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RECORDINGS
One of the earliest sources for this book was the album Istanbul 1925 (Traditional Crossroads, 1994), the work of the violinist and sound engineer Harold G. Hagopian, who accessed the original metallic masters of Columbia recordings from the 1920s and re-created an audible world that few people remembered ever existed. His Traditional Crossroads label has gone on to issue several other period recordings, including the haunting Women of Istanbul (1998), where I first listened to Roza Eskenazi, and two volumes of Udi Hrant’s early work. More recently, Ian Nagoski has cataloged the musical world of the “Ottoman diaspora” in America after the First World War on the album To What Strange Place (Tompkins Square, 2011).
The rerelease of old recordings is a booming business in Turkey, and at the center of it is Kalan Müzik, a company that has reissued a trove of Greek, Armenian, and other music of Istanbul’s minority cultures, as well as the forgotten art of Turkish tango and bel canto. I first heard the voice of Seyyan on Kalan Müzik’s Seyyan Hanım: Tangolar (1996). The same company’s Kantolar: 1905–1945 (1998) is an introduction to the light music of the Istanbul stage.
GLOSSARY
Alevis community of Muslims whose beliefs combine elements of Shi’a Islam and Sufi traditions
aliyah bet illegal Jewish immigration to Mandate-era Palestine
bey gentleman; man of rank
caique narrow, oared boat used on the Bosphorus and Golden Horn
caliph supreme spiritual leader in Islam; title claimed by Ottoman sultans until the caliphate’s abolition in 1924
çaraf Islamic female covering, typically black and draping the entire body
cherkeska long tunic with small ammunition-holders on the chest worn by men from the Caucasus
Circassians cultural group with ties to the historic region of Circassia in the northwest Caucasus in modern-day Russia
dervish adherent of a Sufi religious order
Emniyet Turkish secret police
esnaf guild of tradesmen or artisans
ezan Islamic call to prayer
gazi conqueror or hero in Islamic warfare
hamal porter
han hostel or boardinghouse, typically for traveling traders
hanım lady; woman of rank
harem household; wives and concubines of the sultan or other Ottoman men of rank
haremlik; Harem private portion of a traditional household reserved for family use
imam leader in Islamic worship
inkılâp revolution
janissaries elite infantry of the Ottoman Empire before the 1820s
lâiklik secularism; state management of religious institutions
Karagöz traditional entertainment featuring semitransparent puppets on a backlit screen
Kemalism political ideology of modernity and secularism associated with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Ladino language of Sephardic Jews, based on Spanish and written in either Hebrew or Latin script; also called Judeo-Spanish
mahalle neighborhood
meyhane restaurant typically serving wine, raki, and small plates of food
millet Ottoman legal category defined by membership in a religious community (e.g., Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Armenian Apostolic Christians, Jews)
millet system religious self-government in the Ottoman Empire, based on quasi autonomy of millets
muezzin cantor who delivers the Islamic call to prayer
muhacirs Muslim refugees, especially from the Balkans and the Caucasus
OGPU Stalinist secret police and predecessor of KGB
OSS Office of Strategic Services; American intelligence organization and predecessor of CIA
oud musical instrument resembling a Western lute
pasha military general or high-ranking official
patriarch supreme leader of an independent Orthodox Christi
an church
raki anise-flavored liqueur
rebetiko urban folk music associated with Greeks originally from Smyrna and Istanbul (also spelled rembetiko)
selâmlık public portion of a traditional household used for business or receiving guests; also, the sultan’s public procession to Friday prayers
Sephardim Jews from the Iberian Peninsula who immigrated to the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century
eyhülislam chief Islamic cleric
sharia Islamic canon law
sheikh Islamic religious leader or saint, especially in Sufi orders
Shi’a community of Muslims who recognize the spiritual successors to the Prophet Muhammad through Ali, his son-in-law
SOE Special Operations Executive; British intelligence service
Sufi general term for a number of ecstatic or mystical religious orders in Islam, typically associated with a founding sage
sultan ruler of the Ottoman Empire
Sunni community of Muslims who recognize the spiritual successors to the Prophet Muhammad through a line of caliphs
sürgün forced resettlement
Tanzimat period of centralization, reform, and modernization in the Ottoman Empire, 1839–1876
tekke Sufi lodge or meeting house
tulumbacı foot-borne fireman
türbe mausoleum, especially of an Islamic sage or holy person
Unionists members of the Committee of Union and Progress, the makers of the 1908 revolution; also known as Young Turks
wagon-lit sleeping carriage on a train
yalı house near the water on the Bosphorus, typically made from ornately mitered wood
yishuv Jewish community in Mandate-era Palestine
Young Turks see Unionists
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“They are all writing their Turkey books,” says Aunt Dot in Rose Macaulay’s novel The Towers of Trebizond. This one is mine.
