Speaker A
[Music] 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
Anthony Bourdain explores Istanbul during Turkey's turbulent 2015 election, examining Erdogan's political grip, crackdowns on dissent, a construction boom, and the city's social shifts.
Key Takeaways
- Turkey's 2015 election marked a significant shift, with the AKP losing its majority and the HDP gaining parliamentary representation.
- Erdogan's government has increasingly restricted media, protest, and open discussion since the 2013 Gezi Park protests.
- Rapid construction in Istanbul is seen by critics as consumption-driven and disconnected from community or cultural needs.
- Everyday social life is becoming more politicized, with ordinary citizens and artists navigating self-censorship.
What the video covers
- Bourdain arrives in Istanbul during a critical 2015 parliamentary election that could let President Erdogan's party expand his powers.
- The episode contrasts the ruling AKP's construction-driven economic boom with fears among minority and Kurdish communities.
- Bourdain dines with a friend and discusses growing politicization of daily life, including government-influenced social norms.
- The 2013 Gezi Park protests and their brutal police crackdown are presented as a turning point that narrowed free speech and media freedom.
- Comedians Denise and Khan describe the risks of satire under an autocratic government, where even mild jokes can lead to prosecution.
- Photographer and urban planner Murat German critiques construction focused on consumption rather than culture.
- The election results show the AKP losing seats and the pro-Kurdish HDP entering parliament, reshaping the political landscape.
- Bourdain explores Istanbul's nightlife and Princes' Islands, highlighting the tension between secular urban life and conservative currents.
- Activists at Abdi Ipekci Park discuss the 2013 protests and the bonds formed under tear gas.
- The episode portrays Istanbul as a city of contrasts between rapid development, political repression, and persistent cultural vitality.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Turkey at a Political Crossroads
- 03:00Election Night and the Kurdish Vote
- 06:10Istanbul's Construction Boom and Shifting Mood
- 08:20Erdogan's Rule and the Gezi Park Legacy
- 16:20Comedy Under Censorship
- 23:40Urban Change Through a Photographer's Lens
- 36:40Nightlife, Identity and Turkish Society
- 44:00Activists, Protest Memory and Hope
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
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 uh clashes
Speaker A
erupting demonstrators throwing rocks and what happens next has implications far beyond turkey [Music] world felt the cool rain on my shoulders [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] it has been a turbulent year for turkey
Speaker A
and i arrive in istanbul at the moment of a critical election [Music] 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
Speaker A
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 [Applause] our polls are open in turkey as voters
Speaker A
choose a new parliament which could lead to big changes in the country's political system the ruling justice and development party is expected to take most of the seats but how much power the president actually has will be determined by the
Speaker A
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
Speaker A
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 their country's political landscape in a major way they said no to president rejected
Speaker A
and has pushed 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
Speaker A
voice in the government [Music] ah [Music] [Music] mushrooms [Music] 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 ezra for my first
Speaker A
meal back in country i know you like your fish with the head and the tail so this is perfect i ordered some raku oh that makes me so happy yes which is our national drink it is annie's seed and uh i am familiar
Speaker A
with this question all too familiar cheers i'll come back so since i last saw you which was 2009 2009 wow a long time ago so we stumbled looks a little different than last time i was here it looks a little more like every
Speaker A
other city yeah well construction there seems to be a lot of that going on yes your president likes to build stuff he likes to pour concrete the economy going turkey is so much politicized since the last time you came like
Speaker A
after 2011 the daily life issues like how many children you should have advising women not to laugh out loud in public things like this uh were actually uh suggested by the government now do you think this is coming from a
Speaker A
genuine ideological religious place or is this a political calculation i think it's um a genuine you're telling me that that current leadership is in in his heart is genuinely opposed to alcohol women laughing in public um maybe i don't feel comfortable answering
Speaker A
that question [Music] turkey's most famous politician 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
Speaker A
erdogan has in recent years made islamist politics mainstream and while remaining very very popular in this extremely polarized nation crack down hard on media political opposition free speech and of course demonstrations in 2013 the almost revolution in turkey
Speaker A
happened a protest to contest the proposed demolition of istanbul's gezi park resulted in a brutal crackdown by the police in response ordinary turks unconnected by any particular ideology poured into the streets with the whole world watching on social media they too were
Speaker A
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
Speaker A
foreign enemies [Music] autocrats in general are not famous for their sense of humor so it's no surprise that comedians in turkey like denise and her fiance khan walk a perilous line are these good times to be a comedian in
