So I spent today like many Istanbullus. Well I didn’t vote in the morning like everyone else but I did sleep in.

Last night I went to bed at 3am thanks to beer, beer, raki, beer, raki and a rather lethal cocktail, the house specialty here, called The Sultan. The bartender's taken pity on a poor student (me). So I get all my drinks highly subsidized (i.e. free). The view from the rooftop bar is amazing - on one side the Sea of Marmara, on the other the old town of Sultanahmet rising upto the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya on the hill. Fantastic. I usually go up at about 11-12 every night to admire the city over a cup of apple tea. Then of course the bartender takes pity on me. And I stagger back downstairs drunk at 3am. God I love this place......

So anyway after i woke up I went down to Eminönü where the ferries leave from and lots of families come to have some fresh balik (fish)/bread/salata. Then under Galata bridge to watch the anglers patiently waiting to catch some balik using what looks like no bait (!!). Then I walked on to Kabataş to take the füniküler up through the hills to Taxim Square.

And found most of Istanbul there watching a huge TV screen where the election results were coming out in real-time as the votes were counted. Not surprisingly the AK party (aakparty) was way ahead of the others. For those following the news - this party is paradoxically Islamist and supports liberal economics especially joining the EU. One of the key reasons they got so many votes I think. The two other major parties are paradoxically Secular and Conservative. One of them is a quite a bit nationalist (perhaps even a little fascist). And they don’t support joining the EU.

So as I walked down Istiklal Caddesi where everyone was out on the streets shopping and eating and smoking nargileh (hookah) - all one could hear were the radios and tv's declaring election results. Anyway I looked around a bit and found a lovely restaurant which specialises in grilled kebabs. The mezze had some 5 preparations of aubergine. And my mixed grill platter was excellent. Except for the kidneys that I didnt try and what looked like the balls of a ram which I took a bite of (being brave) and hastily discarded. Some Turkish kahvesi (coffee) and then I went looking for dessert.

Now Turkey has great food and the raki is wonderful. But what has been a true revelation here have been the desserts. The mind boggles at the variety. So as my mind was being boggled, I settled down to a heavenly dish of dried fruits, fruit pulp and cream. All the while the election results kept coming in. The leader of one of the smaller parties (DP) that had done very badly tendered his resignation as the results were still coming in. Which is when I discovered the Hindi word for resignation is the same as Turkish - istiffa. And tea is the same in both languages as well - çay (chai). But that’s beside the point.

The point is will the Turkish army accept a democratically elected Islamist government - or will it step in as it has done before to put the secular parties in artificially. Whatever it does, the Turkish public have spoken - when I last checked - the Islamist party AK had about 48% of the total vote and 340 odd seats in parliament. The next leading party had about 20% and about 110 odd seats. A very very clear decision indeed. The Turkish people don't seem to care about religion, headscarves on women etc. etc. etc. The bottom line is the money. And they clearly feel Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government is going to help them make some.......

posted by shahana at 12:14 AM