Original subtitles

♪

Modern Turkey was founded in 1923

on the principles of secular, democratic statehood

after centuries of empire.

It has been the most turbulent year in a decade

of Turkey's political history.

Turkey has set a new course.

One that many hoped would carry it into the European Union.

There's clearly a significant portion

of the Turkish population that's not happy

with the policies

of the democratically elected government.

But things have changed.

They are changing.

You get clashes erupting,

demonstrators throwing rocks.

And what happens next has

implications far beyond Turkey.

♪ I took a walk through this beautiful world ♪

♪ Felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good in this beautiful world ♪

♪ I felt the rain getting colder ♪

♪ Sha la la la la

♪ Sha la la la la la

♪ Sha la la la la

♪ Sha la la la la la la

It has been a turbulent year for Turkey.

And I arrive in Istanbul at the moment of a critical election.

The question on everyone's mind

is whether the current president and his ruling party

- will win a large enough majority to change - the constitution,

Potentially allowing him to stay in power indefinitely.

These have been good times for some.

Particularly in the construction and

development business.

And fearful ones for others.

They are particularly concerned about what happens next,

for instance, in the Kurdish parts of town.

♪

Our polls are opening.

Turkey's voters choose a new parliament,

- which could lead to big changes in the country's - political system.

The ruling justice and

development parties

expected to take most of the seats.

But how much power the

president actually has

will be determined by the success or failure

of the Kurdish Party.

The HDP, originally a

Kurdish political party,

has sought to unite the disparate voices

calling for change

in response to 13 years of what has essentially been

one-party rule by the AKP.

So history, whatever it might be, is about to happen.

Just in the past hour, polls have closed in the country's

parliamentary elections.

♪

Voters in Turkey have just shaken up the country's

political landscape in a major way.

They said no to placing Recep Tayyip Erdogan

in his push for more power over the constitution.

The ruling AKP party did not

win the majority

its president had hoped for.

In fact, they lost seats in parliament,

and for the first time the pro-Kurdish party

gained enough votes to earn a real voice in the government.

♪

♪

We are at the very tip of

Istanbul next to the black sea,

so the ships that are going by here,

they're basically going to Russia.

I meet an old friend, Esra, for my first meal

back in country.

I know you like your fish with the head and tail.

I do. This is perfect.

I ordered some ruku.

That makes me so happy.

Yes, which is our national drink.

It is aniseed and...

I am familiar with this, all too familiar.

Cheers. Welcome back.

So since I last saw you, which was in 2009.

2009. Wow. Long time ago.

- So Istanbul looks a little different than - last time I was here.

It looks a little more like every other city.

Yeah.

Well, construction.

There seems to be a lot of that going on.

Yes.

Your president likes to build stuff.

Pour concrete.

He keeps the economy going.

Turkey's so much politicized since the last time you came,

like after 2011, the daily life issues

like, um, how many children you should have,

advising women not have laugh out loud in public,

things like this were actually suggested by the government.

Right. Do you think this is coming from

a genuine ideological religious place

or is this a political calculation?

I think it's a genuine.

You're telling me that current leadership is,

in his heart,

is genuinely opposed to alcohol,

women laughing in public?

Um...

maybe I don't feel comfortable answering that question.

Okay.

Turkey's most famous politician, Recep Tayyip

Erdogan.

He is the power

and has been the power in one form or another

for more than a decade.

He is the face of Turkey's ruling justice and development - party,

The AKP.

Erdogan has in recent years made Islamism politics

mainstream

and while remaining very, very popular in this extremely

polarized nation,

cracked down hard on media, political opposition,

free speech, and, of course, demonstrations.

In 2013, the almost revolution in Turkey happened.

A protest to contest the proposed demolition of

Istanbul's Gezzi Park

resulted in a brutal crackdown by the police.

In response, ordinary Turks unconnected by any ideology

poured into the streets.

With the whole world watching on social media,

they, too, were met with force.

In the end, Erdogan remained firmly in control

and there were repercussions for many who had supported

the protest.

From that point on, media, social media,

even open discussion of issues or events,

became treated as hostile acts by foreign enemies.

