Cat culture thrives in Turkey

2010-08-23 17:05

Istanbul - When President Obama visited Turkey last year, he paused to stroke a tabby cat at the former Byzantine church of Haghia Sophia while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looked on with a smile.

The cat, one of half a dozen living at the ancient site, seemed unfazed by the VIP attention.

Many a visitor has noted the abundance of stray cats in the old imperial capital of Istanbul. They amble and lounge around some mosques and have the run of a few universities.

Facebook campaigners gather supplies for them, and it's easy to spot nibbles and plastic containers of water left discreetly on pavements for the felines.

This month, cats will get a publicity boost when the world basketball championships begin in Istanbul and three other Turkish cities. The official mascot is "Bascat", a white cat with one blue eye and one green eye, similar to an unusual breed native to the eastern city of Van.

The special status of stray cats in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey reflects a tradition-bound country on the path to modernity.

Unwanted cats left at university

It partly derives from Muslim ideas about tolerance, and an urban elite with Western-style ideas about animal rights. It points to the freewheeling side of a society that seeks entry into the European Union's world of regulation.

Sevgin Akis Roney, an economics professor at Istanbul's Bosphorus University, said the school is so well-known for adopting strays that people leave unwanted cats there, knowing they'll get fed. Cats wander freely into classrooms at the school, perched on a hill over the strait that separates the Asian and European continents.

"We should learn to live with these animals," said Roney, who walks around with cat food for hungry strays.

Turkey introduced an animal protection law in 2004, and state policy is to catch, neuter and release or find a home for street animals. Funds for such projects are limited.

Alleged poisoning campaigns by some municipalities, usually targeting dogs, suggest laws are sometimes flouted altogether.

Stray dogs are considered more of a nuisance and sanitation threat than cats, and Islamic tradition - while espousing tolerance for all creatures - labels them unclean. In 1910, Istanbul officials unloaded tens of thousands of stray dogs on an island in the Sea of Marmara, where they starved.

Urban explosion

Istanbul experienced an explosion of uncontrolled growth in the second half of the 20th century.

Millions of people flooded from the countryside, cramming into cheap, illegal housing called "gecekondu," which means "built overnight" in Turkish. Highways and shopping malls sprouted.

That urban sprawl made Istanbul less hospitable for street cats, but pockets of the city kept the tradition of caring for strays - an easy option for Turks who don't want the hassle of a pet at home.

Cats benefit from their association with Islam in Turkey, where the population is mostly Muslim though the laws and political system are secular. A popular saying goes: "If you've killed a cat, you need to build a mosque to be forgiven by God."

Islamic lore tells of a cat thwarting a poisonous snake that had approached the Prophet Muhammad.

Personalities

Nukhet Barlas, an environmental consultant, photographed cats for an online exhibition backed by the European Capital of Culture project, which focused on Istanbul this year. Her images show cats posing in front of mosques, ruins and iconic buildings, ceramics and the shoreline.

"Most of these strays have developed friendly relationships with people. They have personalities and in many neighbourhoods, they are almost part of the community," Barlas wrote in an email.

On her strolls, Barlas photographed long-haired Angora cats and "chalk-white/blue-eyed" Van mixes as well as non-Turkish breeds resembling Abyssinian or Egyptian Mau cats.

She believes the variety stems from Istanbul's role as capital of the continent-spanning Ottoman Empire and a transit point for trade over the centuries. "New breeds appear to continue," she said. "I find stray cats that look like the popular British Shorthair, or Balinese."

One tourist hostel in Istanbul is called the Stray Cat. At the Kaktus Cafe in Istanbul's Cihangir district, cats sit next to customers or doze on the chairs.

While cats seep into the culture, they're not always welcome. The yowls and whoops of furry felines in combat disturb the sleep of quite a few urban dwellers.

"If you're on the ground floor and leave your window open, you can come home to a cat looking up to you, asking 'What are you doing here?' "joked Allen Collinsworth, an American business consultant.

- AP