Depending on how you count, it has taken three years or twenty-seven. I have been enchanted by Istanbul since I first arrived there—with a backpack and my college roommate, now Kevin Crumpton, MD—in the summer of 1987. It is one place, perhaps the only place, that has seemed entirely fresh and surprising to me on every visit. Across more than a quarter century, I have had many people to thank for acquainting me with it.
Through the kindness of Hakan Altınay, Tony Greenwood, and Kaan Önal, I have had the pleasure of staying in three of Istanbul’s most intriguing neighborhoods: Rumelihisarı, Kuzguncuk, and Arnavutköy. Tony, as director of the indispensable American Research Institute in Turkey, always provided an excuse to return to Arnavutköy for insightful conversation and good fish. Michael Thumann and Susanne Landwehr were fonts of wisdom about contemporary politics and society. I have learned a great deal from two former students of mine, Dr. Lerna Yanık and Dr. Nora Fisher Onar, who have made Turkey their passion. A string of Turkish language instructors, most recently Zeynep Gür, have tried to twist my brain around subordinate clauses. Present and former colleagues Gábor Ágoston, Mustafa Aksakal, Sylvia Önder, Scott Redford, Sabri Sayarı, and the late Faruk Tabak were unfailingly kind to a novice in their field.
This book relies in part on the work of specialists from a variety of different domains that are not normally put together, such as Turkey, Trotsky, and tango. I am grateful to the many historians and others whose writings are acknowledged in the notes and bibliography, in particular Rıfat Bali, who has made available to the public so many primary sources from a forgotten era. I have also benefited from conversations with Gökhan Akçura, Ozan Arslan, Sava Arslan, Murat Belge, Elif Batuman, Andrew Finkel, Caroline Finkel, Corry Guttstadt, Hope Harrison, Brian Johnson, Tuna Aksoy Köprülü, Steve Lagerfeld, Ansel Mullins, Cullen Nutt, Yigal Schleifer, Douglas Smith, Gerald Steinacher, Ronald Grigor Suny, Leon Taranto, Frances Trix, Thomas de Waal, Sufian Zhemukhov, and my dear companion, Margaret Paxson, who has always steered me true—bay mir bist du sheyn. Lawrence and Amy Tal, Anatol and Sasha Lieven, and Leslie Vinjamuri and Oliver Wright were welcoming hosts during research trips to London. (Thanks also to Matthew, Luke, Phoebe, Misha, Katya, Alex, Henry, Olivia, and Scrubby, whose space I occasionally borrowed.)
I am especially grateful to Abdullah Gül and Ayhan Uçar of the Yapı Kredi archive in Istanbul, who facilitated access to the Selahattin Giz photograph collection. Fra Lorenzo Piretto, OP, educated me about the Latin community and showed me the wonders of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. Fıstık Ahmet Tanrıverdi shared childhood memories of Trotsky’s bodyguards and helped me find both of Trotsky’s houses on Büyükada. In his Manhattan violin shop, Harold Hagopian re-created the Istanbul music scene of the 1920s and 1930s. I sadly missed speaking with Keriman Halis Ece, who died only a few months before I began this book, but her daughter and granddaughter, Ece Sarpyener and Aye Torfilli, graciously shared recollections of her. Meral Muhayye took Margaret and me on a magical Bosphorus boat ride and told family stories of her great-uncle Misbah. Pınar Kartal Timer, general manager of the Pera Palace Jumeirah, and Suzan Toma of the marketing department, enlightened me about the hotel’s restoration and its recent history.
Fırat Kaya offered his extensive knowledge of Istanbul’s architecture and urban landscape; our walks through the city—sometimes with a 1934 guidebook in hand—were the closest I will ever come to experiencing a time machine. Ekin Özbakkalolu carefully read through more than two decades of Turkish newspapers and uncovered some gems. Fatima Abushanab tracked down references and taught me about women and Islam. Ronen Plechnin helped with a valuable source in Hebrew, as did M. Fatih Çalıır with one in Ottoman Turkish. This is the fifth book of mine for which Chris Robinson has drawn the excellent maps.