♪

- Autocrats, in general, are not famous for their - sense of humor,

So it's no surprise that comedians in Turkey,

like Denise and her fiancé Han,

walk a perilous line.

Are these good times to be a comedian in Turkey?

It's definitely one of the best times

because our former prime minister needs my

support for a living. We don't use the names.

We just call him The Greatness.

Or, you know...

♪

I guess they're running the finals.

The finals. Yes.

But all weight classes.

But it's basically Greco-Roman wrestling.

Just greased up.

- As I understand it, you can't choke with - two hands, only one.

Yes.

But you can just slip your hand...

Right down into some greasy ass crack.

And grab whatever's...

That's OK.

♪ Tell me something ♪

♪ I want to know what are the rules of the game ♪

♪

Turkish oil wrestling.

A big freaking salad

covered with oiled men in leather pants,

giving each other spirited and prolonged reach-arounds.

Oh, geez.

Can we get rights to the Barry White greatest hits record or

Diana Ross "Love Hangover," or is that too obvious?

I like to be respectful of ancient tradition,

but the jokes write themselves.

What, there's, like, ropes inside or handles?

Where do I get a pair of those pants?

Those are some super freaky pants.

Did you see the golden belts? It's good, too.

It's got to be because the pants are awesome.

Imagine what the belt looks like.

♪

Does he stop yelling at some point?

The announcer's called "Jasgar."

Yeah.

And in slang, it means person who talks too much.

It's too loud.

It's time for political end.

Lots changed since your last visit.

Obviously the mood has changed a lot,

which is weird because everything

seemed to be going so well.

Things seemed to be getting more tolerant.

Tolerance level is so low these days.

Right.

People taking sides don't like the other one.

These people don't like our kind.

So what happens if someone

doesn't like your joke?

Somebody in a powerful position does not like your comedy.

What happens?

Depending on the degree how

much he doesn't like you,

how much he's offended.

Let's say he's really offended.

You go to jail.

Or being, you know, terrorist or...

Aiding and abetting the enemies of the state.

Yes. Enemy of the state.

Being enemy of the state is most common thing

you can do right now in Turkey.

They're asking for more oil.

More oil, immediately.

♪

Building boom or building bubble.

Architect and city planner Luda Garman

has been capturing Istanbul's construction

boom with his camera.

He employs a unique method of compressing panoramas

to create a striking reimagining of city scapes,

reflecting, perhaps, more of the reality than

a straight photo could.

I've been following what's happening in Istanbul because

it's my hometown,

and what's happening is that the new government

is basing the supposedly booming economy totally

on construction.

So what they did is they started to build high-rise housing,

shopping malls, roads, and all that,

but not necessarily buildings that are related

to the making of culture.

All this construction is related to consumption.

Well, are these spaces needed?

At whatever income level,

will somebody be living in these buildings?

That's a very good question. I'm asking the same question.

Yeah.

First things first.

Yeah.

We'll save the world later.

This is the Turkish version of pizza, let's say.

♪

Pita has some similarities.

I mean, there's cheese in it.

Dough.

But it's more like a calzone maybe.

I don't know.

It's an efficient delivery vehicle for, in this this case,

ground meat, cheese, and onions.

A not so little torpedo straight from, I was going to - say "flavor town,"

But no, that would be wrong.

I want to see what you do with this.

I want to see how you eat this.

What do you do with that... you dip in the egg?

Pour it in?

Exactly.

♪

Mm.

This is... cholesterol bomb, we call it.

♪

There's a remarkable lack of sentimentality

about really one of the most uniquely glorious

looking spaces anywhere.

Why don't they care?

I agree. There's a lack of sentimentality,

and there's also a lack of vision, I believe,

hometown vision.

We have very short-term visions.

Mostly based on money making.

When people look at the work

you do set in Istanbul,

what do you want them to see?

First of all, I really value the sustainability of our

political culture.

I want my work to show, hey, look, this is what we had.

I think we are already losing it,

so why don't we stop here and maybe consider doing

something else?

♪

Nachambe Pozer, long home to tradesmen,

Greeks, Jews, and Armenians.

Groups whose populations are these days a tiny fraction

of what they once were.

