I went to a huge book fair on the generic outskirts of town. I tend toforget how gigantic the city is and how all the housing developments and malls along the outskirts look completely interchangeable until I get on the commuter bus and pass them by for an hour or two.
The venue was a massive set of interconnected warehouses and the visitors (at least the most visible ones) were mostly horrible children on school field trips. The variety of book stands was dizzying; literally: I got a headache and completely lost. Across from a children books stand with a bare-breasted woman on the cover of a graphic novel next to a Che Guevara poster was the Ministry of Religion's section and Muslim self-help books. Laz, Georgian, Kurdish minorities had their stands (a teach yourself Kurdish book was the only thing I ended up buying) and organizations with names with every permutation of Ataturk History Culture Organization had their biographies and icons. One kiosk had a giant sign "We are Ataturk's Soldiers." Their neighbors sold a Gallipoli battle board game. There was even a Falun Dafa kiosk and a Turkish woman in a bright yellow doing slow-motion meditation exercises. As I passed a couple random schoolgirls ran up to tickle her sides.
In two of the warehouses was an art fair with far fewer visitors. I have to admit the thing I remember best was a Campbell's Soup can labelled Ottoman's Condensed Kelle Paça (sheep's head soup).
I'm going to Diyarbakir tomorrow. It's been a few years and I am trying to refresh my memory about the city layout from Google Maps but what's left of the map in my head has landmarks of the breakfast and meatball places I liked, the adidas outlet and the cool little network of chambers I found in the ancient city walls with little sense of distances.
The venue was a massive set of interconnected warehouses and the visitors (at least the most visible ones) were mostly horrible children on school field trips. The variety of book stands was dizzying; literally: I got a headache and completely lost. Across from a children books stand with a bare-breasted woman on the cover of a graphic novel next to a Che Guevara poster was the Ministry of Religion's section and Muslim self-help books. Laz, Georgian, Kurdish minorities had their stands (a teach yourself Kurdish book was the only thing I ended up buying) and organizations with names with every permutation of Ataturk History Culture Organization had their biographies and icons. One kiosk had a giant sign "We are Ataturk's Soldiers." Their neighbors sold a Gallipoli battle board game. There was even a Falun Dafa kiosk and a Turkish woman in a bright yellow doing slow-motion meditation exercises. As I passed a couple random schoolgirls ran up to tickle her sides.
In two of the warehouses was an art fair with far fewer visitors. I have to admit the thing I remember best was a Campbell's Soup can labelled Ottoman's Condensed Kelle Paça (sheep's head soup).
I'm going to Diyarbakir tomorrow. It's been a few years and I am trying to refresh my memory about the city layout from Google Maps but what's left of the map in my head has landmarks of the breakfast and meatball places I liked, the adidas outlet and the cool little network of chambers I found in the ancient city walls with little sense of distances.
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