated or “opportunistic” crime.
There was a spate of handbag snatching in upscale areas like Kadıköy’s
Bağdat Caddesi not so long ago, and the back streets off İstiklal Caddesi
or behind Kadıköy’s rıhtım (docks) area are not places
to frequent late at night. Some of my friends have been mugged or otherwise assaulted
over the years I have been here, so it pays to be vigilant. Withdrawing cash
from an ATM can also be risky, but I have noticed that people usually give you
space to carry out your transaction. If you need cash at night, try to use an
ATM machine in a well-lit and populated area and remain alert.
All this being said, however, there are some kinds of what I might call “harassment,” that
do not constitute a crime per se, but which are still forms of aggression. Many
foreign women working here feel very uncomfortable with the way they are ogled
by Turkish men. My daughter, who is now 28 years old, is a beautiful, blonde,
blue-eyed woman. She visited me here a few years ago and dressed in the way she
would in London. Unfortunately she almost stopped traffic as she walked with
me along the streets of İstanbul. In restaurants waiters paid us an inordinate
amount of attention. This is an unfortunate fact of life here, so if you are
a “typical” Western woman living and working here, you may well have
to get used to dressing and acting in a more “modest” way than you
may be used to at home, even in İstanbul which prides itself on its westernized
lifestyle. The daily commute to and from work can be stressful and harrowing,
too, on the traffic-congested roads or the overcrowded buses and minibuses. Here
again, vigilance is the key word, even though İstanbul’s integrated
transport system is gradually and perhaps, surprisingly, becoming the envy of
other world-class cities.
Living in a major world city is always going to be risky, but then again, what
isn’t these days? In Shakespeare’s “King Henry IV (Part 1),” Hotspur
(Henry Percy) is reading a letter. One line in it says, “The purpose you
undertake is dangerous.” To which Hotspur muses out loud: “Why, that’s
certain: ‘tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink, but I tell
you... out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.” As long
as we all remain sensible, careful and vigilant, we can “grasp the nettle” and
experience one of the safest metropolitan lifestyles in the world, as well as
enjoying the flowers (or the fruit) of it, which can give us so much entertainment,
education and fulfillment. |
 |
|
By: ASHLEY PERKS İSTANBUL
|
|