This neighborhood like many in Istanbul

is slated for redevelopment in the name of urban renewal.

Wow, look at that.

It's a lot of food.

Cesar and his family have been running a restaurant here

for nearly 20 years.

♪

The way that we make the food, it's our own language.

That's the whole idea about it.

So your family's Armenian.

Yes.

Is the food Armenian?

This is my mom's food. Whatever we eat at home.

Authentic tradesmen's restaurants are getting harder

and harder to find.

Most are family-owned businesses.

The kind of place where you can get a classic home-style meal

of traditional dishes.

You're clearly romantic.

Do you think there is a place in modern Istanbul

for romantics or will they be crushed by modernity?

Almost all the protestors, they were romantics.

They killed those people. They used real guns,

but they will still continue to protest.

Nothing else.

So what's the future of Armenians in Turkey?

Will there be more Armenians in Istanbul in 20 years or fewer?

Of course it will be less.

Less? Yes.

This turn towards a more conservative, more Islamist,

is this a political calculation

or do you think this is generally, genuinely,

how people feel now?

It's the way that people feel now.

Because of the way that our dear president,

the way that he talks,

it's not only political issue, it's reality.

I don't know what he has in mind, our president,

but somehow he let people fight with hate.

I believe that hate will be, you know,

it will make our end soon.

That's what I'm afraid of.

That's why I'm telling you that young generation, Armenians,

they will definitely leave this country.

Wow! I hope you're wrong. I like to be...

I mean, I'm not really an optimistic person,

but I hope you're wrong about Istanbul,

because it's an amazing place.

I hope you will be the one who's right.

Hold on.

Give me help and not crash my car.

Not today, maybe tomorrow.

I have to pass this bus.

If I don't pass this bus... Yo!

It is a long-held belief

that if you want to know the real deal,

what's really good about a town...

What a life.

...if you want to know where to find the good stuff,

you ask a cab driver.

I don't know wrong way, right way.

Life is life, what is what.

Take it easy.

I don't know if that's true. Not in my town, anyway.

But in Istanbul, I know a cab driver.

My old friend, Esan.

Hello, my friend. Good to see you.

After all those years. To meet again.

What a coincidence.

I love that.

♪

So how are things in Istanbul? It looks very different.

They're building stuff everywhere.

I don't know what they're talking about.

Hello, top hotel, hello, top shopping center open,

more restaurant open, more disco open.

More discos? More discos.

I thought this is a conservative government.

Government conservative, but people,

and they have to shake, they have to drink.

Life too short.

Most people ask me, did you make an accident?

And I say, yes, I killed two people, three people hospital

and then I pass cemetery. I say this is Esan's section.

They are scared.

Really?

How can you ask a taxi driver, did you make an accident?

Right.

Again, we cross the Galata bridge.

I love here.

Look at this city.

Santa Sophia there, Topkapi Palace there,

new mosque, Sulaymaniyah,

Golden Horn.

I love this city.

Yahoo!

Come on, everybody!

Esan has gone crazy!

Taxi driver is nice job.

I love this job because you meet every time new people.

Right.

And on the way, you never get upset.

Right.

I wish I dance, but I dance belly dance.

♪

Wow.

Come on. Ah!

Everybody say this not normal.

I study about Ottoman,

how to read, learn Ottoman languages.

When you ask why Esan to learn this?

Because I want to read history, original.

Probably not while driving.

Not driving. But traffic already stopped.

I talk too much, boring, and I go.

Take another taxi, 'cause I talk too much.

This is my home area.

Oh, yeah, you live

in this neighborhood?

Yeah. We call this area Lokanta.

So this is a local favorite of yours, this restaurant?

This restaurant I know since 30 years.

♪

So it's cow foot, tripes.

Right. Very nice.

That looks good.

Man, this is just delicious.

Are the young people

more conservative or less conservative?

My daughter married, religious person,

and she has a scarf.

Another daughter, young, 18 years old,

short and moderate.

They walk together.

One is scarf, one is not.

Right.

Maybe one day you invite me to America,

and I will be making... Done.

Belly dance on American main road.

Shaking my body.