Speaker A
uh turkey it's definitely one of the best best times because our former prime minister support for living we don't use the names we just call him the greatness the finals yeah but all weight classes but it's basically greco-roman wrestling
Speaker A
just degree stuff 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 tell me something i want to know what are the rules of the
Speaker A
game turkish oil wrestling a big freaking salad [Music] covered with oiled men in leather pants giving each other spirited and prolonged reach-arounds oh geez [Music] can we get rights to the barry white greatest hits record or diana ross love
Speaker A
hangover or is that too obvious i like to be respectful of ancient tradition but i mean the jokes right themselves and they have what there's like ropes inside or handles or where do i get a pair of those pants
Speaker A
those are some super freaky pants and did you see the golden belt it's good too well look it's gotta be because i mean the pants are awesome imagine what the belt looks like [Music] yeah and in slang jasger means the
Speaker A
person who talks too much [Music] obviously the mood has changed a lot which is weird because everything seems to be going so well things seem to be getting more tolerant tolerance [Music] so what happens if someone doesn't like
Speaker A
yours somebody in a powerful position what happens uh depending on the degree how much if he doesn't like you how much he's offended let's say he's really eventually you go to jail for being a you know terrorist or
Speaker A
aiding and abetting the enemies of the state yes enemy out of state being in a state is the most common thing you can do right now in turkey [Music] [Applause] [Applause] is [Music] building boom or building bubble architect and city planner murat german
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has been capturing istanbul's construction boom with his camera he employs a unique method of compressing panoramas to create a striking reimagining of cityscapes reflecting perhaps more of the reality than a straight photo could [Music] i've been following what's happening in
Speaker A
istanbul because 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 and roads and all that but not necessarily
Speaker A
buildings that are related to the making of culture so 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 um
Speaker A
first things first yeah we'll save the world later uh this is pide by the way yeah and it's uh like the turkish version of pizza let's say [Music] p-day has some similarities i mean there's cheese in it dough but it's more like a calzone maybe
Speaker A
i don't know it's an efficient delivery vehicle for in this case ground meat cheese and onions and 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
Speaker A
want to see how you eat this and what do you do with that will you dip in the egg pour it in or yeah yeah exactly [Music] this is cholesterol bone we call it [Music] [Applause] there's a remarkable lack of
Speaker A
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 need long-term vision we have very short-term visions mostly
Speaker A
based on money-making when people look at the work you do setting yourself up what do you want to see first of all i really value the sustainability of a particular culture [Music] i want my work to show hey look this is what we had
Speaker A
i think we are already losing it so why don't we stop here and maybe consider doing something else [Applause] [Music] long home to tradesmen greeks jews and armenians groups whose populations are these days a tiny fraction of what they once were
Speaker A
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
Speaker A
own language that's the old idea about it so the family is armenian yes um is the food armenian this is my mom's food whatever we eat at home authentic snofs or tradesmen's restaurants are getting harder and harder to find
Speaker A
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 do you think there's there's a place in modern istanbul for romantics or will they slowly be
Speaker A
crushed by modernity almost all the protesters they were in that gizzy they were romantics they killed those people they used real guns but they were still continuing to protest nothing else [Music] so what's the future of armenians in
Speaker A
turkey will there be more armenians in in istanbul in 20 years or fewer of course it will be less less yes [Music] this turned towards a more conservative more islamist is this a political calculation or do you think this is generally genuinely
Speaker A
how how people feel now it's the way that people feel now because of the the way that i'll be president the way that he talks it's not only a political issue it's a reality itself i don't know what he has in mind
Speaker A
our president but somehow he'll let people fight with you know hate but 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 would
Speaker A
definitely leave this country wow i hope you rock i'd like to be i like 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
Speaker A
[Music] give me help and not crash my car not today maybe tomorrow i have to bust this bus if i don't pass this pulse it is a long-held belief that if you want to know the real deal what's really
Speaker A
good about a town 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 live wife is wise take it easy i don't know if that's true not in my
Speaker A
town anyway but in istanbul i know a cab driver my old friend issan hello my friend good night after all those years to meet you again what a coincidence i love that [Music] how are things in istanbul it looks very
Speaker A
different they're building stuff everywhere i don't know what happened but a lot of hotels a lot of shopping center open more restaurant open more disco more discos more disco but i thought this this is a conservative government government conservative but people and
