Interviews in Shared Spaces
All names of interviewees have been changed to protect privacy.
Friends
Sema and Gülen (from Suadiye and Kizil Toprak, respectively – areas located in the Anatolian district of Kadikoy, a ferry ride away from the Church) are good friends, and both come from similar backgrounds. Both seem to be middle class, though clearly with the ability to travel abroad. They come to the church on the first of every month with another friend, Nadia, a Christian émigré from Georgia married to a Muslim man.
Sema and Gülen were both born Muslim, but Sema says she does not believe and Gülen says she is an atheist. They add that they are against all religions, because, they say, religions separate people and force them to forget how to ask questions. Still, this does not deter them from visiting religious spaces.
They regularly visit shrines to Muslim sheiks, such as the tomb of Eyup, where Eyup Sultan, the standard bearer of the Prophet Muhammed, was buried in 670 during the Arab assault on Constantinople. This shrine has become a place of pilgrimage for Muslims from all over the world, as well as Christians and, to a lesser degree, Jews. They also visit the church and Monastery of Aya Yorgi in Büyükada (an island in the Marmara Sea) dedicated to Saint George, a prominent military saint whose many churches are important pilgrimage sites visited on the 23rd of April. On this day, thousands of Christians, Muslims, and Jews flock to the island to pray at the church, make a wish, and participate in mixed rituals of of Orthodoxy and Spring. (See, for more information, the documentary on the Monastery of Saint George, Bells, Threads and Miracles.) They also regularly visit the Church of Saint Antoine of Padua, the church dedicated to the Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Fransiscan order who is known in Istanbul as the Saint of poor people. This church is another center of mixed devotion, where every Tuesday when Mass is celebrated in Turkish, Muslims and Christians partake in the ceremonies side by side. Sema and Gülen were eager to add that when they traveled to Europe, they sought church services there as well, and enjoyed the sacrality of the space.
When asked why a self-declared atheist would visit so many spaces of religion, Gülen described herself as a “universal being” not bound to a religion, but partaking in the beauty of all sacred images and thoughts. To her, that is the heritage of this geography and history, and her actions constitute and reassert such an understanding. Nadia is unlike her friends in that she is, by her own admission, deeply religious. She accepts that she is unlike them: that she is a believer, and religious. She never goes to a mosque – neither does her husband – but she believes that God is one for all the religions. She was brought to this church by her friends and is, she says, only recently and after repeated visits, getting used to the manner in which non-Christians congregate here. Yet, she also asserts that these visits have brought the three friends even closer together.
A Regular
Kumru is from the Besiktas district of Istanbul, about half hour’s car ride from the Church of the Mother of God. This was her fifth visit, and she brought sweets because her wishes had been granted. She joyfully distributed the candy in the courtyard of the church, grinning and wishing everyone the same fortune. She has gone many times to shrines – to Eyüp Sultan, Ulu Camii in Bursa, the Yakacik aghiasma – and she prays on Fridays at the mosque. She asserted firmly that she was Muslim, not Christian – almost as though to be Christian was not acceptable to her. When asked the difference between praying at a church and a mosque, though, she said that it was the same – that she made no distinction between language, religion, and race.
The sole purpose was to be able to pray to God.
The Family
The family interviewed at Vefa is from Kadikoy, in the Asian side of Istanbul. The mother has been coming to the Church of the Mother of God for at least two years, and the father a little less. This was their daughter’s first visit. She had just finished middle school and entered high school exams, so they all came to the church to make a wish for her future choices to be good. The mother, clearly the motivator of this expedition, comes every two to three months, and had even come back early from vacation to visit.
The father says: “We are Muslims, but we do not find this atmosphere in the mosque. I experienced a very hard time in work, lost a lot of money. I could never talk to a hoca about that. After all, we are all the creatures of God.”
Daughter: “This is my first time. I feel very comfortable here, just like my sister predicted. She had come here before me for college exams. I only go to mosque for funerals.”
Father: “The first time I came, the priest at this Church – he sensed I was troubled. After the mass, he came outside and talked to me, helped me – he listened to me and I was able to talk to him. I felt very close to him and came back and now he is at another church and I plan to visit him. In the mosque this would not happen.”
Mother: “I would go anywhere – to an Alevi Cemevi,” (the place of worship for Alevis, an important Muslim minority with Shi’a rites in Turkey). ”I went to the Balat Armenian Church every Thursday – even if there were just ten people, they pray together. I also go to Eyüp Sultan, to Selami Baba, Mahmut Baba, Hüdayi Hazretleri, Selimiye Çiçekçi Karaca Ahmet,” all Muslim shrines to sheiks and important local historical religious figures.