I think... probably get arrested for that.

♪

The voice of Istanbul.

I've had at least 30 names.

From New Rome to Islambul.

Now they say I'm between the east and the west,

an identity crisis.

Mine or theirs?

Enough of this nonsense.

Take the labels off and just look at me.

You won't need a guidebook.

Like all cities, I have my own sense of time.

I'm a labyrinth of layers...

that only makes sense without a compass.

♪

If you're hesitant,

not sure which way to go as you walk about,

follow one of my cats.

They will lead you to places, introduce you to people,

point out secrets they keep even from me.

They, more than anyone,

are the longest continuing residents of the city.

♪

A challenge to those who see the future in my past,

I'm an obstacle for those who see only the future.

I see change with the patience of centuries.

Look at my silhouette from the bridge on the Golden Horn.

Time has not passed me by, it has protected me.

I ask of you the same.

An hour ferry ride and a world away

are the Prince's Islands in the Sea of Marmara.

Gunduz Vassaf and his friend Serra Yilmaz

have invited me for lunch.

Actor, translator.

Yeah.

Philosopher. Poet.

Are these good times to be a poet in Turkey?

It is, actually, because it's a way to bring down the noise

in a way because so much words are exchanged

especially in heated political discussions.

I have become very used to and fond of this drink,

by the way.

Maybe too used to it and too fond of it.

They used it call it lime's milk.

A poet was famous for saying I wish I could be a fish in the

bottle of ruku.

Sera prepares a traditional spread of mezay.

Turkish mezay are an extremely tasty,

very diverse assortment of dishes originating

at every corner of the former Ottoman Empire.

The Ottomans like to eat and entertain

and employed armies of cooks to dazzle them

with ever-changing menus.

Variety being key.

Sircasian chicken.

Fava beans.

Rice with mussels.

Eggplant.

Stuffed grape leaf.

Poached eggs with yogurt.

All classic and all delicious.

What shall I give you?

A few of everything?

Yes, please.

I'll put some... maybe I could give you some

chicken already.

Make room for that, I think. Here we go.

Wow, it's really pretty.

Am I getting a distorted picture of Turkey

by spending all of my time in Istanbul?

It's very different than the rest of the country, yeah?

How different?

But I think in Istanbul,

you have all the different parts of Turkey also.

What does it mean to be Turkish?

What do you think?

Serra, are you Turkish?

Yes, but it's not my fault.

Man, this is so... let me say, this food is extraordinary.

I mean really, really amazing.

When I was here last, it was a very different mood.

Now at least the tenner of the things said by the government

are increasingly ugly.

And intolerant.

You've got this social activism that's very unusual.

Certainly the government is appealing

to traditional Islamic values whether it's for show or not,

there seems to be some reevaluation of

how much of a party town do we want to be?

These days, the powers that be don't like it.

Do they genuinely not like it,

or are they appealing to a political base?

Oh, no, it's populism. It's a political base.

And lots of people, of course, play along

saying that they don't want to drink, et cetera,

because that's the way you get your contracts,

that's the way you get things done.

Nationalism seems to be working internally.

Yes.

Nationalism and xenophobia,

it's a vote getter almost anywhere.

It's a vote getter but it's a vote loser as well

in the sense that there's so much backlash.

What do you think's going to happen?

It'll get back to normal.

You think it will... Oh, yeah.

♪

♪

Walking down Istanbul streets,

it's easy to forget or not take seriously

the slow but certain change in attitude

toward this kind of freedom.

♪

The right, for lack of a better term, to party.

♪

The AKP is in power

because a majority of voters put them there.

Their attitudes, for better or worse,

reflect the attitudes of a great number of Turks.

All right, man.

This is Nuri, a Turkish businessman.

I'm glad we met you because you are an AKP supporter.

You voted for AKP.

Yeah, I did. Right.

Why?

Before, economy was so bad,

no foreign investment.

Interest rates were so high.

Inflation was about 100 percent per year.

So it's very hard to make business in such circumstances.

In 2002, I had 78 employees.

Now it's 250.

Since I got here, I've been talking to a lot of people

who are very upset about the environment,

they're upset about the destruction of old,

beautiful buildings.