Speaker A
they have to shake they have to drink life too short most people ask me did you make any accident and i say yes i killed two people three people hospital and when i passed cemetery i said this is east sunny
Speaker A
section they are scary really how can you ask the taxi driver did you make an accident right again we crossed the galata bridge i love here look at this city santa sophia there top cover palace there new mosque chile
Speaker A
mania golden horn i love this city [Music] come on everybody is just crazy taxi driver is nice job i love this job because you meet every time new people right and on the way [Music] dance hello everybody said it's not normal
Speaker A
nice study about ottoman how to read learning ottoman languages when you ask why ishsan to learn this because i want to read history originally probably not while driving though yeah i'm not driving but the traffic already stopped if i talk too much and you're boring and
Speaker A
i go take another taxi because i talk too much [Music] this is my home area oh yeah here you live in this neighborhood yeah we call this area locanta so this is a local favorite of yours this restaurant this restaurant i know
Speaker A
since 30 years so it's cow foot traps very nice that looks good man it's just delicious are the young people more conservative or less conservative my daughter married religious person and she has a scarf another daughter young and 18 years old short and
Speaker A
moderate they walk together one is scarf one is not right maybe one day you invite me america and i will be making belly dance on the american main road taking my body i think probably get arrested for that
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[Music] do [Music] the voice of istanbul i've had at least 30 names from new rome to islam now they say i'm between the east and the west and identity crises mine are theirs enough of this nonsense take the labels
Speaker A
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 [Music] if you're hesitant not sure which way to
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go as you walk about follow one of my cats they would 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
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[Music] a challenge to those who see the future in my past i'm an obstacle for those who see only the future [Music] i see change with the patients of centuries [Music] look at my silhouette from the bridge on
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the golden horn time has not passed me by it has protected me i ask of you the same an hour ferry ride in a world away are the princess islands in the sea of marmara [Music] gundus vasof and his friend serra yilmaz
Speaker A
have invited me for lunch actor translator uh 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 because so much words are exchanged especially in heated political
Speaker A
discussions i have become very used to and fond of this drink by the way maybe too used to it and too far they used to call it lion's milk and a famous turkish poet is known for saying i wish i could be a fish
Speaker A
in a bottle of raku sailrite prepares a traditional spread of meze turkish meze are an extremely tasty very diverse assortment of dishes originating at every corner of the former ottoman empire the ottomans liked to eat and entertain and they employed armies of cooks to
Speaker A
dazzle them with ever-changing menus variety being key circassian chicken fava beans rice with mussels eggplant stuffed grape leaves poached eggs with yogurt all classic and all delicious what shall i give you a few of everything yes please i'll put some or maybe i could
Speaker A
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
Speaker A
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 sarah are you turkish yes but it's not my fault [Laughter]
Speaker A
man this is so let me say this food is extraordinary i mean really really really amazing but when i was here last it was a very different mood now at least the tenor of the things said by the
Speaker A
government are increasingly ugly and intolerant and you've got this social activism that's very unusual certainly the government is sort of appealing to traditional islamic values whether it's for show or not there seems to be some re-evaluation of how much of a party town do we want to
Speaker A
be these days the powers that be don't like it and do they genuinely not like it or are they appealing to a political base no no no it's populism it's a political base and lots of people of course play along
Speaker A
saying that they don't want to drink etc because that's the way you get your contracts that's the way you get things done but i mean nationalism seems to be working internally yes nationalism and xenophobia it's a vote-getter almost anywhere well it's a
Speaker A
vote-getter but it's a vote loser as well in the sense that there's so much backlash what uh do what do you think's gonna happen you'll get back to normal do you think it'll go oh yeah [Music] [Music] walking down istanbul's streets it's
Speaker A
easy to forget or not take seriously the slow but certain change in attitude towards this kind of freedom [Music] the right for lack of a better term to party [Music] the akp is in power because a majority of voters put them there
Speaker A
their attitudes for better or worse reflect the attitudes of a great number of turks all right this is nuri a turkish businessman i'm glad we met you because you are an akp supporter you vote for akp yeah i did right um
Speaker A
why before economy was so bad no foreign investment interest rates were so high inflation was about 100 per year per year so it's very hard to make business in such circumstances in 2002 i had 17 employees now it's 250.