Archivists and librarians at the institutions listed in the bibliography guided me through their collections. Special thanks to Shalimar White and Rona Razon of the Dumbarton Oaks Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, who helped me understand the life and career of Thomas Whittemore. I am lucky enough to live within walking distance of two of the world’s treasures: the Library of Congress and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. At the latter, Ronald Coleman, Rebecca Erbelding, Krista Hegburg, and Vincent Slatt provided superb guidance.
All or part of the manuscript came under the careful eyes of Mustafa Aksakal, Julia Phillips Cohen, Rebecca Erbelding, Ryan Gingeras, Corry Guttstadt, Andrea Orzoff, Mogens Pelt, Michael Reynolds, and Shalimar White. I am very thankful indeed for their criticisms and corrections, although I alone am responsible for any shortcomings that remain.
In 1998, a Fulbright senior fellowship in Turkey and Romania sparked some of the ideas that eventually led to this book. A fellowship from the Wilson Center enabled me to spend the academic year 2012–2013 focusing on Turkey’s past and present. The center’s library staff—Janet Spikes, Michelle Kamalich, and Dagne Gizaw—were models of energy and friendly responsiveness. Research funds provided by Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government allowed repeated visits to Istanbul. Thanks to Dean Carol Lancaster, Senior Associate Dean James Reardon-Anderson, faculty chairs David Edelstein and Jeffrey Anderson, and department chairs George Shambaugh and Michael Bailey for their leadership.
This is the second book I have completed with William Lippincott of Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. I would be adrift without his enthusiasm and counsel. I have twice been privileged to work with Alane Salierno Mason at W. W. Norton, a dream of an editor who has taught me so much about writing with a reader in mind. Anna Mageras, Eleen Cheung, Nancy Palmquist, and Kathleen Brandes were essential partners in the journey from typescript to book.
Ctlin Partenie is acknowledged on the dedication page. More than twenty years ago, a chance encounter with him via an Oxford bulletin board started me on a career in the other half of Europe.
CHRONOLOGY
7th century BC According to tradition, area of modern Istanbul settled by Greeks from the Aegean coast, who name the colony “Byzantium” after their l
eader, Byzas
330 AD Roman emperor Constantine moves capital to Byzantium, soon renamed “New Rome”
537 Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) consecrated during reign of Justinian I
1204 Constantinople sacked by Venetians and their allies in the Fourth Crusade, who wrest power from the Byzantines
1261 Restoration of Byzantine control
1453 Ottoman conquest of city under Mehmed II (the Conqueror)
1520–1566 Reign of Süleyman the Magnificent: height of Ottoman power
1839–1876 Tanzimat period: Ottomans begin range of modernizing reforms
1853–1856 Crimean War
1870 Great Pera fire
1876–1909 Reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II
1883 Inaugural journey of the Orient Express
1892 Pera Palace Hotel established
1908 Young Turk revolution
1909 Exile of Abdülhamid II
1909–1918 Reign of Sultan Mehmed V
Oct. 1914 Ottomans enter First World War on side of Central Powers
Dec. 1914–Jan. 1915 Battle of Sarikamish: Russian imperial forces inflict major defeat on Ottoman army in eastern Anatolia
Apr. 1915–Jan. 1916 Gallipoli campaign: Ottomans repel British, Australian, and New Zealand forces from peninsula southwest of Istanbul
Apr. 24–25, 1915 Armenian community leaders deported from Istanbul, with many later killed
1918–1922 Reign of Sultan Mehmed VI
Oct. 1918 Mudros armistice ends hostilities between Ottomans and Allied powers
Nov. 1918 Armistice ends hostilities between Germany and Allied powers; Allied naval detachment sails into Bosphorus and takes up positions in Istanbul
May 1919 Hellenic troops occupy Smyrna (Izmir); Mustafa Kemal arrives in Black Sea port of Samsun; beginning of nationalist resistance to the Allies and the Turkish war of independence
Mar. 1920 Allies announce formal military occupation of Istanbul
Aug. 1920 Treaty of Sèvres
Nov. 1920 Flotilla of White Russian army and civilians arrives in Istanbul
Jan.–Sept. 1921 Battles of nönü and Sakarya: turning points in favor of Turkish nationalists against Hellenic troops