To a great extent,

they do not like what much of the world would call progress.

So when you saw people running out in the streets and - demonstrating,

What was your feeling?

They said they went there for the tress, the environment,

but at the end, they worked together to raise people.

We have to accept Istanbul like this.

We've got nothing to do. I cannot change it.

No one can change it.

No going back.

Fifty years ago, they could do some things, but not now.

You're not sentimental about the old neighborhoods,

the old...

No. I got used to it.

♪

This is a party town.

This is a nightclub town.

The impression is that there's some ambivalence there.

Ten years from now,

will we be able to come to this bar or a bar like it

and drink lots of gin drinks and misbehave?

No problem?

No problem I think.

This is a party town.

Right.

We drink hard.

So it's all about money.

It's all about money.

Everything is all about money in the world.

Who will be Turkey's bestest pal internationally?

Which way are they looking?

To the east or the west?

East. Russia.

China.

Vietnam.

And the Arabic countries.

At west, Europe is getting weaker and weaker day by day.

In the next 50 years, it's going to be the era of the East,

not the West.

Uh-huh.

So these notions of like freedom of the press

these are not eastern concepts?

No. They're not.

I'm going to ask you a tough one.

Is freedom of the press overrated?

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's overrated.

You think tightening up on the press is a sacrifice

that you're willing to make for a good economy?

I don't want to put words in your mouth,

but prosperity for the majority.

It's the same all over the world.

It's not typical for Turkey.

Right.

That's life.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

This is a really bad idea. Okay.

Cheers. Cheers.

Nostrovia. Nostrovia.

♪

Hi! Of course, good to see you.

Welcome to our park.

Oh man.

I'm glad I haven't eaten yet.

That is pretty awesome-looking.

So have you ever had Turkish breakfast before?

With you.

I love that you even do eggs in the park.

Pretty impressive.

Yeah, this place is called...

It's one of the last remaining parks in the vicinity.

Since 2013, people have been gathering here

in what we call forums

to talk about their ideas for different,

how can I say... Debates.

Chats. Uh-huh.

Different people gathering here at night, after work.

And then talking, trying to find solutions, right.

We didn't have any other place to go.

So we came here.

Why is it so important?

I think it's not just for us,

for future residents of Istanbul.

This turns into a space of politics, a space of hope,

against a system which seems to be impossible to break.

Is it impossible to break?

No, not now.

It was impossible a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago it was impossible.

You're feeling optimistic?

The hope is the revolution, you know.

If you lose your hope, then there's nothing to do.

I think the tide is turning.

If you compare Arab Spring and this park...

In the Arab Spring they are protesting against a

dictatorship,

but in Turkey, I think there is democracy.

Esra and her friends,

- previously unlikely to have known, much less come - to like one another

Were brought together by circumstances.

Have you been gassed?

Not that much.

By gassed, you're talking about pollution?

Tear gas.

Oh, tear gas.

When you are getting gassed together,

you really connect through life or death situations.

You hold each other and run away together.

It was a very actually emotional thing for me.

Because all my life, I was taught to keep away

from different types of peoples.

Like I never had the Kurdish friend,

I had never had people that was all like me,

and I was lacking so much richness in my life.

Thanks to that, everybody's the same.

People are a real democracy.

People learn to speak...

Tear gas connecting people.

Tear gas connecting people.

You run away together.

Democracy is always a fragile thing.

92 years ago, modern Turkey was assembled

from the fragments of the Ottoman Empire.

It has always struggled to find a balance

between those in power and the consent

of its widely diverse population.

Since the filming of this episode,

Turkey's newly elected parliament

failed to form a coalition,

and the president quickly called for new elections.

At the same time,

- he's revved up military action against Kurdish - opposition forces

In both southeastern Turkey

and across the border in Kurdish Iraq.

Many claim that he effectively plunged Turkey into conflict

in a bid to take advantage of fear and uncertainty

and improve his party's chances of success.

This is not an unreasonable assumption on anyone's part.

Fear works.

Fear, gets votes.

The opposition had hoped that the tide was turning.

It remains to be seen if they have any reason to hope.