Speaker A
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
Speaker A
progress so when you saw people running out in the streets and demonstrating yeah what was your feeling they said they went there for the trees they went there for the environment but at the end they were together with
Speaker A
the terrorist people they have to accept istanbul like this we got nothing to do i cannot change it no one can change it no going back 50 years ago they could do some things but not now you're not sentimental about the old
Speaker A
neighborhoods the old uh no i got used [Music] this is the 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 uh
Speaker A
and and drink lots of gin drinks and misbehave no problem no problem this is still a party tone right we doing hard so it's all about money it's all about money everything is all about money in the world
Speaker A
who will be turkey's bestest pal internationally which way are they looking to the east of the west east russia china iran and the arabic countries because west and europe is getting weaker and weaker day by day the next 50 years is going to be the
Speaker A
era of the east not the west so these notions of like freedom of the press these are not eastern concepts nope no they're not okay i'm gonna ask a tough question is freedom of the press overrated yeah yeah
Speaker A
yeah so rated you think tightening up on the press is the 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 there it is it's the same all over the world it's
Speaker A
not typical for turkey thank you thank you this is a really bad idea okay cheers [Music] blue [Music] hey [Music] [Music] oh man i'm glad i haven't eaten yet that is pretty awesome-looking so have you ever had turkish breakfast before
Speaker A
with you i love that you even do eggs in the park pretty impressive yeah this place is called al-basala park it's a one of the last remaining parks in the vicinity since 2013 people have been gathering here in what we call forums to talk about
Speaker A
their ideas for different how can i say debates chats 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
Speaker A
important i think it's not just for us for for future residents of islam [Music] this space turns into a space of politics a space of hope against this uh system which seems to be like impossible to break actually
Speaker A
is it impossible to break no not now it was impossible a few weeks ago a few weeks ago it was impossible so you're feeling optimistic the hope is the revolution you know if you lose your hope then there's
Speaker A
nothing to do i think the tide is turning but for the uh if we compare arab spring and gaze park things i mean in the arab spring they are protesting against a dictatorship but in turkey i think we can say that there is
Speaker A
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 asked not that much but yeah by gas are you talking about pollution also tear gas oh
Speaker A
tear gas when you are getting gas 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 um because all my life i was taught to keep
Speaker A
away from different types of people like i never had a kurdish friend i never had uh people around me were all like me and i was um lacking so much richness in my life thanks to gizzy i saw everybody is
Speaker A
the same people love the real democracy in gazi people learn to speak i don't like residues tear gas connecting people serious connecting people when you just run away together [Music] democracy is always a fragile thing 92 years ago modern turkey was assembled
Speaker A
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 president
Speaker A
erdogan quickly called for new elections [Music] 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
Speaker A
advantage of an atmosphere 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
Speaker A
reason to hope [Music] you
Topics:Anthony BourdainParts UnknownIstanbulTurkeyErdogan2015 electionGezi Parkpress freedomurban developmentKurdish politics
