Dolmabahçe and Boğaziçi

Extra credit if you can correctly pronounce both names.
Today's title is a little more utilitarian than usual, but I'm pretty tired; it's been a very busy week, and tomorrow we have Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and another hamam- stay tuned.
First, Dolmabahçe. Dolmabahçe Palace is a kind of disgusting palace built in the mid-19th century. Remember Topkapı from a couple days ago? Dolmabahçe was built to replace it. As you can tell from the first picture, they have basically nothing in common:

It is certainly impressive, in the same sense the Versailles is, as a manifestation of the ruler's wealth. Except in this case, the ruler (the Sultan) and his empire were broke. The money used to build this colossus was mostly borrowed, driving the troubled empire further into debt. And what a way to spend it too. I say disgusting because fourteen tons of gold were used to guild the ceilings alone. It is incredibly situated, right along the Bosporus; here's the view out the sultan's front door:
That's Asia over there. It was really hard to take pictures because of awkard lighting throughout the palace, but here's a few examples of how nauseatingly lavish this place was.
One of the approximately 14 billion enormous chandeliers in the palace, and enough gold to pay the salaries of a small army.

Some bearskins, gifts of Czar Nicholas II, another ruler who presumably could've used his soon-to-fall empire's funds to more advantageous ends.

Ceiling of the sultan's hamam.
This is the room where the first Ottoman parliament met in 1876, and where Atatürk was laid in state after his death in 1938. It's impossible to capture the enormity of this room which was by far the most impressive in the entire compex.
I think that's about it. Looking back over my pictures from the day, I can safely say that 90% of them are blurry pictures of a room with a chandelier. I had to pay 6 damn lira just to take my camera in the place, so I think I was taking pictures more to justify that steep purchase (6 döner!!!) than to document artistically or historically significant features of the palace (I guess the room where Atatürk died could count as that; if any of you are dying to see it, let me know- it pretty much just looks like a room).
After the palace, we were given a presentation on the Turkish Military Museum by Kevin and David. It was full of interesting relics and artifacts, but was a bit disorganized. On the other hand, it did give a fairly accurate picture of the course of the Ottoman military situation: on a list of battles (including Attila the Hun's 447 invasion of the Western Roman Empire?) fought by Turks, there is a gap between 1538 (naval victory at Preveza) and 1683 (second unsuccessful siege of Vienna) and then again until 1897 (the pitiful victory over Greece). Certainly there were more than 3 battles in these 350 years, but the Military Museum would rather you not think about them. It would like you to think about the 1453 conquest of Constantinople though, devoting half the museum to it, including a bizarre 3-D lifesize (with sound effects!) portrayal of the siege.
The most interesting room, however, is the room elegantly entitled "Hall of Armenian Issue With Documents." Yes, this is about the Armenian Genocide, but you'd never know it by seeing this room. Why not?
Because it consists solely of this, pictures of dead people labeled with some variant of 'Turkish civilians martyred/burned/massacred/executed by Armenians'. This should give you some kind of idea about Turkey's peculiar notion of 'liberal democracy'. This kind of revisionism is unconscionable in the West. The Turkish government could advance the conversation simply by acknowledging the genocide and recognizing that it was conducted by the Ottoman Empire; after all, the Republic was founded as a reversal of everything the Empire stood for (the caliphate, expansionism, etc.). The continued denial only feeds Armenian resentments and discredits Turkey in the eyes of the world. The room on Cyprus was no different; one particularly glaring example was a knife labeled "Bloody cleaver used against the Turks by the Greeks in Cyprus". Subtle this museum is not.
We finished off the day with another delicious meal at Prof. Shields' and divisive round of Catchphrase. Walking back, we decided to indulge in a Turkish tradition: nargile, or hookah. Sorry, no pictures, but it did feel really freakin' Turkish.
Today we went to Boğaziçi University, which has to have one of the most incredible views of any university on earth:
Looking south over the Bosporus
Looking east-ish; on the left is Rumelihisarı, the fortress built by Mehmed II in 1452 as a prelude to conquering the city.
At the university we met with Şevket Pamuk, an Ottoman and Turkish economic historian. Prof. Shields didn't tell us until about 5 minutes beforehand that he's the brother of Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize winning author. We read Orhan's memoir Istanbul, where he discusses growing up with his brother in great detail; it was kind of surreal to meet him. We talked about Turkish politics and economics for about two hours before going to lunch. He particularly impressed me with his intimate knowledge of US politics, asking us if we thought North Carolina was in play this year. Afterwards, I met up with my friend Char from UNC, who has attended Boğaziçi this semester (founded by American missionaries in 1863, all classes are still taught in English). UNC and Boğaziçi have a mutual exchange program; maybe I'll end up here sometime in the next 3 years.
Like I said, tomorrow's a huge day, so I should go rest up- I need to be on my A game for Hagia Sophia.

Political update: the law overturning the ban on women wearing headscarves in universities was thrown out today by Turkey's Constitutional Court; basically, women still cannot wear the headscarf. For the story, click here. Some observers see this as foreshadowing the larger case against the ruling AK Party, for accused anti-secular activites; the country's top prosecutor (independent from the government, obviously) is seeking the dissolution of the Party, the removal of the President and Prime Minister from office, and the banning of 50 or so top leaders from public life. This case will probably be ruled on sometime in the fall. For the more intrepid Turkish scholars among you, here is an outline of the suit brought against AKP.